This study elevates the importance of experience, the senses and tacit knowledge in relation to archaeology with a focus on music. With this I take up a thread drawing on theoretical aspects of Polanyi’s ‘Tacit Dimension’ and ‘Ingold’s Lines’.  I review paradigms in experimental archaeology and music archaeology, and the subject of reconstruction in both.  My case study is of four individuals, whose reconstruction models are connected to artefacts perceived as flutes in the archaeological record and/or notions of prehistoric flutes.  Combining the way in which we learn by understanding others’ experiences through gesture and experience as data, my work examines these ideas in relation to wanting to find out about these flute-making people, and how their work is related to the canon of archaeology to which one might expect that it belongs, and if we can call this a tradition.  What I found was that the praxis is complex and far reaching and stretches into various ontologies through philosophy, religion, emotionalism, intellectualism, symbolism, music, tradition, imagination, experience, sensation and identity, where interrelations of the past, present and future are very evident.  I finally consider archaeology as an art which reveals parallels between archaeology itself and music.  Paradigms in archaeologies in 2013 do not effectively support this praxis of flute making despite contextual experimentation showing welcoming promise for future change.

This thesis uses experimental archaeology as a method to discover the functional differences between Clovis and Folsom projectile points filtered through a behavioral ecology paradigm. Porcelain is used as a substitute for tool stone for its consistency and control value. The experiment was devised to find out which technology, Clovis or Folsom, was more functional, had a higher curation rate and contributed to increased group subsistence. Paleoindian tool technology transitions can be seen as indicators for adaptation triggered by environmental conditions and changes in subsistence. Folsom technology, when compared to Clovis technology, was functionally superior in performance, refurbishment and curation. Technological design choices made by Folsom people were engineered toward producing a more functional tool system as a sustainable form of risk management. The Clovis Folsom Breakage Experiment indicates that Folsom tool technology was specifically adapted to bison subsistence based on increased functionality and curation.

Remiantis komparatyvistiniu, aprašomuoju analitiniu, sintezės, apibendrinimo metodais darbe analizuojamos archeologinio paveldo pažinimo sklaidos ir gaivinimo galimybės ir perspektyvos Lietuvoje. Sąlygiškai darbą galima skirtyti į dvi dalis: pirmojoje nagrinėjami teoriniai aspektai, o antrojoje pateikiama praktinių archeologinio paveldo animavimo įžvalgų. Siekiant akcentuoti visuomenės įsitraukimą ir aktyvų dalyvavimą archeologinio paveldo apsaugoje, darbe kaip paveldo pažinimo sklaidos ir gaivinimo sinonimas vartojamas animavimo terminas. Tyrimo objektu pasirinkus archeologinį paveldą, jo santykį su visuomene, siekiama aptarti archeologinio paveldo specifiką, išryškinti vertes ir reikšmę šiuolaikinės visuomenės tvariai raidai bei išskirti metodus, padedančius optimaliai įgyvendinti interaktyvumo programą ir skatinančius užmegzti dialogą su visuomene. Šiuos reikalavimus atitinka eksperimentinė archeologija. Todėl darbe apžvelgiamos jos praktikavimo ištakos, kategorijos ir sklaida Lietuvoje bei išskiriamos eksperimento metodo taikymo perspektyvos archeologijoje. Viena jų – gyvosios archeologijos festivaliai, įvairios edukacinės programos, kurių atsiradimą ir gausėjimą paskatino bandymas padaryti visuomenę aktyvia dalyve. Kaip esminė dialogo su bendruomene forma darbe įvardinama archeologinio parko idėja, įvertinami šio animavimo metodo privalumai ir trūkumai, charakterizuojamos potencialios archeologinių parkų vietovės Lietuvos teritorijoje; atsižvelgiant į objekto išlikimo... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / Using a set of general methods which include comparative analysis and synthesis of scientific literature this paper discusses issues of recognition, promotion and rehabilitation of archaeological heritage, the perspectives and opportunities of its use in Lithuania. Basically this work can be divided into two main parts: the one with theoretical analysis of various approaches and the other orientated towards practical recommendations and suggestions of possible animation work in regional parks. Seeking to define the vital importance of involvement and participation of society in the process of conservation, the overall term animation is adopted and used as synonym for recognition, promotion and rehabilitation concept. Considering the relationship between archaeological heritage and society as the main subject of this research, the specifics of archaeological heritage and importance of sustainable development to modern society is reviewed in the work. One of the tasks is to separate out the methods which provide optimal conditions of interactive communication and stimulate the engagement in dialogue with communities. Experimental archaeology meets such requirements. Therefore the genesis, development, categories of experimental archeology and promotion of this tendency in Lithuania are defined, alongside the perspectives of practical use of experiment in archaeology are reflected. Good examples of interaction are various educational programs and archaeological festivals, which... [to full text]

