The association “Experimenta” (Asociación Española de Arqueología Experimental) develops several experimental archaeology activities inside Spain. We started in 2006. The association includes scientific and private institutions that are involve in these methodologies.
During the years the main activity is directed to the organisation of the biannual international Congress of Experimental Archaeology. Experimenta thus creates a new forum for the diffusion of Experiments in Archaeology. Our fields are Prehistory and Archaeology, Science and education.
In recent years, the implementation of experimental protocols and methodologies in archaeological research has become an increasingly common practice. In this way, experimentation is occupying a central role in the validation of hypotheses proposed about significant aspects of the formation and transformation of the archaeological record, the technology of prehistoric societies, and past ways of life. Despite the validity of experimental approaches to solving some historical problems, these have been used in different ways, depending on research traditions in the places where they have been applied. Unfortunately, in Spain this development has taken place belatedly, and at an uneven rate, often in connection with isolated initiatives outside institutional and academic circles. A good example of this was the Seminari d’Arqueologia experimental, organised by Peter Reynolds in 1987 in Estudis universitaris de Vic (Barcelona), which led to the publication of Arqueologia experimental. Una perspectiva de futur (Eumo editorial, 1988).
However, this situation has changed recently, following the first Congreso de Arqueología Experimental (Santander, 2005), which later took on an International dimension, with the 2nd Congreso internacional de Arqueología experimental (Ronda, 2008). These conferences were promoted by the Asociación española de Arqueología Experimental –Experimenta-, founded in 2005 by researchers working in different institutions.
