Editing Experimental archaeology

{{short description|Archaeological sub-discipline}}
[[File:ExpArchTreeFelling.jpg|thumb|Experimental tree felling with reconstructed [[adze]]s of the [[Linear Pottery culture]] for the analysis of stress marks on the adze blades and ghost lines on the tree stump and the timber in comparison with marks on archaeological finds]]
[[File:Lehmflechtwand-erstellen-Wikingerzeit.jpg|thumb|200px|Creating a wall of mud in the Viking style.]]

'''Experimental archaeology''' (also called '''experiment archaeology''') is a field of study which attempts to generate and test archaeological [[Hypothesis|hypotheses]], usually by replicating or approximating the feasibility of ancient cultures performing various tasks or feats. It employs a number of methods, techniques, analyses, and approaches, based upon [[Archaeology|archaeological]] source material such as ancient [[structure]]s or [[Artifact (archaeology)|artifacts]].<ref>Experimental archaeology is "Within the context of a controllable imitative experiment to replicate past phenomena in order to generate and test hypotheses to provide or enhance analogies for archaeological interpretation" (Mathieu, 12)</ref>

It is distinct from uses of primitive technology without any concern for archaeological or historical study. [[Living history]] and [[historical reenactment]], which are generally undertaken as hobbies, are non-archaeological counterparts of this academic discipline.

One of the main forms of experimental archaeology is the creation of copies of historical structures using only historically accurate technologies. This is sometimes known as '''reconstruction archaeology''' or '''reconstructional archaeology'''; however, reconstruction implies an exact replica of the past, when it is in fact just one person's idea of the past; the more archaeologically correct term is a ''working construction of the past''. In recent years, experimental archaeology has been featured in several television productions, such as [[BBC]]'s "Building the Impossible"<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0369083/|title=Building the Impossible|via=www.imdb.com}}</ref> and the [[PBS]]'s ''[[Secrets of Lost Empires]]''.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/lostempires/|title=NOVA Online – Secrets of Lost Empires|website=www.pbs.org}}</ref> Most notable were the attempts to create several of Leonardo da Vinci's designs from his sketchbooks, such as his 15th century armed fighting vehicle.

== Examples ==

=== Butser Ancient Farm ===
[[File:Stone Age Horton Hall at Butser Ancient Farm.jpg|thumb|Butser Ancient Farm's reconstruction of a Stone Age house found in Hampshire, UK.]]
One of the earliest examples is [[Butser Ancient Farm]], which recreates buildings from UK archaeology to test theories of construction, use, and materials. Today, the site features a working [[Stone Age]] [[farm]], a [[Bronze Age]] [[Roundhouse (dwelling)|roundhouse]], [[Iron Age]] village, [[Roman villa]], and [[Anglo-Saxons|Saxon]] long halls.<ref>{{Cite web |title=About Us |url=https://www.butserancientfarm.co.uk/about-us |access-date=2022-09-07 |website=Butser Ancient Farm |language=en-US}}</ref> The work carried out at Butser has been instrumental in establishing experimental archaeology as a legitimate archaeological discipline, as well as assisted in bringing study of prehistory to the UK school curriculum.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Aston |first=Mick |date=2001-10-05 |title=Obituary: Peter Reynolds |url=http://www.theguardian.com/news/2001/oct/05/guardianobituaries.humanities |access-date=2022-09-07 |website=the Guardian |language=en}}</ref>

Butser still carries out [[long-term experiment]]s in prehistoric agriculture, animal husbandry, and manufacturing to test ideas posited by archaeologists, as well as introducing visitors to the discipline.

=== Lejre Land of Legends ===
Another early example is the [[Land of Legends (Sagnlandet Lejre)|Lejre Land of Legends]], the oldest open-air museum in [[Denmark]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Sagnlandet Lejre (DK) {{!}} EXARC |url=https://exarc.net/members/venues/sagnlandet-lejre-dk |access-date=2022-09-07 |website=exarc.net}}</ref> The site features reconstructed buildings from the Stone Age, Iron Age, [[Viking Age|Viking era]], and 19th century, and runs experiments on prehistoric living and technologies.

