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In the western Netherlands Neolithic axes are hardly ever found in a complete state. Flint is scarce in this area and when these axes were exhausted, or when they broke during use, they were often re-used as flake cores. Vlaardingen Culture (3400–2500 BC) sites often yield large quantities of flakes and retouched tools made on polished axe fragments. Using an experimental approach, we tried to better understand the importance of recycling of these objects. For the experiments we reconstructed four so-called Buren axes. The experiments provided insights into the usefulness of broken axes as flake cores. It was also demonstrated that flakes struck from axes generally do not have a remnant of a polished surface, indicating that the importance of broken axes as flake cores has so far been underestimated. Furthermore, it was concluded that micro-debitage can successfully be studied to identify areas where broken axes were flaked.

Hematite, the mineral that gives color to bright red iron ochres, occurs naturally, but there is much evidence that early humans sometimes artificially produced hematite by heating a related mineral, goethite, in wood fires. This represents an important cognitive and technological advance in early human prehistory. Thus, there is a need to distinguish natural hematite from hematite generated by heating goethite in a wood fire. Measuring the line widths of powder X-ray diffraction (XRD) in hematite has been explored, and synthetic goethite heated in a modern furnace has been used as a model system for studying this process. We now show that to be an inappropriate model. Although chemically identical, natural goethite is physically different from and much more variable than goethite produced in a laboratory. Furthermore, by replicating the process using Stone Age technology, we show that heating goethite in a wood fire complicates the interpretation of XRD line widths of the resulting hematite. We conclude that strategies other than powder XRD are necessary to draw conclusions about the ancient processing of iron ochres.

Use-wear traces are considered to be material specific. The use of an appropriate reference collection is thus fundamental for interpreting tools' function. To test whether a flint reference collection can be used to interpret the function of non-flint tools, I conducted experiments using chert, dolerite, and quartz endscrapers and flakes. I compared wear traces obtained during the experiment with use-wear on experimental flint tools exposed to the same variables (motion, contact material, time). The results highlighted strong similarities in the characteristics and distribution of traces on chert and flint. Dolerite and quartz differ from flint, especially regarding the distribution and appearance of use-polish. However, shared traits were observed in all the raw materials involved in this experiment, demonstrating a certain degree of comparability between use-wear traces on flint and non-flint rocks. Based on the data, a flint reference collection can allow a basic interpretation of use-wear also on different rocks.

The Roman Historian Cornelius Tacitus wrote about native Europeans in 98 C.E., around a thousand years before the same peoples began recording their own history. Despite this, the work titled Germania is little-known and under-utilized. It is only by studying Germania and discussing it that the text will be seen for what it is and neither dismissed nor taken out of context. This thesis examines a few of the many passages of Germania that correspond with archaeological, literary, legal, and artistic information from later periods, demonstrating the value of Tacitus’ work to anyone studying European history.

Club-rush (Bolboschoenus spp. (Asch.) Palla) is one of the most common edible wild plant taxa found at Epipaleolithic and Neolithic sites in southwest Asia. At the Early Natufian site of Shubayqa 1 (Black Desert, Jordan) thousands of club-rush rhizome-tuber remains and hundreds of fragments of prepared meals were found. The evidence indicated that the underground storage organs of this plant were recurrently used as a source of food 14,600 years ago. To determine how Early Natufian communities gathered, processed and transformed club-rush tubers into food, we designed an interdisciplinary study that combined experimental archaeology, archaeobotany, and ground and chipped stone tool analyses. We conducted more than 50 specific experiments over three years, and based on the experimental materials produced we inferred that 1) the best season for club-rush rhizome-tuber collection in the region was spring-summer time; 2) that the primary method to harvest the plant would have been uprooting; and 3) that the most efficient approaches to obtain perfectly peeled and clean rhizome-tubers could have entailed drying, roasting and gentle grinding of the tubers. Overall, our work provides important information to reconstruct the chaîne opératoire for club-rush tuber exploitation in the past. The experimental data and modern reference datasets allow us to interpret the archaeological material found at Shubayqa 1, and start identifying some of the activities that Natufian communities in the Black Desert undertook in relation to the exploitation of this particular source of food. Funding to carry out the experiments described in this paper was provided by the H.P. Mindefondet for Dansk Palæstinaforskning, Ingeniør Svend G. Fiedler og Hustrus legat til fremme af botanisk og arkæologisk forskning, the Danish Institute in Damascus, and the “Changing Foodways Project” granted by the Danish council for Independent Research (grant nos. DFF-4001-00068, DFF-801-00133B) to Dr. T. Richter, University of Copenhagen. Permission to conduct excavations at Shubayqa 1 was granted to Dr. T. Richter under license agreement with the Department of Antiquities of Jordan. Data analyses, interpretation and writing were carried out under A. Arranz-Otaegui’s Marie Sklodowska-Curie Individual Fellowship (“FOUNDERS”, MSCAIF grant no. 840228) and Juan de la Cierva Incorporación grant (IJC2019-039647-I). Ingeniør Svend G. Fiedler og Hustrus legat til fremme af botanisk og arkæologisk forskning and the Danish Institute in Damascus provided additional funding for ground stone analysis conducted by P. N. Pedersen. Note that the funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. We also want to thank Department of Antiquities of Jordan, the Qasr Burqu’ staff, and several members of the Shubayqa Archaeological Project, including T. Richter, A. Shakaiteer, A. Ruter, L. Yeomans, and M. Bangsborg Thuessen among many others, for helping us in the various stages of the work over these years.

