Experimental tree felling with reconstructedadzes of theLinear 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 findsCreating a wall of mud in theViking style.
Experimental archaeology (also calledexperiment archaeology[citation needed]) is a field of study which attempts to generate and test archaeologicalhypotheses, 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 uponarchaeological source material such as ancientstructures orartifacts.[1]
It is distinct from uses of primitive technology without any concern for archaeological or historical study.Living history andhistorical 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 asreconstruction archaeology orreconstructional archaeology[citation needed]; 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 aworking construction of the past.[citation needed] In recent years, experimental archaeology has been featured in several television productions, such asBBC's "Building the Impossible"[2] and thePBS'sSecrets of Lost Empires.[3] 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.
Butser Ancient Farm's reconstruction of a Stone Age house found in Hampshire, UK.
One of the earliest examples isButser Ancient Farm, which recreates buildings from UK archaeology to test theories of construction, use, and materials. Today, the site features a workingStone Agefarm, aBronze Ageroundhouse,Iron Age village,Roman villa, andSaxon long halls.[4] 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.[5]
Butser still carries outlong-term experiments in prehistoric agriculture, animal husbandry, and manufacturing to test ideas posited by archaeologists, as well as introducing visitors to the discipline.
Another early example is theLejre Land of Legends, the oldest open-air museum inDenmark.[6] The site features reconstructed buildings from the Stone Age, Iron Age,Viking era, and 19th century, and runs experiments on prehistoric living and technologies.
Attempts to transport large stones like those used inStonehenge over short distances using only technology that would have been available at the time. The original stones were probably moved fromPembrokeshire to the site onSalisbury Plain.
Since the 1970s the re-construction of timber framed buildings has informed understanding of early Anglo Saxon buildings atWest Stow, Suffolk, England. This extensive program of research through experiment and experience continues today.
The reconstruction of part ofHadrian's Wall atVindolanda, carried out in limited time by local volunteers.
Greektriremes 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 ofDamascus steel, whose original manufacturing techniques have been lost for centuries, includingcomputational fluid dynamics reconstructions by theUniversity of Exeter of theSri Lanka furnaces at Samanalawewa, thought to be the most likely sources for Damascus steel.
The World Atlatl Association, an organization devoted to the use and research ofatlatls, 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 oflegionaries in full authentic gear crossing theAlps fromVerona toAugsburg.
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.[7]
Reconstruction of Lomonosov's discovery of Venus's atmosphere.[8]
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 fromMalakunanja II to show that it was unlikely that they had moved extensively through the deposit during the Pleistocene.[9]
Killian Driscoll undertook a series of experiments to examine the prehistoric use of veinquartz.[10] This involved experimentalknapping to understand the fracture mechanics of the material;[11] the experimental burning of quartz;[12] and an experiment designed to investigate the ease of identification of stone tools made from quartz;[13] this series was added to by an experiment that examined the effects of trampling on quartz tools compared to flint.[14]
AtUniversity 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.[16] Their work has involvedMesolithic, early medieval andViking Age houses,pottery, stone, flint,chert, and quartz technologies;bronze, iron and glass-working; and food production.[17][18]
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 atSutton 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.[19]
Other types of experimental archaeology may involve burying modern replica artifacts andecofacts for varying lengths of time to analyse the post-depositional effects on them. Other archaeologists have built modernearthworks 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 isOverton Down in England.
The work offlintknappers 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 axes 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, enculturatedbonobos are able to produce modified cores and flaked stones which are morphologically similar to early lithic industries in East Africa.[20]
Historians working on costume and fashion have made reconstructions of garments, includingfarthingales, which can give a better understanding of clothing types and textile crafts known only from archival records or depictions in portraits.[21][22]
Discovery Channel'sThe Colony[25] seasons 1 and 2 showed aspects of experimental archaeology
Discovery Channel'sMythBusters often conduct experimental archaeology to test the capability of mythical ancient weapons, includingArchimedes' death ray and the tree cannon, as well as testing the capabilities of known weapons including thehwacha, wood vs. stone arrowheads, and the effects of cannonballs and splintering.
UK based experimental archaeologist James Dilley ofAncientCraft 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.
^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)
^Koukarine, Alexandre; Nesterenko, Igor; Petrunin, Yuri; Shiltsev, Vladimir (1 November 2013). "Experimental Reconstruction of Lomonosov's Discovery of Venus's Atmosphere with Antique Refractors During the 2012 Transit of Venus".Solar System Research.47 (6):487–490.arXiv:1208.5286.Bibcode:2013SoSyR..47..487K.doi:10.1134/S0038094613060038.S2CID119201160.
^Schick, Kathy; Toth, Nicholas; Garufi, Gary; Savage-Rumbaugh, E. Sue; Rumbaugh, Duane; Seveik, Rose (1999). "Continuing Insestigations into the Stone Tool-making and Tool-using Capabilities of a Bonobo (Pan panisus)".Journal of Archaeological Science.26 (7):821–832.Bibcode:1999JArSc..26..821S.doi:10.1006/jasc.1998.0350.
^Sarah A. Bendall,Shaping Feminity: Foundation Garments the Body and Women in Early Modern England (Bloomsbury, 2022), pp. 145–152.
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.
Ingersoll, Daniel W., Yellen, John E., Macdonald, William (editors), (1977),Experimental archaeology, New York,ISBN0-231-03658-2, 432 pp.
Mathieu, James R. (editor), (2002),Experimental archaeology, replicating past objects, behaviors and processes, BAR International Series 1035, Oxford,ISBN1-84171-415-1.
Stone, Peter; Planel, Phillipe, (1999),The Constructed past. Experimental archaeology, education and the public, Routledge: One World Archaeology Series,ISBN0-415-11768-2, 296 pp.
Tringham, Ruth (1978),Experimentation, ethnoarchaeology, and the leapfrogs in archaeological methodology. in: Gould, Richard A. (editor):Explorations in ethnoarchaeology. Albuquerque, pp 169–199.
Kean, Sam (2025).Dinner with King Tut: How Rogue Archaeologists Are Re-Creating the Sights, Sounds, Smells, and Tastes of Lost Civilizations. New York: Little Brown & Company.ISBN978-0-316-49654-4.OCLC1523374688,1523121903.
