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Most current archaeological exhibitions were created in the last 15 years. They appeared particularly in places where there was a significant regional tradition guaranteeing market demand of tourism, often presenting results of recent rescue excavations. Some of the exhibitions partially introduce fashion influences, such as continuing popularity of the Celtic issue. There is also a growing development of archaeological "open-air museums" which often produce a variety of high-quality experiential activities and replace the absence of original artefacts and exhibitions of non-museum institutions which are currently starting to compete with traditional museums. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By mid-2012, the Learning Partnership Didarchtik had come to an end with a last workshop at Butser Ancient Farm in the UK. Many subjects we had touched on over the previous two years were back on the table – just as needed: this was the moment to look back on our experiences and see if we had learned something. Besides wrapping up our experiences, it was an extra-long workshop that including getting to know one of the oldest archaeological open-air museums in the UK.

When in 2004 I asked Tomas Johansson for advice on my plans for a PhD in archaeological open-air museums, he quite rightly told me, “Bodil Petersson already did that, read the book”. Now, after finishing my own PhD in 2012, it is time to publish a review on this book and share its merits. Petersson is a Swedish archaeologist who wrote her thesis in 2003 reflecting on archaeological (re)constructions and their functions, forms and goals as well as their relation to archaeology.

This article is based on personal experiences and observations conducted through many years as a volunteer at the Middle Age Centre in Denmark and later as a student at the Open Air Museum, Sorgenfri, Denmark. Observations and remarks made are solely personal and the article reflects thoughts I have had throughout the years. The article is based on a report I wrote during a class at university in 2009 and many things may have changed in the way both museums incorporate living history. However, the points made are still valid.

Archaeology Starts Just Outside Your Door! Experimental archaeology in Austria carries a name: Hofrat Dr Helmut ‘Hugo’ Windl (born 1944). Windl, has, from the start of his academic career, stood strong for the establishment of this practical form of research in the Alp Republic. Over the last couple of years he has enjoyed being retired and is, before anything else, a granddad. However he has not yet let go of the pleasure of experimental archaeology.

This article is a result of my interest in, and experience with, archaeological open-air museums. With the start of HOME Eindhoven in 1982, I became actively involved in these museums and I was one of the people involved from the first moment in EXARC. From 2005 onward, I have been conducting postgraduate research at the University of Exeter into archaeological open-air museums. This paper was presented at the farewell conference for Ernest Mols, 30 January 2010.

The International Conference on archaeological open-air museums and experimental archaeology: An Opportunity for the Promotion of the Tourist Industry, sponsored financially by the Norwegian Financial Mechanism, was held in the Carpathian Troy Open-Air Archaeological Museum in Trzcinica, Poland, on 9 – 10 June 2011. The Conference was organised as part of the project entitled The Carpathian Troy archaeological open-air museum, Trzcinica: An Opportunity for the Development of Tourism and was attended by over 50 persons from Poland and abroad, representatives of various scholarly disciplines and professions. Papers were delivered by archaeologists, regional and cultural geographers, experts on the tourist industry, and conservation specialists.

In 2011 the archaeological open-air museum Oerlinghausen (member of EXARC) turned 75 years old, and with that it is one of the oldest archaeological open-air museums in the world. It is, at least, oldest Germanic open-air museum.

This review concerns the article "Roseldorf rekonstruiert – Ein keltischen Heiligtums entsteht in Asparn an der Zaya" published in EuroREA 6/2009.

Nestled among the rolling hills of the South Downs National Park, Butser Ancient Farm in Chalton has been an archaeological research site since 1972. The farm was originally set up on Little Butser, a spur of Butser Hill. It was established with support from the Council for British Archaeology as a site for archaeologists to test their theories, and under the influence of the first appointed director Peter Reynolds became a centre of excellence for experimental archaeology in Britain. In 1991 the farm moved to its present site at Bascomb Copse to become an independent organisation. The farm is easily accessible, well signposted just off the A3 between London and Portsmouth, but in a more sheltered position with less traffic and modern day noise.

With Jānis Apals, who died at the age of 80 after a short illness, the international world of experimental archaeology looses a valued friend and colleague. EXARC remembers Jānis Apals as an energetic archaeologist, standing strong for his ideas and always willing to explain about the beauty of Latvia and, very importantly, its wonderful past as revealed through archaeology.