Before Europeans arrived to Eastern North America, prehistoric, indigenous peoples experienced a number of changes that culminated in the development of sedentary, maize agricultural lifeways of varying complexity. Inherent to these lifeways were several triggers of social stress including population nucleation and increase, intergroup conflict (warfare), and increased territoriality. Here, we examine whether this period of social stress co-varied with deadlier weaponry, specifically, the design of the most commonly found prehistoric archery component in late pre-contact North America: triangular stone arrow tips (TSAT). The examination of modern metal or carbon projectiles, arrows, and arrowheads has demonstrated that smaller arrow tips penetrate deeper into a target than do larger ones. We first experimentally confirm that this relationship applies to arrow tips made from stone hafted onto shafts made from wood. We then statistically assess a large sample (n = 742) of late pre-contact TSAT and show that these specimens are extraordinarily small. Thus, by miniaturizing their arrow tips, prehistoric people in Eastern North America optimized their projectile weaponry for maximum penetration and killing power in warfare and hunting. Finally, we verify that these functional advantages were selected across environmental and cultural boundaries. Thus, while we cannot and should not rule out stochastic, production economizing, or non-adaptive cultural processes as an explanation for TSAT, overall our results are consistent with the hypothesis that broad, socially stressful demographic changes in late pre-contact Eastern North America resulted in the miniaturization–and augmented lethality–of stone tools across the region.

Seeman, Morris, and Summers misrepresent or misunderstand the arguments we have made, as well as their own previous work. Here, we correct these inaccuracies. We also reiterate our support for hypothesis-driven and evidence-based research.

Quartz artefacts are common components of flaked stone assemblages worldwide. However, flaked quartz can appear similar to quartz fractured by natural and other (non-flaking) cultural processes. De...

A través de dos encuestas realizada en los años 2010 y 2018, diversas personas que trabajan en la arqueología experimental explicaron su visión de esta ciencia y describieron qué tipo de actividades relacionadas realizan. Se preguntó a universidades, sociedades, freelancers y museos. Diversas actividades adyacentes fueron comentadas, como por ejemplo la arqueo técnica que es la realización de reconstrucciones y experimentos en vivo. Después de algunas confusiones y ejemplos aclaradores, se comenta el futuro de la arqueología experimental como disciplina para el uso no únicamente científico sino también social. Este artículo es solamente una pequeña aproximación a discusiones e investigaciones mucho más extensas sobre este campo de investigación. Lara Comis (miembro de EXARC), actualmente está realizando un Doctorado financiado por la IRC en la UCD (IE) explorando la Arqueología Experimental y los museos arqueológicos al aire libre. Su investigación se inició con la presente encuesta, la cual varios miembros de EXARC ya les será familiar, que trata sobre como la arqueología experimental es entendida. Su trabajo está promovido activamente por EXARC. Este estudio cuenta con una gran cantidad de información recopilada pero, solo ha sido posible publicar una fracción de este material. La mayoría de los artículos publicados aparece solamente en la literatura gris o literatura poco convencional. Por este motivo, EXARC tomó la iniciativa de recopilar esta información a través de su Colección de arqueología experimental, la cual está disponible en experimentalarchaeology.net.

El Museo Nacional de Antropología de México resguarda una de las colecciones de objetos arqueológicos más grandes e importantes de distintas culturas, zonas y épocas del México prehispánico. Dicho museo está dividido en 11 salas, siendo la Sala Mexica la más grande de todas y se encuentra ubicada en la parte central del recorrido. Sin embargo, son pocos los estudios arqueométricos enfocados en conocer las técnicas de manufactura de los materiales mexicas en este recinto cultural, en especial los objetos lapidarios. Por ello, desde el 2019 se inició la revisión y análisis tecnológico de la lapidaria de la Sala Mexica, empezando con las piezas resguardadas en la Bóveda de Seguridad del Museo Nacional de Antropología procedentes de Tlatelolco, El Volador y Azcapotzalco. Para ello se empleó arqueología experimental y la caracterización de huellas de manufactura con microscopía óptica y electrónica de barrido. De esta manera se pudieron identificar los materiales e instrumentos de trabajo empleados en su elaboración y las semejanzas o diferencias entre los sitios, así como rastrear su filiación cultural local o foránea.

Following the so-called material turn, in archaeology much attention is devoted to the affective response to objects, the physical affordances of items, or the agency of materials on one another. However, such aspects have been partially overlooked in experimental use wear research. Issues surrounding contact material selection and its degree of representativity against the larger archaeological sample are some of the problems that a well-considered approach in experimental archaeology and wear analysis should take into account. These problems are inherently linked with the discussion over controlled lab experiments vs actualistic layouts: one of the most contentious debates in experimental archaeology. More broadly, these issues are further tied to the crisis of confidence in experimental results and issues such as replicability and reproducibility. These concerns are even more significant in research attempting to simulate and investigate combat wear traces, where these problems also intertwine with the challenges that these layouts pose in terms of best practices to follow to ensure ethics and sustainability. In this paper, the methodological framework implemented in two experimental campaigns studying prehistoric bronze weaponry is discussed. The examples are then used to illustrate some of the challenges in these types of set-ups and to provide discussion points regarding potential solutions. In addition, steps to take in order to increase confidence in the interpretation of experimental results are proposed. While replication of experimental results is paramount, it is also necessary to reduce the ambiguity of experimental results.

