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Archaeological Open-Air Museums (AOAMs) are well established in the international museum landscape, and today more than 350 of these sites can be counted in Europe alone. These museums differ considerably from one another, and each of them presents specific and unique features. Their identity strongly depends on several occurrences, such as the period in which they were founded, the stakeholders who conceived them (private, public, entrepreneurs, academics, amateurs, et cetera), and the cultural paradigms on which they rely. Given the different circumstances that shape them, it is not easy to draw a prototype of an AOAM, and many typologies of sites can easily follow under this name. Starting from these premises, this contribution intends to introduce the first AOAM's classification, based on two main attributes, such as the chronological periods displayed and the location of the AOAM. The article aims to propose a shared terminology to easily describe the AOAMs and refer to their main characteristics with a short and straightforward formula.

In this article, we share our enriching experiences during internships at two prominent Archaeological Open-Air Museums in Europe: preHistorisch Dorp in the Netherlands and Butser Ancient Farm in the UK. Motivated by our passion for experimental archaeology, we embarked on this journey to contribute to the development of this field in Romania. At preHistorisch Dorp, we immersed ourselves in various historical periods, participating in activities ranging from exploring exhibits to restoring Roman walls. Our hands-on tasks, including working with clay, allowed us to connect with the museum's history and engage with visitors. Accommodated within the museum, we explored not only the exhibits but also the surrounding areas, fostering an informal and enjoyable atmosphere. The adventure continued at Butser Ancient Farm in the UK, where we were exposed to diverse activities aligned with the museum's focus on experimental archaeology. From administering medicine to animals to participating in house dismantling and bronze casting, we gained practical insights into ancient technologies and agricultural practices. We also experienced the educational aspect of the museum by interacting with school groups. Our article concludes with our expression of eagerness to contribute to the establishment of an Open-Air Museum/Experimental Archaeology Park in Romania. The immersive experiences at preHistorisch Dorp and Butser Ancient Farm not only deepened our understanding of experimental archaeology and museum education but also inspired us to bring these best practices to our home country. The journey, funded by the Erasmus+ program, expanded our academic horizons and laid the foundation for future collaborations and knowledge sharing.

The Stone Age Park Dithmarschen in Albersdorf (Germany) is an archaeological open-air museum focussing on the Stone Age. It consists of an outdoor park area of about 40 hectares. This includes archaeological monuments, reconstructed Mesolithic and Neolithic buildings and a recently opened museum building with an exhibition of original artifacts. Like in any other museum, our challenge is to save and document information, especially information relating to practical work techniques and craft skills, in a sustainable way for future museum generations. Because of the evolving situation regarding these concerns the Stone Age Park joined Retold in 2020.

In 2019 a substantial building, based on archaeological evidence of early British Neolithic dwelllings, was constructed by site staff, volunteers, and staff of Wessex Archaeology at the Experimental Archaeology site, Butser Ancient Farm in Hampshire, England. The archaeological feature on which our building was based was excavated in 2012 by Wessex Archaeology as part of a pre-extraction programme of investigation at the Kingsmead Quarry, Horton, in Berkshire England. Structures with very similar ground plans have also been recorded in Ireland. Such specific morphological similarities, their sudden appearance and disappearance over a very narrow chronology suggests a ‘type’, of unusual form and unknown origin. This article explores issues that were faced during the design and construction of the building and the light those issues shed upon the peculiarities of these structures. This paper seeks to question the straightforward interpretation of this class of building ‘simply’ as a ‘house' and explores, tentatively, alternate interpretations of structure and usage.

After two years of implementing the RETOLD Project, we made a SWOT Analysis of the current stage of using digital technology in the daily activities of open-air museums, as far as documentation, digitization and sharing heritage are concerned. The analysis was made based on the answers from a questionnaire applied in the three partner museums involved in the projects: Stiftung Stadmuseum Berlin (i.e. Museumsdorf Dueppel and Steinzeitpark Dithmarschen, both from Germany) and ASTRA Museum from Romania, first at the beginning of the project, then halfway through its development, and it will also be applied at the end. We must outline from the beginning that there are differences between the three museums regarding their profile - two of them are archaeological open-air museums and one is an ethnographical open-air museum - and also as far as their different institutional capacity, given by the size of the institution and number of personnel, is concerned.