=== Other examples ===
* The [[Kon-Tiki expedition|''Kon-Tiki'' expedition]] (1947), a [[balsa]] raft built by [[Thor Heyerdahl]], sailed from [[Peru]] to [[Polynesia]] to demonstrate the possibility of cultural exchange between [[South America]] and the Polynesian islands.
* Attempts to transport large stones like those used in [[Stonehenge]] over short distances using only technology that would have been available at the time. The original stones were probably moved from [[Pembrokeshire]] to the site on [[Salisbury Plain]].
* Since the 1970s the re-construction of timber framed buildings has informed understanding of early Anglo Saxon buildings at [[West Stow]], Suffolk, England. This extensive program of research through experiment and experience continues today.
* The reconstruction of part of [[Hadrian's Wall]] at [[Vindolanda]], carried out in limited time by local volunteers.
* Greek [[trireme]]s have been reconstructed by skilled sailors from plans and archaeological remains and have been successfully tried at sea.
* Attempts to manufacture steel that matches all the characteristics of [[Damascus steel]], whose original manufacturing techniques have been lost for centuries, including [[computational fluid dynamics]] reconstructions by the [[University of Exeter]] of the [[Sri Lanka]] furnaces at Samanalawewa, thought to be the most likely sources for Damascus steel.
* Experiments using reproduction [[Bâton de commandement|bâtons de commandement]] as [[spear]] throwers.
* [[Guédelon Castle]], a medieval construction project located in [[Treigny]], France.
* [[Ozark Medieval Fortress]], a defunct sister project to Guédelon.
* The [[Pamunkey Project]] – [[Errett Callahan]] led a series of extended Late Woodland living experiences in [[Tidewater Virginia]].
* [https://worldatlatl.org The World Atlatl Association], an organization devoted to the use and research of [[atlatl]]s, helped lobby for the legalization of atlatls as a means of deer hunting in Missouri.
* [[Marcus Junkelmann]] constructed Roman devices and gear for various museums. He also tested and analyzed them in various reenactments, among them a group of [[Legionary|legionaries]] in full authentic gear crossing the [[Alps]]  from [[Verona]] to [[Augsburg]].
* Ma'agen Michael II, a replica of a 2,400-year-old merchantman; built by Haifa University and the Israel Antiquities Authority
* Reconstruction of Galileo's Experiment: the inclined plane.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.u-picardie.fr/~dellis/Documents/PhysicsEducation/Reconstruction%20of%20Galileo%20Galilei.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=2012-09-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120913235506/http://www.u-picardie.fr/~dellis/Documents/PhysicsEducation/Reconstruction%20of%20Galileo%20Galilei.pdf |archive-date=2012-09-13 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
* Reconstruction of Lomonosov's discovery of Venus's atmosphere.<ref>{{cite journal|title=Experimental Reconstruction of Lomonosov's Discovery of Venus's Atmosphere with Antique Refractors During the 2012 Transit of Venus|first1=Alexandre|last1=Koukarine|first2=Igor|last2=Nesterenko|first3=Yuri|last3=Petrunin|first4=Vladimir|last4=Shiltsev|date=1 November 2013|journal=Solar System Research|volume=47|issue=6|pages=487–490|doi=10.1134/S0038094613060038|arxiv=1208.5286|bibcode=2013SoSyR..47..487K|s2cid=119201160}}</ref>
* Construction of a [[monastic community]] according to the ninth-century [[Plan of Saint Gall]] at [[Campus Galli]].
* [[Janet Stephens]] utilizing her own skill as a hairdresser to reconstruct Roman-era hairstyles, rebutting previously held theories about single-prong pins being used to hold them in place.
* [[Ben Marwick]] trampled experimentally-produced flaked stone artefacts into sediments excavated from [[Malakunanja II]] to show that it was unlikely that they had moved extensively through the deposit during the Pleistocene.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Marwick|first1=Ben|last2=Hayes|first2=Elspeth|last3=Clarkson|first3=Chris|last4=Fullagar|first4=Richard|title=Movement of lithics by trampling: An experiment in the Madjedbebe sediments, northern Australia|journal=Journal of Archaeological Science|date=March 2017|volume=79|pages=73–85|doi=10.1016/j.jas.2017.01.008|url=https://ro.uow.edu.au/smhpapers/4466}}</ref>