Several pits, the remains of wood tar production using the so-called ‘vessel-less method’, were discovered in the Lublin region. They contained objects related to the early Middle Ages. These discoveries were used as the base for experiments run in 2013 in the experimental archaeology centre at Grodzisko Żmijowiska. The first experiment involved the acquisition of wood tar from birch bark, while the other attempts were aimed at extracting tar from pine stumpwood. The experiments were conducted in a shallow pit that was plastered with clay and had a small depression at its bottom used as a container for the tar, separated from the pit by a clay strainer. The raw material gathered in the pit was covered with a clay dome. When the dome was dry, it was slowly heated up with burning wood to the right temperature which was checked inside the dome with a thermocouple. Both processes were conducted successfully. The results were compared with experiments focused on the production of wood tar using the two-vessel method known in the early Middle Ages. The comparison showed that the vessel-less method is less economical due to the amount of fuel used and almost three times less efficient in terms of the raw material to final product ratio. However, it is very simple technically and allows the effective production of wood tar.

Summary The aim of this research is to use experimental archaeology and comparative studies in order to obtain a potential answer to the theory that UC 7790 is a set of tattooing implements. Comparing the tools, methods, and inks of other cultures that practice tattooing is a way to offer some guidance regarding the identification of tattooing tools in the archaeological record. The experiment reproduced the original points using the closest modern metal and tested each one with an organic mixture of charcoal and water, and Indian ink as a control ink. The reproduced needles are tested on pigskin and human skin to test efficacy and healing. The experiment proves that UC 7790 may have been tattoo needles as they successfully tattoo human skin and were probably hafted implements.

Published here are data for a series of cobble tool experiments conducted between 2017 and 2019. The full thesis can be found under the title A Multi-Faceted Approach to Understanding Notched Net Sinker Manufacture in the Columbia Plateau.

Homo sapiens’ capacity for the inter-generational accumulation of complex technologies, practices, and beliefs is central to contemporary accounts of human distinctiveness. However, the actual antiquity and evolutionary origins of cumulative culture are not known. Here we propose and exemplify a research program for studying the origins of cumulative culture using archaeological evidence. Our step-wise approach disentangles assessment of the observed fidelity of behavior reproduction from inferences regarding required learning mechanisms (e.g. teaching, imitation) and the explanation of larger-scale patterns of change. It is empirically grounded in technological analysis of artifact assemblages using well-validated experimental models. We demonstrate with a case study using a tool-making replication experiment to assess evidence of behavior copying across three 2.6 million-year-old Oldowan sites from Gona, Ethiopia. Results fail to reveal any effects of raw material size, shape, quality, or reduction intensity that could explain the observed details of inter-site technological variation in terms of individual learning across different local conditions. This supports the view that relatively detailed copying of tool-making methods was already a feature of Oldowan technological reproduction ~2.6 mya. We conclude with a discussion of prospects and implications for further research on the evolution of human cumulative culture.

The Quartz Archaeology Project is creating open-access datasets for quartz occurrences in a variety of archaeological and natural contexts to improve our understanding of the significance of quartz in the deep and recent past. This project will investigate the physical characteristics of quartz pieces at natural outcrops, archaeological sites, and locations of more recent industrial activities. It will also involve the creation of experimental assemblages of quartz fractured using different methods, such as knapping, mechanical crushing, and handheld tools. Analysis and comparison of the attributes of fractured quartz from natural, archaeological and experimental assemblages will generate information about the ‘signature’ of quartz pieces from these different contexts. The resulting datasets, excluding those derived from Aboriginal places, will be made freely available online. This will facilitate development of integrated and collaborative approaches to the identification and characterisation of quartz artefacts in archaeology and cultural heritage management. The citation for this project (including datasets) is Spry, C., E. Foley, R. Kurpiel, J. Turnbull and P. Penzo-Kajewski 2020 Quartz Archaeology Project. http://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/N8CWR, Open Science Framework, Accessed 22 July 2020. For more information about this project, please see: Spry, C., R. Kurpiel, E. Foley and P. Penzo-Kajewski 2021 Revisiting the “Quartz Problem” in Lithic Studies: A Review and New, Open-access, Experimental Dataset. Lithic Technology. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/01977261.2021.1981655 Spry, C., R. Kurpiel, E. Foley, J. Turnbull and P. Penzo-Kajewski 2021 Disentangling activity traces on Australian goldfields: an experimental study of quartz assemblages derived from knapping and gold prospecting. Australian Archaeology. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/03122417.2021.1885109. Spry, C., E. Foley, R. Kurpiel and J. Turnbull 2019 Identifying quartz artefacts in archaeology and cultural heritage management: issues, approaches and a new open-access project. In Spry et al. (eds), Excavations, Surveys and Heritage Management in Victoria, pp. 77-83. Melbourne: La Trobe University: http://arrow.latrobe.edu.au:8080/vital/access/manager/Repository/latrobe:43467.