As part of the SUN (#S_U_N) initiative, NGO "Chorna Galych" and colleagues from National and cultural reserve “Davnij Halych”, participated in the “Gyvosios archeologijos dienos Kernavėje XXIII” (Live archaeology day in Kernave - https://www.facebook.com/events/2378148619026377), that was held between July 6-9, 2023. The event was held at the historical and cultural reserve "Kernavės archeologinė vietovė", which is an archaeological monument and considered the ancient capital of Lithuania.

Randa Ardesca is an "Archaeosite", which means it is a place dedicated to experimental archaeology and living history. This type of site could also be an archaeological site, but Randa Ardesca is not because the excavations made in situ were not inconclusive. We are located in the south of France, in the region of Ardèche. Randa Ardesca opened its doors 10 years ago, with the goal of recreating a Celtic village from the Early Iron Age. This project is autonomous and is dedicated to experimental archaeology, with the aim of enhancing the research data and theory from archaeological sites with tried and tested methods.

Denmark has a long tradition in educational activities in reconstructed environments. Lejre, Sjælland is one of the oldest examples, but by now the country has over 25 smaller and larger education centres where school children learn about the archaeological past. A number of these sites are also open to the public. You will be able to find most of them via https://exarc.net/venues.

The Scottish Crannog Centre is a small Iron Age Museum, located on the South bank of Loch Tay, near the village of Kenmore. The Centre is currently in the process of moving to a new larger site, just across the waters of Loch Tay to the northern shores. On our journey to our new home of Dalerb we took the decision to embrace sustainability in all its forms and consider how we can highlight certain sustainable practices that can be seen in the archaeological record.

In October 2018, a conference took place in Southern Poland. It was attended mainly by people from Poland and Slovakia, but also included several EXARC members from abroad. The conference was titled “Archaeological Open-Air Museums: Reconstruction and Reenactment – Reality or Fiction?” which is also the title of this book which was published in 2022. The conference was the result of a cooperative project between Poland and Slovakia and took place at the Carpathian Troy Archaeological Open-air Museum near Krosno, Poland. The conference was reviewed in the EXARC Journal here: https://exarc.net/issue-2019-3/mm/conference-review-trzcinica-2018

Twah Longwar is an abandoned settlement located in the State of Meghalaya in North-East India. It is located enroute to one of the world's rainiest places on earth – Mawsynram. Twah Longwar is an abandoned settlement with remnants of over twenty old houses, an ancient market, and a burial site. In a place where rainfall is a concern but also a major tourist attraction, and where lost architectural styles are only documented in photographs and oral traditions, an archaeological open-air museum built from traditional 'earth friendly' materials will contribute immensely to showcasing the region's life-sized cultural history. This article will explain how a drone, LiDAR, GIS-based technologies and archaeological methodologies are used to create a digital reproduction of the settlement which is made available to everyone. This will allow those who are unable to travel to learn about Twah longwar's long-lost traditions. The procedure for physically reconstructing the settlement will also be demonstrated. The focus is also to take the museum outside the four walls of a building where generations to come will physically envision the legacy of indigenous architecture and social life, at the same time as safeguarding the environment in and around the site.

As our societies become more diverse and the demographics of heritage visitors change, many open-air museums are concerned about how to remain relevant. Making a shift to an activist approach is one way museums can evolve to better serve their visitors and community. Many traditional museums have adopted this approach, but relatively few open-air museums have done so. The experiment presented here tested the potential of a shared authority project in a ‘virtual’ open-air museum. Due to COVID, the study was done in an online format. Participants provided input on how to furnish a virtual roundhouse. They were surveyed before and after the activity about their ability to participate meaningfully in museum work, why they visit museums, and the goals of museums. The virtual format produced two data sets. The high level of consistency between archaeologists and non-archaeologists demonstrates that the public is very capable of engaging in this work at a high level. The survey data reveal that most participants feel more confident about engaging with museum work after completing the activity, and they view museums as a tool for empowerment. The data show that these projects can be effective at engaging visitors and deepening their thinking about the museum.

