October 7th - 10th, 2009 in Hungary, liveARCH had its final conference & workshop. Discussion was about problems and perspectives of archaeological open-air museums and experimental archaeology in Europe; the link with science. 80 people convened in a programme with both lectures and excursions. The first day was spent on evaluating the EU project – with tough words as well as compliments.
The lectures on day 2 were partly about very scientific experiences, the other times about more practical experiments. Fishbone structure building in medieval churches prove to not just look well, but also have a distinct function. The National Archaeological Museum of Wales uses experimental archaeology in all its different meanings as binding method for their archaeological presentations. An Italian paper was about the methodology in archaeological open-air museums and perspectives for the future. An overview of 15 years of archaeological reconstruction in Austria was not just a summing up of projects, but as well a listing of things learned. Education in archaeological open-air museums as well as networks besides EXARC were also presented. The future of EXARC after liveARCH was discussed, just like a possible new EU project by the name OpenArch. So liveARCH ends but the cooperation continues...