Lingjing Expedient Tools

Roman-period six-sided dice are common in archaeological sites across Europe. While some dice approach true cubes, many are visibly non-cubic (i.e., asymmetric/lopsided) and favor certain rolls, especially the numbers 1 and 6. It is unclear if such dice were intentional and distinctive “types” used in specific games or activities, represent “cheaters” dice, or are simply part of a continuum of variation in die shape and configuration. To explore this issue, we examine shape distribution of 28 well-dated Roman-period dice from modern-day Netherlands. Results show that Roman die asymmetry varies in a continuous fashion from true cube to highly parallelepiped, where the long side is over 50% longer than the short side. We then conduct replication experiments to examine how naïve producers configure pips across a range of shapes. Our results show a production bias, where makers place the 6 on the largest die face, not to favor certain rolls, but due to space limitations and/or the order in which they place the pips. Overall, we interpret asymmetrical Roman dice as part of a single but highly variable artifact category, not distinct types. We argue that such extreme variation was acceptable because makers and users understood roll outcomes as the product of fate, rather than chance or probability. Conformity to a true symmetrical cube was not perceived as essential to die function, and asymmetrical forms were tolerated as simply part of the acceptable range in shape variation.

Supplementary audiovisual material: https://youtu.be/K-EE9YY6pHY https://youtu.be/gRpxQOx9ugs In the Late Mesolithic graves of Yuzhniy Oleniy Ostrov, Northwest Russia, large amounts of Eurasian elk (Alces alces) incisors have been found. These teeth, for the most part fashioned into portable pendants, seem to have formed decorative sets for the garments or accessories of the deceased. This article examines both the technologies associated with these artefacts and their uses, as well as reflecting on the sensorial experiences generated by them. Osteological analysis of a sample of 100 specimens indicates that all types of incisors were used for making the pendants. Traceological analysis indicates that the teeth were modified by scraping, grooving, grinding, and retouching. Traces of wear consist of general wear and distinctive pits or pecks on the perimeters of the crowns. These traces indicate that the pendants were worn before their deposition in the graves, in such a way that they were in contact with both soft and solid materials. The pattern of pits or pecks has until now been unreported in the traceological literature. In experiments, a similar pattern emerged when pendants of fresh elk incisors were hung in rows and bunches and struck against one another. These strokes created a rattling sound. Thus, the elk incisors of Yuzhniy Oleniy Ostrov appear to provide insight into previously unattainable sonic experiences and activities of Mesolithic hunter-gatherers, as well as the early history of the instrument category of rattles.

The paper examines the possibility of recognising leafpoint industry in the case that its most characteristic feature is missing. The conducted research aimed at identifying whether it is possible ...

The copper-using cultures of North America’s Archaic Period (10,000–3000 BP) have long been an archaeological enigma. For millennia, Middle and Late Archaic hunter-gatherers (8000–3000 BP) around the Upper Great Lakes region made utilitarian implements out of copper, only for these items to decline in prominence and frequency as populations grew and social complexity increased during the Archaic to Woodland Transition. From a cultural evolutionary perspective, the trajectory of North America’s copper usage presents a conundrum, as it is generally assumed that “superior” tools, i.e., metals, will replace inferior ones, i.e., stone. For well over a century, scholars have pondered the reason for the demise of copper technology that was once a wide-spread phenomenon. To address this question, an extensive archaeological experimental program was conducted which compared replica copper tools (spear points, knife blades, and awls) to analogous ones made of stone or bone to assess whether relative functional efficiency contributed to the decline of utilitarian copper implements. Here, the results of this three-part research program are presented in concert with population dynamics and ecological change to paint a broader picture of the complex interrelationships between the social, ecological, and technological spheres of past human behaviors. The synthesis of these approaches reveals that functional explanations—derived from experimental archaeology placed in an evolutionary framework—can shed much light on the trajectory of metal use in the North American Great Lakes.

Unlike larger stone tools and debitage, the analysis of microdebitage (measuring less than 6 mm) allows for identifying likely areas where stone tools were manufactured at prehistoric archaeologica...

Archaeologists have long grappled with identifying quartz artefacts in the archaeological record. The particular fracture mechanics of quartz can complicate the distinction between knapped quartz, ...

How might an interdisciplinary approach involving experimental archaeology improve our knowledge of glassmaking in medieval Iberia? Our current limited understanding lacks an appreciation of how su...

Experimental archaeology is a key component of research for reconstructing past human behaviors, and this approach has been a cornerstone for interpreting the earliest archaeological record in the ...