Since the year 2006 the Archaeological-Ecological Centre Albersdorf (AÖZA), Germany, has worked as an officially recognised partner for sustainable development on an institutional base for the Sustainable Development Goals of the UNO on a regional level. In this article the thematic background of the educational work in archaeology and ethnography will be connected with the practice of communication with our visitors in our open-air museum.

The Archaeological Institute of Hamburg University has been offering courses to students in the field of “Experimental Archaeology and Museum Pedagogy”, for over 15 years. These courses take place annually at the Archaeological/Oekological Center Albersdorf (AÖZA).

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

The Stone Age Park Dithmarschen in Albersdorf, Germany, is an archaeological open-air museum focused on the Stone Age. The museum joined the RETOLD project in 2020, which aims to document and digitize the stories of open-air museums. The project involves creating structured documentation and using digital techniques, such as 3D modeling, to share information about the museum's buildings and crafts. The museum faced challenges with language barriers and the cost of equipment, but the project provided guidance and support. The ultimate goal is to make the museum's stories accessible to a wider audience through digital platforms. [Extracted from the article]

Archaeological Open-Air Museums (AOAMs) are well established in the international museum landscape, and today more than 350 of these sites can be counted in Europe alone. These museums differ considerably from one another, and each of them presents specific and unique features. Their identity strongly depends on several occurrences, such as the period in which they were founded, the stakeholders who conceived them (private, public, entrepreneurs, academics, amateurs, et cetera), and the cultural paradigms on which they rely. Given the different circumstances that shape them, it is not easy to draw a prototype of an AOAM, and many typologies of sites can easily follow under this name. Starting from these premises, this contribution intends to introduce the first AOAM's classification, based on two main attributes, such as the chronological periods displayed and the location of the AOAM. The article aims to propose a shared terminology to easily describe the AOAMs and refer to their main characteristics with a short and straightforward formula. The new classification proposed in this article is intended as a first step in the direction of establishing a more complete set of tools to make the Archaeological Open-Air Museums main characters in the museological discourse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, we share our enriching experiences during internships at two prominent Archaeological Open-Air Museums in Europe: preHistorisch Dorp in the Netherlands and Butser Ancient Farm in the UK. Motivated by our passion for experimental archaeology, we embarked on this journey to contribute to the development of this field in Romania. At preHistorisch Dorp, we immersed ourselves in various historical periods, participating in activities ranging from exploring exhibits to restoring Roman walls. Our hands-on tasks, including working with clay, allowed us to connect with the museum's history and engage with visitors. Accommodated within the museum, we explored not only the exhibits but also the surrounding areas, fostering an informal and enjoyable atmosphere. The adventure continued at Butser Ancient Farm in the UK, where we were exposed to diverse activities aligned with the museum's focus on experimental archaeology. From administering medicine to animals to participating in house dismantling and bronze casting, we gained practical insights into ancient technologies and agricultural practices. We also experienced the educational aspect of the museum by interacting with school groups. Our article concludes with our expression of eagerness to contribute to the establishment of an Open-Air Museum/Experimental Archaeology Park in Romania. The immersive experiences at preHistorisch Dorp and Butser Ancient Farm not only deepened our understanding of experimental archaeology and museum education but also inspired us to bring these best practices to our home country. The journey, funded by the Erasmus+ program, expanded our academic horizons and laid the foundation for future collaborations and knowledge sharing. The experiences, living history, and storytelling that unfolded almost daily, along with discussions on experimental archaeology, ignited within us a desire for an Open-Air Museum/Experimental Archaeology Park in Romania. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After several years of archaeological excavations at Borg in Lofoten in the 1980s, Lofotr Viking Museum was established in 1995. The excavations uncovered an 83-meter longhouse dated to the Viking age. A copy of this longhouse, together with a copy of the Gokstad Viking ship, were built to make the core of the new museum above the arctic circle. Lofotr Viking Museum grew bigger as the years went by – both regarding building area, outdoor and indoor activities as well as visitor numbers. 2019 gave us about 105,000 visitors – all time high! - and we were looking forward to celebrating our 25 year jubilee in 2020 with lots of different, new events for a large audience. Then came the 12th of March, and all cultural activities were shut down due to the pandemic. Our visitor number dropped to 45.000 in 2020. Even so, we are optimists on behalf of all outdoor museums.

