Abstract:

With Experiments Past the important role that experimental archaeology has played in the development of archaeology is finally uncovered and understood. Experimental archaeology is a method to attempt to replicate archaeological artefacts and/or processes to test certain hypotheses or discover information about those artefacts and/or processes. It has been a key part of archaeology for well over a century, but such experiments are often embedded in wider research, conducted in isolation or never published or reported.

Experiments Past provides readers with a glimpse of experimental work and experience that was previously inaccessible due to language, geographic and documentation barriers, while establishing a historical context for the issues confronting experimental archaeology today. This volume contains formal papers on the history of experimental methodologies in archaeology, as well as personal experiences of the development of experimental archaeology from early leaders in the field, such as Hans-Ole Hansen. Also represented in these chapters are the histories of experimental approaches to taphonomy, the archaeology of boats, building structures and agricultural practices, as well as narratives on how experimental archaeology has developed on a national level in several European countries and its role in encouraging a wide-scale interest and engagement with the past.

Contents

Introduction
Roeland Paardekooper & Jodi Reeves Flores

The History of Experimental Archaeology in Croatia
Andrea Jerkušic

History of Experimental Archaeology in Latvia
Arturs Tomsons

Experimental Archaeology in Ireland: Its Past and Potential for the Future
Tríona Sørensen & Aidan O’Sullivan

Experimental Archaeology in France: a History of the Discipline
Guillaume Reich & Damien Linder

Experimental Archaeology in Spain
Javier Baena et al.

The Developmental Steps Of Experimental Archaeology In Greece Through Key Historical Replicative Experiments And Reconstructions
Spyros Bakas & Nikolaos Kleisiaris

The Role of Experimental Archaeology in (West) German Universities from 1946 Onwards – Initial Remarks
Martin Schmidt

Ruminating on the Past: A History of Digestive Taphonomy in Experimental Archaeology
Don O’Meara

The History and Development of Archaeological Open-Air Museums in Europe
Roeland Paardekooper

Experience and Experiment
Hans-Ole Hansen

Experimental Archaeology in Denmark 1960-1980 – As Seen Through the Letters of Robert Thomsen
Henriette Lyngstrøm

The Origins of Experimental Archaeology in Catalonia: The Experimental Area of L’Esquerda
Imma Ollich-Castanyer et al.

Building, Burning, Digging and Imagining: Trying to Approach the Prehistoric Dwelling (Experiments Conducted by the National University of Arts in Romania)
Dragos Gheorgiu

From Ship-Find to Sea-Going Reconstruction: Experimental Maritime Archaeology at the Viking Ship Museum in Roskilde
Morten Ravn et al.

Experimental iron smelting in the research on reconstruction of the bloomery process in the Swietokrzyskie (Holy Cross) Mountains. Poland.
Szymon Orzechowski & Andrzej Przychodni

Engaging Experiments: From Silent Cultural Heritage To Active Social Memory
Lars Holten