Widespread ethnographic evidence exists for the addition of animal dung to clay during the process of ceramic production. However, conclusive evidence of dung tempering in archaeological ceramics is relatively rare. The aim of this study is to ascertain whether, and under which conditions, dung tempering of pottery is identifiable. To answer these questions, we assessed whether a combination of micro-particle analysis in loose sediment and thin-section petrography can reveal the addition of dung to the clay paste by focusing on faecal spherulites, ash pseudomorphs, phytoliths and coprophilous fungal spores. We analysed several series of experimentally produced ceramic briquettes tempered with different types of dung and dung ash, which were fired at a range of increasing temperatures. Our study shows that the identification of dung tempering represents a challenge, and it depends on a number of different factors, among others the original presence of dung markers in the dung used, the manufacturing process, the firing temperatures and the firing atmosphere. Overall, through a multidisciplinary approach, our work clarifies a variety of issues connected to the identification of dung in ancient pottery, highlighting the role of faecal spherulites as the most promising proxy. This work was supported by the Excellence Initiative of the Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen and the Ministry for Science, Research, and Art of Baden-Württemberg. SGA’s work has been funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie H2020-MSCA-IF-2017, grant agreement number 794823, MapDung project.

Objective The objective of the article is to address the following fundamental questions: First, to what extent can Bronze Age maritime technology in Mesopotamia and the Gulf be considered an example of historical innovation, given the limited set of evidence? Second, what are the challenges of effectively measuring and analyzing maritime technological “innovation” in this period? Third, what methodologies have been recently developed to help us better understand these innovations? Methods The method relies on historical‐archaeological analysis of the evidence as well as experimental archaeological reconstruction. Results The study suggest that while the archaeological and textual evidence clearly shows that innovations took place, the paucity of that evidence limits any detailed analysis of innovation. Conclusion Due to the limited data currently available to us, maritime experimental archaeology provides the best methodology for potentially understanding these innovations until further archaeological discoveries are made related to the subject.

Archaeological collections are foundational to the discipline. Yet, researchers who study curated assemblages can face challenges. Here, we show how experimental archaeology can play a vital role in the interpretation of old archaeological collections. The Welling site, in Coshocton County, Ohio, is a multicomponent, stratified site with a substantial Clovis component in its lower levels. Using experimental flaked stone replication, we create an analog model of a “pure” Clovis bifacial debitage assemblage, as might be found at a lithic workshop. We predicted that if the Welling Clovis debitage assemblage was representative of a lithic workshop, then it would be similar to the experimental model. If the debitage assemblage was representative of a base camp, however, then it would be significantly different from the model because Clovis people would have been using, transporting, resharpening, rejuvenating, and recycling the debitage—all activities that would modify a “pure” Clovis bifacial debitage assemblage. Our statistical analyses supported the latter prediction. Overall, our study illustrates how productive the integration of experimental and archaeological data can be, and it emphasizes how important the curation and accessibility of both archaeological and experimental collections are to the discipline.

Minute disc beads from the prehistoric American Southwest often exhibit perforations finer than 0.75 mm in diameter. Early archaeologists postulated that these tiny perforations were created with o...

Newly described Oldowan stone tools from Swartkrans Member 1 Lower Bank have highlighted important differences in raw material use and knapping methods when compared to Sterkfontein Member 5 East. ...

A camera trap was set near a greater kudu bull carcass for 3 weeks at the start of winter. The carcass lay in an open savanna setting on a game farm in Limpopo, and it was visited by leopard, brown...

En este aporte se presentan resultados de estudios experimentales, petrográficos y de difracción de rayos X (DRX) tendientes a determinar el origen de las materias primas utilizadas por los alfareros de El Sunchal (Anfama, Tucumán) durante el primer milenio de la Era. Para ello, se ha identificado la ubicación de probables fuentes de aprovisionamiento en el valle, evaluando la factibilidad de utilización y calidad de distintas vetas mediante la realización de muestras experimentales. Las briquetas resultantes de la experimentación se compararon con las pastas arqueológicas de los grupos tecnológicos principales, a partir de la observación petrográfica de veintidós cortes delgados, y de DRX de siete fragmentos. Los resultados obtenidos permitirían plantear la proveniencia local de las materias primas utilizadas. This contribution presents results of experimental, petrographic and X-ray diffraction (XRD) studies aimed at determining social practices linked to obtaining raw materials used by potters of El Sunchal (Anfama, Tucumán) during the first millennium A.D. For these purposes, the location of probable sources of supply in the valley has been identified, evaluating the feasibility of use and quality from the realization of experimental samples. The briquettes resulting from the experimentation were compared with the archaeological pastes of the main technological groups, based on the petrographic observation of twenty-two thin cuts, and seven fragment XRD. The results obtained would allow us to state the local origin of the raw materials used. Fil: Franco, Francisco. Centro de Estudios Historicos "prof. Carlos S.a. Segreti". Instituto de Estudios Historicos. - Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Cientificas y Tecnicas. Centro Cientifico Tecnologico Conicet - Cordoba. Instituto de Estudios Historicos.; Argentina

Archaeological deposits build up inside standing buildings both under and between floors and these have the potential to provide considerable information about human behavior in the past. Under and between floor spaces provide a unique depositional environment that allow the survival of rare and fragile organic materials that typically do not survive in other archaeological contexts, including paper, cardboard, fabric and other fibres, seeds, leather, and human hair and skin cells. However, they require a clear understanding of depositional processes to allow their interpretation. Experimental archaeology was conducted to understand the process of artifact deposition and the interpretation of underfloor deposits in twelve standing buildings in Western Australia. Floors were built and a range of artifacts swept across them to determine how artifacts travelled across floorboards or fell through gaps between boards. Size, shape, and angularity of artifacts were key determinants of the likelihood of deposition. Sweeping activity makes it more likely that material will be deposited around the margins of rooms, and particularly, to either side of doorways. Underfloor deposits excavated from two specific Western Australian buildings, Ellensbrook Homestead, and the York Residency Museum, are interpreted based on the results of these experiments.