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.

This book is particularly welcomed within the scarce Italian literature on the topic of archaeological open-air museums. The lack of debate and accurate information on this type of museums in Italy, drove the author to put together this volume, seven years after the publication of Dr Paardekooper’s magistral “The Value of an Archaeological Open-Air Museum in its use” in 2012, often referred in this book.

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.

The conference in Documentation Strategies in (Archaeological) Open-air Museums, organised through the Experimental Archaeology Society (EXARC), was due to be held in Berlin on March 26th and 27th 2020. Unfortunately, the first half of March 2020 saw the spread of the Coronavirus pandemic throughout Europe which caused the implementation of government restrictions on travel and public gatherings. It seemed as if the EXARC Berlin conference, along with so many other archaeological events, would have to be cancelled. However, the organisers were determined to see it through, and so decided to adapt the event to an online platform. The speakers had already been asked to provide a recorded version of their presentations in case of individual Coronavirus-related cancellations, and so these recorded talks were used instead as the main content. Each video was uploaded to YouTube and a Discord page provided as a channel for discussion and questions during the course of the conference.

An EXARC 'call to arms' to reevaluate and develop your Open-Air Museum's interpretation strategy. The year 2020 started out for museums as usual, with plans for new exhibitions, new buildings even, and above all many events and visitors. Soon we saw how wrong we were. Open-air museums who had prepared to open up for the season found out that COVID-19 meant they were sitting ducks: no visitors, no income, no life in the museum area. The situation will not return to 'normal', we will have to think again about everything we were used to in our work. This article is an EXARC 'call to arms' to reevaluate and develop your Open-Air Museum's interpretation strategy.

Archaeological open-air museums form a colourful and varied assemblage of heritage institutions. These are places where stories about the past, inspired by archaeology, are presented. Their obvious use is for experimental archaeology, ancient crafts and live interpretation. However, these museums can be more relevant to society than meets the eye. They can teach newcomers about the past of their new habitation region; they can teach people fundamental learning in order to better cope with society and can show the big picture of environmental sustainability spanning millennia. Finally, archaeological open-air museums can teach their visitors a valuable lesson about political conscience and citizenship, including a debate on fake news. International cooperation is increasingly important for archaeological open-air museums and a necessity to survive and thrive. EXARC is an important network helping exactly with this. These museums need to improve, to believe in their strengths and unique selling points, and find new directions. A previous version of this article was published in German (Paardekooper, 2019).

The Scottish Crannog Centre is a small open-air archaeology museum on Loch Tay in Perthshire. It originally operated as a visitor attraction, giving people a glimpse into life in the Early Iron Age through demonstrations of ancient skills and guided tours of a reconstructed crannog – loch dwelling – based on discoveries and excavations made by the Scottish Trust for Underwater Archaeology.

The research of archaeological monuments in the Middle Dniester basin over the last two decades has highlighted a series of new data on the evolution of human communities during the first Iron Age (8th to 10th centuries BC), demonstrating the advanced level and original character of Cozia-Saharna communities (Каshuba, 2000; Niculiţă and Nicic, 2002; Niculiţă, et al., 2003; Niculiţă and Nicic, 2007; Niculiţă, Zanoci and Arnăut, 2007; Zanoci and Băţ, 2007; Kašuba, 2008, p.40; Niculiţă and Nicic, 2008; Niculiţă, et al., 2008).