* [[Killian Driscoll]] undertook a series of experiments to examine the prehistoric use of vein [[quartz]].<ref>{{cite thesis|last1=Driscoll|first1=Killian|title=Understanding quartz technology in early prehistoric Ireland|date=2010|publisher=University College Dublin|url=http://www.lithicsireland.ie/phd_quartz_lithic_technology_contents.html}}</ref> This involved experimental [[knapping]] to understand the fracture mechanics of the material;<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Driscoll|first1=Killian|title=Vein quartz in lithic traditions: an analysis based on experimental archaeology|journal=Journal of Archaeological Science|date=2011|volume=38|issue=3|pages=734–745|url=http://www.lithicsireland.ie/killian_driscoll_publications_2011_vein_quartz_lithic_traditions_analysis_experimental_archaeology_abstract.html|doi=10.1016/j.jas.2010.10.027}}</ref> the experimental burning of quartz;<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Driscoll|first1=Killian|last2=Menuge|first2=Julian|title=Recognising burnt vein quartz artefacts in archaeological assemblages|journal=Journal of Archaeological Science|date=2011|volume=38|issue=9|pages=2251–2260|url=http://www.lithicsireland.ie/killian_driscoll_publications_2011_recognising_burnt_vein_quartz_artefacts_archaeological_assemblages_abstract.html|doi=10.1016/j.jas.2011.03.028}}</ref> and an experiment designed to investigate the ease of identification of stone tools made from quartz;<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Driscoll|first1=Killian|title= Identifying and classifying vein quartz artefacts: an experiment conducted at the World Archaeological Congress, 2008|journal=Archaeometry|date=2011|volume=53|issue=6|pages=1280–1296|url=http://www.lithicsireland.ie/killian_driscoll_publications_2011_identifying_classifying_quartz_artefacts_experiment_archaeometry_abstract.html|doi=10.1111/j.1475-4754.2011.00600.x}}</ref> this series was added to by an experiment that examined the effects of trampling on quartz tools compared to flint.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Driscoll|first1=K|last2=Alcaina|first2=J|last3=Égüez|first3=N|last4=Mangado|first4=X|last5=Fullola|first5=J-M.|last6=Tejero|first6=J-M.|title=Trampled under foot: A quartz and chert human trampling experiment at the Cova del Parco rock shelter, Spain|journal=Quaternary International|date=2016|volume=424|pages=130–142|url=http://www.lithicsireland.ie/killian_driscoll_publications_2016_quartz_chert_trampling_experiment_abstract.html|doi=10.1016/j.quaint.2015.04.054|bibcode=2016QuInt.424..130D}}</ref>
* Beginning in the 1980s, a project to build an [[Iron Age]] [[Roundhouse (dwelling)|Roundhouse]] was led by a teacher at [[Cranborne]] Middle School. In 2002, the site was expanded into the [[Cranborne Ancient Technology Centre]] with an additional [[Vikings|Viking]] [[Longhouse]] and [[Neolithic]] dwellings that are all used for educational purposes.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://ancienttechnologycentre.com/about-us|title=Stone Age, Bronze Age, Iron Age, Roman, Anglo Saxon & Viking School Trips|website=Ancient Technology centre|language=en-GB|access-date=2020-02-05}}</ref>
* At [[University College Dublin]], Ireland, the Centre for Experimental Archaeology and Material Culture (founded 2012) is one of the only university campus facilities of this type for experimental archaeological research and teaching in the world.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/medieval-hut-at-ucd-burned-down-in-arson-attack-1.3898671|title=Medieval hut at UCD burned down in 'arson' attack|first=Sorcha|last=Pollak|newspaper=The Irish Times}}</ref> Their work has involved [[Mesolithic]], early medieval and [[Viking Ireland|Viking Age]] houses, [[pottery]], stone, flint, [[chert]], and quartz technologies; [[bronze]], iron and glass-working; and food production.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.ucd.ie/archaeology/ceamc/|title=UCD School of Archaeology|website=www.ucd.ie}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://twitter.com/earchaeol?lang=en|title=ExperimentArchaeolog (@EArchaeol) &#124; Twitter|website=twitter.com}}</ref>
* Sutton Hoo Ships Company based in Woodbridge, Suffolk, UK is a 4-year project to build a full size reconstruction of the Sutton Hoo burial ship excavated by Basil Brown at [[Sutton Hoo]] in 1939. The reconstruction process is attempting to discover and use traditional boat building skills and methods that might have been used by the Anglo Saxon shipbuilders of the time.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Sutton Hoo Ship's Company |url=https://saxonship.org/ |access-date=2024-08-23 |website=saxonship.org}}</ref>