In Late Pleistocene North America colonizing hunter-gatherers knapped and used Clovis fluted projectile points. During their expansion the size and shape of Clovis points changed significantly. Arc...

The perforated stone battle-axes and axe-hammers of Early Bronze Age Britain have been used either to interpret the status of individuals they were buried with or have been overlooked; this is especially the case with axe-hammers. Previous understandings have assumed battle-axes were purely ceremonial, while the rougher axe-hammers were neither functional nor prestigious, being too large and too crude to be prestige items. Studies of the 20th century were focused on creating a typology and understanding the manufacture and petrological sources of the stone, concluding that haphazard exploitation of stone was used to create a variety of different shapes of both implements. This paper revisits the question of how these artefacts were used. It presents the results of the first large-scale application of use-wear analysis to British Early Bronze Age battle-axes and axe-hammers, from northern Britain and the Isle of Man. Combining the results of the wear analysis with experimental archaeology and contextual analysis, it is argued that these objects were functional tools, some of which saw prolonged use that might have spanned multiple users. The evidence shows that the few implements found in burial contexts were both functional and symbolic; their inclusion in burial contexts drawing upon relational links which developed through the itineraries of these objects. It is also apparent that use and treatment were similar across all types of battle-axe and axe-hammer, with some regional variation in the deposition of axe-hammers in south-west Scotland. It is concluded that battle-axes and axe-hammers had varied and multiple roles and significances and that it is possible to discover what each artefact was used for by deploying a use-wear analysis methodology.

This article presents a pilot experiment conducted to better understand how Middle Pleistocene hominins might have processed and exploited elephants using simple stone and bone tools. The experimen...

This paper focuses on the functional analysis of a specific oval shaped basin diffused in Lower Egyptian Predynastic sites during the first half of the 4th millennium BC. These oval shallow ceramic basins are characterised by a flat and wide inner surface that is covered by a layer of small rock fragments pressed into the clay matrix. Several archeologists have interpreted them as grinding tools, but the limited number of samples unearthed thus far and their poor state of preservation made this interpretation uncertain. Here we present the results of a preliminary integrated study based on the combination of experimental archaeology and petrographic, use-wear and residue analyses carried out on two samples from the Predynastic site of Maadi. The use-wear analysis of the archaeological fragments highlighted traces of an intentional grinding and light pounding of oily substances, which is also partially supported by the organic residue investigation. These results were tested through experimental tests that confirmed these basins are most likely mortars. Establishing the actual functional activities performed in such a unique type of vessel is important not only for understanding the social behaviors of the Lower Egyptian Predynastic communities and the dynamics related to the diffusion of such basins, but it also provides a new methodological framework for Egyptian Predynastic studies.

Recent survey in the Gulf of Carpentaria region of northern Australia has identified a unique assemblage of miniature and small-scale stencilled motifs depicting anthropomorphs, material culture, macropod tracks and linear designs. The unusual sizes and shapes of these motifs raise questions about the types of material used for the stencil templates. Drawing on ethnographic data and experimental archaeology, the authors argue that the motifs were created with a previously undocumented stencilling technique using miniature models sculpted from beeswax. The results suggest that beeswax and other malleable and adhesive resins may have played a more significant role in creating stencilled motifs than previously thought.

The aim of this paper is to discuss methodological issues of comparative tool mark studies (with special attention to decorative punched motifs), using a case study on sheet-gold metalwork from the Middle and Late Avar Period (7th–8th centuries AD). The historical interpretation of tool marks on nonferrous metalwork1 can take place at different levels of complexity. In some cases, the identification of products from the same craftsperson is possible, via the identification of specific tools. However, when interpreting the results of comparative tool mark studies, many aspects are relevant, including individual variations in tool usage. In this context, experimental archaeology can facilitate the interpretation of tool marks, as is demonstrated in a preliminary study on two types of punches, which are common on high-quality metalwork from the Avar Period.

The article presents a new picture of sword fighting in Middle and Late Bronze Age Europe developed through theBronze Age Combat Project. The project investigated the uses of Bronze Age swords, shields, and spears by combining integrated experimental archaeology and metalwork wear analysis. The research is grounded in an explicit and replicable methodology providing a blueprint for future experimentation with, and wear analysis of, prehistoric copper-alloy weapons. We present a four-step experimental methodology including both controlled and actualistic experiments. The experimental results informed the wear analysis of 110 Middle and Late Bronze Age swords from Britain and Italy. The research has generated new understandings of prehistoric combat, including diagnostic and undiagnostic combat marks and how to interpret them; how to hold and use a Bronze Age sword; the degree of skill and training required for proficient combat; the realities of Bronze Age swordplay including the frequency of blade-on-blade contact; the body parts and areas targeted by prehistoric sword fencers; and the evolution of fighting styles in Britain and Italy from the late 2nd to the early 1st millennia BC.All primary data discussed in the article are available as supplementary material (Appendix) so as to allow scrutiny and validation of the research results.

