Experimental Archeology¹

Prehistoric copper production and technological reproduction in the Khao Wong Prachan Valley of Central Thailand

“…However, it was also noted that archaeological experiments seek to imitate past cultural patterning, whereas the Baconian experimental model was designed for modelling natural phenomena, and the two are thus, at some level, fundamentally different (e.g. Ascher 1961: 807, Coles 1979: 246, Henry 2002. Coles (1979: 243) also pragmatically acknowledged the inability of an archaeological experimental approach to provide absolute proof in relating reproduced materials to archaeological examples.…”

Plant processing strategies and their affect upon starch grain survival when rendering Peltandra virginica (L.) Kunth, Araceae edible

“…Conceptually, findings from this study contribute to this important body of research; however methodologically it is set apart as we utilize principles grounded in experimental archaeology (e.g. Ascher, 1961;Callahan, 1995;Coles, 1973;Kelterborn, 2005;Schindler, 2006) by using the same materials, techniques, and strategies believed to have been used in the past in structured experimentation to assess the affects of detoxification on arrow arum starch. In using this approach, the authors recognize that precision may have been sacrificed in their ability to control for external variables; yet, it is felt that greater historical accuracy was achieved as each of the processing activities involved the use of techniques and technologies commonly encountered in the ethnographic and archaeological record.…”

Landscape variability in tool-use and edge damage formation in South African Middle Stone Age lithic assemblages

“…Experimental archaeology seeks to provide the Middle Range research that connects physical artifacts with past processes, using modern observable processes as analogs (Gifford-Gonzalez, 1991).Using experimental archaeology methods designed to develop and test hypotheses about artifact patterning have a long history in archaeology (Ascher, 1961;Semenov, 1964), and researchers of Pleistocene archaeological sites have often been at the forefront (Isaac, 1971;Toth and Schick, 1983;Frison, 1989). Since nearly every archaeological context is a palimpsest of site use to some degree (Foley, 1981), Schiffer (1987) argues that inference must begin by identifying both cultural and natural processes that formed the archaeological record.…”