== Variations ==
[[File:Guedelon forge, France.jpg|thumb|Experimental medieval forge]]
Other types of experimental archaeology may involve burying modern replica artifacts and [[ecofact]]s for varying lengths of time to analyse the post-depositional effects on them. Other archaeologists have built modern [[Earthworks (engineering)|earthworks]] and measured the effects of silting in the ditches and weathering and subsidence on the banks to understand better how ancient monuments would have looked. One example is [[Overton Down]] in England.

The work of [[flintknapper]]s is also a kind of experimental archaeology as much has been learnt about the many different types of flint tools through the hands-on approach of actually making them. Experimental archaeologists have equipped modern professional butchers, archers and lumberjacks with replica flint tools to judge how effective they would have been for certain tasks. Use wear traces on the modern flint tools are compared to similar traces on archaeological artifacts, making probability hypotheses on the possible kind of use feasible. [[Hand axe]]s have been shown to be particularly effective at cutting animal meat from the bone and jointing it.

Another field of experimental archaeology is illustrated by the studies of the stone flaking abilities of humans ("novice knapper" studies) and of non-human primates. In the latter case it has been shown that, after human demonstrations, enculturated [[bonobo]]s are able to produce modified cores and flaked stones which are morphologically similar to early lithic industries in East Africa.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Schick|first1=Kathy|last2=Toth|first2=Nicholas|last3=Garufi|first3=Gary|last4=Savage-Rumbaugh|first4=E. Sue|last5=Rumbaugh|first5=Duane|last6=Seveik|first6=Rose|title=Continuing Insestigations into the Stone Tool-making and Tool-using Capabilities of a Bonobo (Pan panisus)|journal=Journal of Archaeological Science|date=1999|volume=26|issue=7|pages=821–832|doi=10.1006/jasc.1998.0350}}<!--|access-date=20 October 2014--></ref>

Historians working on costume and fashion have made reconstructions of garments, including [[farthingale]]s, which can give a better understanding of clothing types and textile crafts known only from archival records or depictions in portraits.<ref>Sarah A. Bendall, ''Shaping Feminity: Foundation Garments the Body and Women in Early Modern England'' (Bloomsbury, 2022), pp. 145–152.</ref>

== In popular culture ==
The subject has proven popular enough to spawn several re-creation-type television shows:
* The 1978 [[BBC]] TV series ''[[Living in the Past (TV series)|Living in the Past]]'' re-created life in an [[Iron Age]] village with 15 volunteers over a period of 13 months.
* [[Discovery Channel]]'s ''I, Caveman''<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.incubatortv.com/i-caveman/ |title=I, Caveman &#124; the Incubator |access-date=2011-10-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111113051925/http://www.incubatortv.com/i-caveman/ |archive-date=2011-11-13 |url-status=dead }}</ref> and ''I, Caveman : The Great Hunt''<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.amazon.com/I-Caveman-The-Great-Hunt/dp/B005RUXET2|title = Watch Curiosity Volume 1 &#124; Prime Video|website = Amazon}}</ref>
* [[Channel 4|Channel 4's]] ''[[Time Team]]''
* Discovery Channel's ''The Colony''<ref>{{cite web |url=http://dsc.discovery.com/tv/colony/about/colony.html |title=The Colony: About the Show : Discovery Channel |access-date=2009-07-15 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100723105706/http://dsc.discovery.com/tv/colony/about/colony.html |archive-date=2010-07-23}}</ref> seasons 1 and 2 showed aspects of experimental archaeology
* Discovery Channel's ''[[MythBusters]]'' often conduct experimental archaeology to test the capability of mythical ancient weapons, including [[Archimedes]]' death ray and the tree cannon, as well as testing the capabilities of known weapons including the [[hwacha]], wood vs. stone arrowheads, and the effects of cannonballs and splintering.
* The [[BBC]] has several re-creation [[BBC historic farm series|farm series]], including ''[[Tudor Monastery Farm]]'', ''[[Tales from the Green Valley]]'', ''[[Victorian Farm]]'', ''[[Edwardian Farm]]'', and ''[[Wartime Farm]]''.
* [[BBC Two]] has a series on the construction of [[Guédelon Castle]]: ''[[Secrets of the Castle]]''.
* UK based experimental archaeologist James Dilley of [https://www.ancientcraft.co.uk/ AncientCraft] and the University of Southampton researches the production of tools and artefacts from the Palaeolithic to late Bronze Age. As well as demonstrating his findings frequently on TV programs, his work is on display in the British Museum and Stonehenge. His recent work is exploring hunting strategies of Upper Palaeolithic people in Europe and Bronze Age copper-alloy mould use.