The practice of cremation is often interpreted as an alternative to inhumation, taking place shortly after an individual’s death. However, cremation could be a final stage in complex mortuary practices, with previous steps that are obscured due to the heating process. This project reports on experimental scoping research on a set of experimentally heated femoral fragments from modern and archaeological collections of the University of Coimbra. Sixteen recent femur samples from eight individuals, as well as five femur samples from an archaeological skeleton from the medieval-modern cemetery found at the Hospital de Santo António (Porto), were included in this research. Samples presented five different conditions: unburnt, and burnt at maximum temperatures of 300 °C, 500 °C, 700 °C and 900 °C. Each sample was prepared to allow observation using binocular transmitted light microscopes with ×10, ×25 and ×40 magnifications. Results indicated that, if burial led to bioerosion, this will remain visible despite burning, as could be in cases where cremation was used as a funerary practice following inhumation. From this, we conclude that the observation of bioerosion lesions in histological thin sections of cremated bone can be used to interpret potential pre-cremation treatment of the body, with application possibilities for both archaeological and forensic contexts. However, the effect on bioerosion of substances such as bacterial- or enzymatic-based products often used to accelerate decomposition should be investigated.

Experimental studies have shown that significant carbon exchange occurs between bone-apatite and the pyre atmosphere during cremation, which can cause a calendar date offset between the radiocarbon (14C) event and the date of cremation. There are limited empirical data available to assess the magnitude of such wood-age offsets, but the aim of this paper is to test if they can be modeled statistically. We present new14C dates on modern bone cremated in realistic open-air experiments and on archaeological samples of cremated bone and associated organic material. Experimental results demonstrate a wide range of carbon exchange with a mean of 58.6 ± 14.8%. Archaeological results indicate that the wood-age offsets have an approximately exponential distribution. We test whether the default Charcoal Outlier_Model in OxCal v4.3, developed to reduce the impact of wood-age offsets in dates of charcoal, is appropriate for cremated bone, but find that it slightly underestimates apparent offsets. To counter the intrinsic age of both pyre fuel and unburned bio-apatite, we instead propose a bespoke Cremation Outlier_Model, which combines an exponential distribution of calendar age offsets with a minimum offset, and provides better estimates of the actual dates of cremations.

Eksperimentalna arheologija je kao poddisciplina arheologije definisana šezdesetih godina 20. veka, međutim, njeni začeci se mogu videti još u 19. veku. Razvoj eksperimentalne arheologije odslikava i teorijsko-metodološke promene kroz koje je prolazila celokupna arheologija. Eksperimentalna arheologija je prošla kroz brojne transformacije - od pojedinačnih eksperimenata u 19. veku i prvoj polovini 20. veka, preko definisanja teorijsko-metodološkog okvira, sve do današnjih dana. Budući da se najpotpuniji podaci mogu dobiti prilikom sprovođenja kompleksnih eksperimenata, u kojima učestvuje veliki broj stručnjaka iz različitih oblasti arheologije, u drugoj polovini 20. formiraju se istraživački centri eksperimentalne arheologije. U ovakvim centrima, eksperimentalni arheolozi prave čitava naselja iz različitih perioda prošlosti. Atraktivnost ovih naselja i mogućnost praktičnog prenosa znanja na širu javnost otvara ova naselja za posetioce. Stvara se novi koncept muzeja - arheološki muzej na otvorenom, čiji broj raste iz godine u godinu. Interesovanje za otkrivanje života u prošlosti raste, te pored muzeja na otvorenom, javljaju se i brojne emisije, a u poslednjih neokoliko godina, i specijalizovani jutjub kanali koji se bave tradicionalnim zanatima. Na taj način, iz eksperimentalne arheologije nastaje iskustvena arheologija, čiji je fokus upravo u prenosu znanja preko ličnih doživljaja, kako arheologa, tako i šire javnosti. Cilj ovog rada je da se prikaže razvoj eksperimentalne i iskustvene arheologije, kako u svetu, tako i u Srbiji. Experimental archaeology, as a sub-discipline of archaeology, was defined in the second half of the 20th century, but its origins date back to the 19th century. The beginnings of experimental archaeology can only be defined as individual small-scale experiments, without any theoretical base. Those experiments were conducted for the sake of the experiments alone and their results were not compared with other research data. Changes in experimental archaeology follow theoretical and methodological changes in archaeology. Therefore, logical positivism of the processual archaeology was the perfect base for the establishment of experimental archaeology. The hypothetico-deductive method of the new archaeology has remained the main methodological approach in experimental archaeology up until today. In this paper, the formation and changes in experimental archaeology were presented, illustrating different stages that this sub-discipline went through. The first examples of experimental archaeology in Serbia date back to the late 1970s and the early 1980s, but those experiments were isolated cases. The real emergence of experimental archaeology in Serbia occurred during the first and second decade of the 21st century. Experiments were more frequent in the last decade, and several experimental archaeologists have obtained formal education in this field. Unfortunately, these experiments are still small-scale research activities, conducted without proper funding, fuelled mostly by individual enthusiasm. Examples from the rest of the world have shown that experimental archaeology has to be institutionalised in some way, so that the research could reach its full capacity and so that new generations of experimental archaeologists could be produced. In order for the experimental archaeology in Serbia to grow and develop further, there is a necessity for institutionalisation of experimental archaeology, by opening either an independent research centre or a department within some of the existing institutions. During the second half of the 20th century, large scale and long-lasting experiments started to be conducted, involving not only experimental archaeologists, but specialists from different fields of archaeology. As the number of experimental archaeologists and the complexity of experiments grew, the need for the foundation of formal institutions emerged. Research centres for experimental archaeology were formed in different European countries. In those centres, whole settlements were being reconstructed, including houses, farms, workshops and objects. Opening those centres for the public made a major impact on archaeology and presentation of the past. A new museum type was born - archaeological open-air museum. Those museums consisted of reconstructed settlements from different time periods, showing a variety of activities that people conducted in the past, including, but not limited to: pottery, basketry, textile, stone tool production and metal smelting. In a short period of time, a number of archaeological open-air museums appeared all over Europe, gaining popularity with the public. Seeing the appeal of the mysteries of the past, television houses started making television series which showed different aspects of life, from Prehistory to the Middle Ages and beyond. Now, there is a number of shows and specialised television channels dedicated exclusively to the past - events, intriguing people or everyday activities. The considerable technological progress and the emergence of YouTube gave birth to specialised YouTube channels, which demonstrate various traditional crafts all over the world. However, open air museums, television shows and YouTube channels cannot be considered experimental archaeology, as they lack the theoretical base and obligatory methodological approach. They do offer the experience of the past, so they cannot be classified as experimental, but rather as experiential archaeology.

