Newest Era
Book Review: Sailing into the Past: Learning from Replica Ships by Jenny Bennett (ed)
There must be hundreds of wooden ship replicas across the world, not only the ‘Viking ships’ in Scandinavia, but – as the book Sailing into the past shows, there are many medieval and more recent ones...
The Theory of the Archaeological Raft: Motivation, Method, and Madness in Experimental Archaeology
Between 1947 and 2006, nearly forty expeditions set out in recreated maritime drift vessels to demonstrate hypotheses with varying levels of relevance to archaeology and cultural diffusion. This paper divides the motivations of these expeditions into four major categories...
Book Review: Experimental Archaeology by John Coles
It may appear odd or redundant to reprint a book that was published in 1979. The subject will have moved on, more will have been discovered, new techniques will have been developed. But this is partly the point: Experimental Archaeology by John Coles is a foundation text for the subject as a whole...
"But if you don't get any IRON..." Towards an Effective Method for Small Iron Smelting Furnaces
Building and operating a small bloomery iron furnace is certainly a wonderful public demonstration for any museum or living history site. It is however a complex technical process, with many individual factors combining for success. Over the last decade in North America, small teams of blacksmiths have developed predictable working methods through trial and much error. This direct practical experience can provide some insights into questions that even the best researched theories may not be able to solve.
The Experiment and the Umbrella - 10 Years of Experimental Archaeology
WEA’s Latest Life Experiment
The WEA, Society for Experimental Archaeology, is a sub-society of the NJBG, the Dutch Historical Youth Association. It is formed by youngsters aged 12 to 26 who enjoy participating in several aspects of living history. WEA offers them a chance to learn about history, set up their own archaeological experiments, and the opportunity to participate in living history for example by learning a...
Interview: Sensing History with Hans-Ole Hansen
An interview with Hans-Ole Hansen, founding father of the Lejre Research Centre (DK), historical workshops and inspirer to many.
"In Lejre, we worked 30 years with education and experiment. There is always an exchange between education and research."...