== See also ==
* [[Experimental archaeometallurgy]]
* [[Reverse engineering]]
* [[Butser Ancient Farm]]

== Notes ==
{{reflist}}

== References ==
{{refbegin}}
* Ascher, Robert (1961): ''Experimental archeology.'' in: American Anthropologist (Menasha) 63, 4: pp 793–816.
* Ascher, Robert (1970): ''Cues 1: design and construction of an experimental archaeological structure.'' in: American Antiquity (Washington) 35, 2: pp 215–216.
* Coles, John Morton (1979), ''Experimental archaeology'', London a.o.: Academic Press, {{ISBN|0-12-179750-3}} / {{ISBN|0-12-179752-X}}, 274 pp. Republished 2010, {{ISBN|978-1-932846-26-3}}.
* [http://www.lithicsireland.ie/phd_quartz_lithic_technology_contents.html Driscoll, Killian (2010). Understanding quartz technology in early prehistoric Ireland.]
* [http://www.lithicsireland.ie/killian_driscoll_publications_2011_identifying_classifying_quartz_artefacts_experiment_archaeometry_abstract.html Driscoll, Killian (2011). "Identifying and classifying vein quartz artefacts: an experiment conducted at the World Archaeological Congress, 2008". Archaeometry. 53.]
* [http://www.lithicsireland.ie/killian_driscoll_publications_2011_vein_quartz_lithic_traditions_analysis_experimental_archaeology_abstract.html Driscoll, Killian (2011). "Vein quartz in lithic traditions: an analysis based on experimental archaeology". Journal of Archaeological Science. 38.]
* [http://www.lithicsireland.ie/killian_driscoll_publications_2016_quartz_chert_trampling_experiment_abstract.html Driscoll, K; Alcaina, J; Égüez, N; Mangado, X; Fullola, J-M.; Tejero, J-M. (2016). "Trampled under foot: A quartz and chert human trampling experiment at the Cova del Parco rock shelter, Spain". Quaternary International. 424.]
* [http://www.lithicsireland.ie/killian_driscoll_publications_2011_recognising_burnt_vein_quartz_artefacts_archaeological_assemblages_abstract.html Driscoll, Killian; Menuge, Julian (2011). "Recognising burnt vein quartz artefacts in archaeological assemblages". Journal of Archaeological Science. 38.]
* Ingersoll, Daniel W., Yellen, John E., Macdonald, William (editors), (1977), ''Experimental archaeology'', New York, {{ISBN|0-231-03658-2}}, 432 pp.
* Mathieu, James R. (editor), (2002), ''Experimental archaeology, replicating past objects, behaviors and processes'', BAR International Series 1035, Oxford, {{ISBN|1-84171-415-1}}.
* Reynolds, Peter J. (n.y.): [https://web.archive.org/web/20060404051146/http://www.butser.org.uk/iafexp_hcc.html The Nature of Experiment in Archaeology].
* Stone, Peter; Planel, Phillipe, (1999), ''The Constructed past. Experimental archaeology, education and the public'', Routledge: One World Archaeology Series, {{ISBN|0-415-11768-2}}, 296 pp.
* [[Ruth Tringham|Tringham, Ruth]] (1978), ''Experimentation, ethnoarchaeology, and the leapfrogs in archaeological methodology.'' in: Gould, Richard A. (editor): ''Explorations in ethnoarchaeology.'' Albuquerque, pp 169–199.
* Verhoeven, J.D., Pendray, A.H., Dauksch, W.E., (1998), ''[http://www.tms.org/pubs/journals/JOM/9809/Verhoeven-9809.html The Key Role of Impurities in Ancient Damascus Steel Blades]'', in: JOM, 50 (9) (1998), pp.&nbsp;58–64.
{{refend}}

== External links ==
{{Commons category|Experimental archaeology}}
* [http://www.butser.org.uk/ Butser Ancient Farm], Hampshire, UK
* [http://www.handshouse.org/ Handshouse Studio], Norwell, MA
* [http://www.sagnlandet.dk/ The Lejre Land Of Legends], Denmark
* [http://www.exarc.net/ EXARC], the International association of Archaeological Open Air Museums and Experimental Archaeology
* [http://exar.org/ EXAR] the European Association for the advancement of archaeology by experiment
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20111207075307/http://humanities.exeter.ac.uk/archaeology/research/themes/experimentalarchaeology/ The University of Exeter] MA in experimental archaeology
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20101018055821/http://www.shef.ac.uk/archaeology/prospectivepg/masters/experimental.html The University of Sheffield] MSc in experimental archaeology
* [http://www.weststow.org/ West Stow] Anglo-Saxon Village
* [http://www.lithicsireland.ie/index.html Stone tool experimental archaeology]
* [https://www.ucd.ie/archaeology/ceamc/ UCD School of Archaeology] Centre for Experimental Archaeology and Material Culture at University College Dublin
* [https://www.universiteitleiden.nl/en/archaeology/archaeological-sciences/material-culture-studies Material Culture Studies] Material Culture Studies at Leiden University

{{Archaeology}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Experimental archaeology| ]]