Experimental archaeology continues to mature methodologically and theoretically. Around the world, practitioners are increasingly using modern materials that would have been unavailable to prehistoric people in archaeological experiments. The use of a modern material substitute can offer several benefits to experimental method, design, control, replicability, feasibility, and cost, but it should be directly compared to its “traditional” analogue to understand similarities and differences. Here, aluminum is introduced as a substitute for chert in prehistoric ballistics research because, critically, aluminum is safe, inexpensive, easy to process, and it and chert possess densities that differ by less than 4%. The aluminum casting process for replicating stone artifacts is presented, and it is shown that the aluminum castings are essentially identical in form, flake-scar patterning, and mass to their stone counterparts. We then present a proof-of-concept ballistics experiment that demonstrates no difference between aluminum and stone points in terms of target penetration.

En este registro se adjuntan el texto original en ruso del artículo y su traducción al español. The authors had the good fortune to participate since 1993 in the research studies at the Bronze Age mining and metallurgical complex of Kargaly, thanks to the generous invitation by its director, Dr. Evgeni N. Chernykh. To be part of his team was an extremely enriching experience for them as scientists, bringing the authors into contact with the actual problems, traditions and practice of Russian archaeology in the context of such an important project. Furthermore, the experience was relevant in terms of the human and personal grounds. The participation in the Kargaly team allowed the authors to know first hand a group of colleagues with whom they have been linked since then by friendship, comradeship and intense and fruitful scientific exchange. This is the case of Serguey V. Kuzminykh. The authors learned a lot from him about science and life thanks to that extraordinary opportunity to share seasons of fieldwork in the steppe, working sessions in Moscow, and meetings in many other places. This paper is intended as an approach to that experience and a tribute to Kuzminykh as a scientist and as a person.

Based on recent insights about intensive soil husbandry by some Neolithic farmers combined with the required techniques for efficient use of stone tools, this research questions the emphasis in the experimental archaeology literature on felling of large trees by stone-axe-wielding males working alone. To reflect conditions after the short fallows now thought to have been favored by farmers using stone tools, young (8–12 years) and small (3.5–5.6 cm diameter) Quercus hemisphaerica (laurel oak) trees were felled in this study by both male and female participants. Felling with a stone axe required an average of 75 more strokes than for felling a similar sized tree with a steel axe. One novel finding in this study is that when the Quercus hemisphaerica (laurel oak) saplings were bent over/tensioned by a co-worker, the predicted numbers of felling strokes declined by 123 (73%) for stone axes and by 15 (72%) for steel axes. We also observed no effect of sex on felling efficiency with stone axes. These results suggest that stone-tool wielding farmers of both sexes worked together to clear trees from their fallowed fields.

Carreaux de pavement is a type of mediaeval tile common in northwestern Europe, whose method of producing has been unknown until now. In this article, the kiln firing conditions of the unique carreaux de pavement found in the Iberian Peninsula were determined by comparing the physicochemical and mineralogical properties of the archaeological tiles with those of some reproductions of the tile's body manufactured in the laboratory (replica) made by varying the firing temperature and time, as well as the sample size and thickness. The resistance to acid digestion exhibited by the fired samples was especially revealed. According to the results and the modelling performance with the collected data, it was established that the maximum firing temperature was between 900 and 975 °C, and the time was longer than 24 h. These results show the technology used by mediaeval French potters and are a basis for future studies.