Considering actual studies about the analysis of ancient DNA is an important question, if only the lifestyle or the population, too, changed when hunter-gatherers became farmers and stockbreeders. The results point so far towards the latter possibility. However, the foragers of the Northern European Ertebølle culture preserved their lifestyle for one millennium, even though they lived in neighboring areas with the Neolithic societies. It is debatable if the Mesolithic lifestyle and an environment with plentiful natural food resources made it unnecessary for the bearers of the Ertebølle culture to change their ways. In fact, only very little is known about this Mesolithic lifestyle, and the stone artefacts along with a few organic remains, which are naturally preserved, are the sole providers of clues.

In 2019 a substantial building, based on archaeological evidence of early British Neolithic dwelllings, was constructed by site staff, volunteers, and staff of Wessex Archaeology at the Experimental Archaeology site, Butser Ancient Farm in Hampshire, England. The archaeological feature on which our building was based was excavated in 2012 by Wessex Archaeology as part of a pre-extraction programme of investigation at the Kingsmead Quarry, Horton, in Berkshire England. Structures with very similar ground plans have also been recorded in Ireland. Such specific morphological similarities, their sudden appearance and disappearance over a very narrow chronology suggests a 'type', of unusual form and unknown origin. This article explores issues that were faced during the design and construction of the building and the light those issues shed upon the peculiarities of these structures. This paper seeks to question the straightforward interpretation of this class of building 'simply' as a 'house' and explores, tentatively, alternate interpretations of structure and usage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Some people believe that an open-air museum is a place where you leave your modern technique behind and go ‘low tech’. Other than the museums which act like digital free zones, many others experiment with going digital. Where experience and storytelling have always been the central concepts of archaeological open-air museums, exactly these ideas are behind many digital techniques. We have to pick up the public where they are and approach them as they are. We should use all the means at our audience hands to reach them, and not only in the open air, also in the digital world.

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).

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.

Jutta Eberhards has been working with drama and living history for over 30 years. Born in the Friesland district in Germany, Jutta has over the years become a power-house in the management group of Sagnlandet Lejre – The Land of Legends (www.sagnlandet.dk). She has been tirelessly working to uphold the standards of the educational method that she and her colleagues developed: Teacher in role and Presenter in role. In character as a Viking, Jutta inhabits the role of Japke, a völva and Viking woman. In this work, Jutta showed courage and open-mindedness in developing reenactment as a pedagogical and educational method, at a time when this was still relatively unknown in Danish museums and historical centres. Since then, the work of Jutta and her colleagues has inspired other historical institutions to take on living history and reenactment – in historical character and costumes – as an essential part of the presenter’s tools, either following the Lejre method directly or finding inspiration for developing methods of their own.

For over 25 years The Medieval Centre / Middelaldercentret in Nykøbing F. Denmark has used volunteers to inhabit the reconstructed medieval town of Sundkøbing. To combine the use of volunteers and living history is not easy or something that happens spontaneously. It is hard work and requires patience, strength and firmness, but also empathy, people skills, and leadership. Many museums have asked us how we successfully employ the use of volunteers without the volunteers taking over, or huge conflicts emerging. Therefore, in this article we will present our method, which has worked very well for us for many years. A note must first be made, that while this method is a success at our institution, it does not mean that it can be implimented / transferred directly to another museum. The model must be adapted to fit the museum and its volunteers. However, the basics of the model are easily used and should be applied in all museums that have volunteers as part of their staff. The article is written very much as a manual with a step by step method approach that takes the reader through the many details of working with volunteers. It is therefore not written in a very academic manner, but more in a DIY way. We hope it proves useful.