Investigating Domestic Craft and Subsistence Activities through Experiments and Material Analysis Leiden University currently coordinates the project "Putting Life in Neolithic Houses". Th is will take until 2025 and is funded by the Dutch Research Council NWO. Besides EXARC, other partners are: BIAX Consult Biological Archaeology & Environmental Reconstruction, Stichting LAB (Leids Archeospecialistisch Bureau), Woud en Beek, York University, Rijksdienst voor het Cultureel Erfgoed, Masamuda, Studio Kelvin Wilson, Het Stenen Tijdperk, and TGVideo. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the early days of the Weald & Downland Open Air Museum, from September 1970, there was a Saxon building on the site, which was one of only two archaeological reconstructions at the museum. This original sunken-floor Saxon building is no longer standing but, after several years in the planning, a new project saw the construction in 2015 of another Saxon building, the Saxon Hall from Steyning. The building was formally opened by the VIPs from a local school in October 2016. This article considers the development of over five years; charts the training and construction phases of the building and how plans for its interpretation have evolved, including most recently during the COVID restrictions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The motivation and purpose of the RETOLD project is to capture and preserve the wealth of data from evidence informing building reconstructions and craft processes of open-air museums. These data urgently need to be collected and documented in a standardised form, so that they can be used for applied research and thus disseminated to expand knowledge of material and intangible heritage, including stories and traditional craftsmanship. Additionally, the project seeks to develop and use alternative formats of oral histories as a way of share intangible cultural heritage with a wide audience. From an artistic point of view, immersive media are to date under-explored in terms of their creative potential, particularly in cultural and heritage contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As part of the EU project RETOLD, the Stadtmuseum Berlin in Germany is responsible for creating standardised documentation strategies for archaeological house models and evaluating them by engaging with the open-air museums of Astra in Romania and the Steinzeitpark Dithmarschen in Germany. In order to start creating these workflows, as a first step, other open-air museum were approached asking them to share their existing documentation forms and workflows, if any. Most open-air museums did not have existing workflows, confirming the need for this project in the first place. Of the 21 Museums approached, six did not reply, eight replied but had no standardised documentation forms and only seven did use regular documentation procedures and shared them with the project. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The origins of the European RETOLD project, led by the international association EXARC, lie in a concern to preserve the heritage generated by archaeological open-air museums through the creation of a standardised system for collecting, digitising and disseminating knowledge (memories) of the processes of building reconstruction and handcrafted objects. The project has a duration of four years (January 2021 to December 2024) and will be realised through the creation of a platform where these memories can be stored in digital format, available both for technical staff and for the non-specialist public through, for example, the creation of narratives (storytelling) derived from the memories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Archaeological site museums may not be that well defined worldwide, yet, they are found almost everywhere. Archaeological sites with reconstructed buildings based on archaeology however seem to be a younger phenomenon and are mainly concentrated in Europe, Japan and North America. Both types of museums however have old roots. Important is not so much the site per se, but the message the management wants to bring across, how they like the site to be interpreted. Reconstruction is then one of the options. Prospects for archaeological sites with a museum function are, like for all museums, critical: one must find relevance of the museum in modern society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Butser Ancient Farm has been at the forefront of experimental archaeology in Britain for more than 45 years. The pioneering work of its first director Dr Peter Reynolds in the evaluation of Iron Age structures and agriculture demonstrated beyond doubt the importance of experiment in archaeology in the UK and international experimental archaeology work. Butser Ancient Farm has focused particularly on archaeological reconstructions in more recent years, while both expanding and extending its scope beyond the Iron Age. The expansion began in 2003 with a Romano-British villa and has proceeded since 2014 to encompass the Neolithic and Anglo-Saxon periods. The site now has 12 major experimental buildings with numerous ancillary structures. The pace of expansion has necessitated the careful consideration of strategies to document, record and store key information about the archaeology from which the buildings were derived; the rationale and processes involved in their construction; practical and financial aspects of construction; interpretation and usage of the buildings; recording of subsequent phases of research including the documentation of their decay and of archaeology derived from their demise. Beyond the obvious material considerations, we are also developing methodologies for capturing the experiential impressions of those involved in the construction and later use of the buildings. Key to this process is our newly implemented digital storage file protocol, the objective is to allow users to store data with consistency, clarity, ease of use and organised in such a way that search and retrieval is intuitive and efficient. This brief paper aims to provide an illustration of the system with the ambition of contributing to the discussion of implementing a system to store and share information on a broad, consistent, international platform. It is vital to document the process and the methods of construction thoroughly. In effect this creates a future use instruction manual, as well as a resource to draw from for later publications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is not so much: "what can society do for museums", but "what canmuseums do for society", a continued appeal to museums to step outof the glass case that surrounds them and bridge with other entitiesin society. Archaeological open-air museums should aim to find common groundwith their visitors, they should answer the question: why is thestory my museum is telling relevant to visitors? We need each other to see what is on the horizon for allthese museums; that is the added value of international cooperation.EXARC builds bridges between the museums, offering a structure tolean back upon and a common language between museum professionals. Also, with a language barrier, our museums are the perfectplace to explain, in a hands-on manner, about the past of the regionaround the museum: New Land to the refugees, Old Land to others. [Extracted from the article]