Microblades were a common feature of many lithic toolkits around the North Pacific during the late Pleistocene and early Holocene epochs. On Haida Gwaii, on British Columbia's North Coast, the earliest known microblades have been recovered from the Richardson Island site and date to approximately 8750 BP. Deep, well-defined stratigraphy at the site has provided a unique opportunity to observe a major technological shift as, between 8750 BP and 8500 BP, microblades gradually replaced the earlier bifacial toolkit and came to be a definitive aspect of the subsequent Moresby tradition technological suite. Several hypotheses have been presented, including microblades as a response to increasing raw material scarcity as a result of sea-level change, microblades as a technology imported by incoming Athapaskan speaking peoples, and microblades as an in situ design response to new subsistence practices brought about by ecological changes following the end of the last glaciation: a more durable, more deadly weapon well adapted to high-risk hunting activities. In this thesis I examine the possible reasons behind that shift in lithic technology. My analysis employs multiple lines of evidence to consider the theories. I examine the microblade assemblage and consider aspects of tool manufacture, use, and discard to determine how the microblades may have been used, and how they may relate to other microblade traditions in the region; I consider the paleoecology of southern Haida Gwaii during the early Holocene; and I use a set of controlled experiments to compare bifaces and slotted points in terms of durability and wound channel creation. / Graduate

This essay discusses different opinions about experimental archaeology. To start with literature was examined and a questionnaire was sent out to students and working archaeologists. The possibility for experiments to mediate archaeology to people without an education in archaeology is lifted and is also mentioned in the questionnaire. In the discussion part of the essay the results from the questionnaire and the literature are used to see what opinions are the strongest. The mediating is also discussed and the result is compiled in the conclusion. There are different opinions about experimental archaeology, but no prominent difference between what students and archaeologists answered. It is possible to see different opinions in the literature, but concerning the mediating most of the writers agree that the experimental archaeology is a good method to communicate with the laymen.

Handaxes are some of the longest lasting and most iconic stone tools throughout human evolution. Appearing in the early Pleistocene, these bifacially flaked tools persisted around one and a half million years and span across all of the Old World, from Africa to eastern Asia. Despite their ubiquitous nature, relatively little is known about their function. Handaxes are often speculated to be multi-functional tools which were selected for due to their large cutting edge; however, only a handful of use-wear studies have attempted to elucidate their use in the archaeological record. The lack of experimental use-wear studies surrounding handaxe function is due to preservation issues and the fact that manufacturing and curating handaxes compounds the ambiguity of microwear signatures. The methodology undertaken in this research provides a pathway to overcoming these obstacles through experimental archaeology in conjunction with low powered microscopy, image-based GIS, and statistical hypothesis testing. In particular, this thesis investigates handaxe function at an assemblage scale (n = 56) in a late Lower Paleolithic to Middle Paleolithic archaeological site called Shishan Marsh – 1 (SM-1) in al-Azraq, Jordan. Experimental handaxes (n = 22) were replicated and used in various activities such as butchery, plant processing, woodworking, shellfish processing, and digging. The results of this research corroborates the idea of handaxes being used as multifunctional tools. These results have implications for handaxe function, hominin tool use in a desert refugia, and provides a new pathway to investigate inter-site variability in handaxe use. / Graduate / 2018-08-01

No description available.

No description available.

After carbon, phosphorus is the most commonly detected element in archaeological iron. The typical phosphoric iron range is 0.1wt% to 1wt%P. The predominant source of phosphorus in iron is the ore smelted. Around 60% of economic UK rock iron ore formations contain over 0.2%P. Under fully reducing conditions, both in liquid-state (cast iron) and solid-state bloomery smelting (direct reduction) processes, such rock ores would be predicted to produce phosphoric iron, and bog iron ores even more so. Ore-metal-slag phosphorus ratios for bloomery iron are derived here, by means of: laboratory experiments; full-scale experimental bloomery smelting; and analysis of remains from three Medieval and two Late Roman-Iron Age iron production sites in England and the Netherlands. Archaeological ore, slag, metal residues (gromps), and iron artefacts were analysed by metallography, SEM-EDS, EPMA, and XRD. The effects of forging and carburising on phosphoric iron were studied by experiment and artefact analysis. The ore to slag %P ratio for solid-state reduction was determined to range from 1:1.2 to 1: 1.8. The ore to metal %P ratio varied from 1:0.2 to 1:0.7 ¿ 1.4, depending on furnace operating conditions. Archaeological phosphoric iron and steel microstructures resulting from non-equilibrium reduction, heat treatment, and mechanical processing are presented to define the technology of early phosphoric iron. Microstructures were identified by a combination of metallography and chemical analysis. The phosphoric iron artefacts examined appear to be fully functional objects, some cold-worked and carburised. Modern concepts of 'quality' and workability are shown to be inapplicable to the archaeological material.

Cette thèse de doctorat en archéologie est consacrée à l'étude des "militaria" découvertes dans la péninsule balkanique et issues de contextes datés de l'époque romaine tardive et protobyzantine. La définition des champs de l'enquête permet, dans un premier temps, d'établir un corpus répertoriant 156 sites archéologiques à armes et de proposer l'inventaire des "militaria" dans leurs contextes historiographiques, géographiques et chronologiques. L'analyse typologique replace ensuite ces armes dans leurs contextes de production, de diffusion et d'approvisionnement, d'utilisation, d'entretien et d'abandon. Une telle analyse démontre enfin qu'aucune forme n'est anodine et que l'évolution de celle-ci résulte d'héritage, d'adaptation et d'innovation. / This Phd work in archaeology deals with the study of "militaria", found on the Balkan Peninsula, from late roman and early-byzantine archaeological contexts. At first, the definition of field investigation allows to establish a database indexing 156 archaeological sites with weapons and to take stock of the "militaria" within their historiographical, geographical and chronological contexts. Cluster analysis then puts these weapons in their contexts of manufacture, circulation and supplying, use, maintenance and abandonment. This analysis demonstrates finally that no style is trivial and that the evolution of the latter results of inheritance, borrowing and innovation.