And so EXARC met again, this time in Lithuania, in Kernavė – an early medieval capital of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. This picturesque village was the location for the conference “Archaeology for the People” which EXARC co-organised with the State Cultural Reserve of Kernavė and with IMTAL-Europe. The Reserve of Kernavė is an old member of EXARC. IMTAL-Europe is a long-time cooperation partner of EXARC; they are, as is IMTAL-Europe with whom we previously organised a conference. a network for live historic costumed Interpretation.

‘What is experimental archaeology?’ people asked me. ‘But if you work within an experimental place, you won’t be able to put into practise the tools learned in your Masters about cultural heritage and museology’ said some of my classmates. However, for me it was really important to do my internship in a place where the archaeology was paramount; at the same time, I was interested in a site where there was an active and thriving education department. It is for these reasons that Butser Ancient Farm was the perfect choice to put into practice my interests: archaeology and education.

Björn M Buttler Jakobsen has recently turned 70. He has worked presenting history and archaeology since the 1970s. His background is as an engineer, film maker, entrepreneur and he can also call himself marine archaeologist.

Kernavė is one of the most picturesque places in Lithuania. Five hill-forts surround the wide valley of Pajauta. This place has always been visited by people not only for its sights but also for its aura of the distant past. Ever since people in Lithuania became more interested in history, Kernavė has been a symbol of the grandeur of Lithuania’s past.

In early March, three EXARC members organized a networking day focusing on archaeology, education and living history. They invited museum colleagues from both indoor and outdoor museums; ship wharfs building reconstructions of old ships, craftspeople, academics and entrepreneurs in these areas. Their motivation came from the knowledge that even in a small country like the Netherlands there is much to learn from people or organisations working with similar themes and issues. Following on from that, the sector is getting larger: we now see more living history events, reconstructions, and hands-on exhibitions and we are becoming more professional in our approaches.

The book Skanseny Archeologiczne i Archeologia Eksperymentalna published by the Podkarpackie Muzeum in 2012 brings up the subject of open-air museums, opportunities and disadvantages of the promotion of cultural tourism and experimental archaeology mainly in Poland but also in Slovakia. Articles presented in this book were prepared for two different conferences organised by this museum.

This volume of Experimentelle Archäologie in Europa does not only serve as 2017’s year book of the European Association for the advancement of archaeology by experiment (EXAR), but also acts as a Festschrift dedicated to Professor Mamoun Fansa, who celebrated his 70th birthday. Mamoun Fansa is one of the most influential figures in establishing experimental archaeology as a means of disseminating research results and public engagement in Germany, as well as central to the foundation of EXAR. Julia Heeb’s introduction dignifies his many important achievements towards the discipline and his past and current work.

This paper aims to present and discuss ongoing activities that combine Experimental Archaeology and Ethnoarchaeology developed in the scope of a master's degree, a post-doctoral and other research projects at the University of Vigo (Galicia, Spain), in collaboration with regional open-air museums and educational centres. Actions have focused on teaching about material properties and transformations, as well as on the design and application of experimental protocols, specially focused on archaeometallurgy. Within this framework, we have promoted the interest of archaeology students in this subject, and other specialised members of the public. As a result, a richer transfer of acquired knowledge from academia to the more general public has been reached.

On the 17th – 20th June 2015 40 participants of the 25th Archaeological working group East Bavaria/ West and south Bohemia/ Upper Austria, were hosted by the Upper Palatinate town Bärnau which lies on the border with the Czech Republic. The meeting took place in the conference hall of the Historic Park Bärnau-Tachov, a remarkable archaeological open-air museum which demonstrates architecture from the 9th to 13th centuries and the ways of life in this period.

Experimentelle Archäologie in Europa. Bilanz 2013 published by Gunter Schöbel and the European Association of Archaeology by Experiment e.V. is the product of the experimental archaeology conference AEAS/GAES, held between the 4th - 7th October 2012, Switzerland. The presented papers cover the period from the Mesolithicum to the Middle Ages, with topics including experiments, education and theory of archaeology. As a result, the book invites all readers to participate in active thinking and active experiments in experimental archaeology.