Keywords: archaeological open-air museum; (re)construction; museum; public; Era(s); Iron Age; Country; United Kingdom Key to the whole sitewill be the new museum showcasing the Crannog centre's collections,two or three crannogs in order to accommodate school groups properly(along with a dedicated Learning Centre) and an Iron Age 'village'consisting of a range of timber framed, thatched round houses and afarm. Archaeological open-air museum, (re)construction, museum, public, Era(s), Iron Age, Country, United Kingdom. [Extracted from the article]

The archaeological monuments from Saharna-Tiglau arerepresented by an open settlement and a tumuli necropolis,attributed to the Cozia-Saharna culture which existed betweenthe 10th to 8th centuries BC. Under the conduct of the "Thracology" Scientific ResearchLaboratory, Saharna-Tiglau has been preparing work at theSaharna-Tiglau outdoor archaeological park since 2008. Thereconstruction model proposed by Ivan Litsuk (See Figure 1)(Kasuba, 2007) was used as a model for the reconstruction ofthe Cozia-Saharna habitat in Saharna-Tiglau. These two cases formed thedocumentary-methodological support for the realization of thereconstruction experiment of the living space characteristic tothe Cozia-Saharna culture. [Extracted from the article]

Keywords: review; archaeological open-air museum; living history; life experiment; book; Era(s); Mesolithic; Newest Era; Country; Germany In 125 pages, WernerPfeifer (following: author) presents a collection of pictures andimpressions from a project at the open-air museumSteinzeitpark Dithmarschen at Albersdorf (Dithmarschencounty, Schleswig-Holstein/Germany). If it was not the author's intention to suggest a returnto a Mesolithic lifestyle in order to save the world, the almostpolitically resonating message of the epilogue is unnecessaryand shows no real connection to the book's content. [Extracted from the article]

In 1939, a boy called Horst Trzeciak was playing on a piece of land on the outskirts of Berlin. While playing, he found a number of pottery sherds. In an exemplary fashion he brought the sherds to the "Märkisches Provinzialmuseum", which was, at that time, the city museum of Berlin. The sherds were identified as medieval and catalogued. After WWII, the city of Berlin was divided, the "Märkisches Provinzialmuseum" landed on the eastern side of the wall. Archaeologists working in the western part of Berlin began researching the medieval colonization of Berlin and Brandenburg. While investigating potential sites for research excavations, they came across the sherds found in 1939. As the sherds could be dated to the medieval period around 1200 AD, the site was deemed suitable for better understanding the change in settlement patterns during that period. From 1967, the site was excavated as part of a DFG project (DFG=German Research Association). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The traditional way of engaging the public with the past has changed: now, through experimental archaeology, we can have a direct, physical contact with the "past". But, as researchers know, the means used to engage the public are the fruits of an active process of investigation, especially in experimental archaeology. Could it be possible to enable visitors to actively engage in the questioning of the past, to let them experience the discovery process? In this paper, which illustrates the work-in-progress of my PhD (Exploring the uses of Experimental Archaeology at European AOAMs, IRC GOIPG/2017, UCD, Dublin IE), the preliminary results of a qualitative inquiry on experimental archaeology best practices will be illustrated. The study is observing the experimental archaeology phenomenon from a social science perspective highlighting the interactions existing among three major categories (AOAMs, Academic Institutions, and Independent Activities). In detail, the survey was designed to produce data on the meaning constellations under the umbrella term "experimental archaeology", to explore research potential in the dynamic among the categories under scrutiny, and to provide a baseline for the mapping of job market interactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]