Experimental Archaeology

3 units

Experiments are an extremely important part of the scientific process. Although archaeology is often treated as an historical science, the nature of the material record does provide an opportunity to use experimentation as an important way of interpreting what we excavate. The class will be working with the most tangible materials recovered from archaeological contexts, that is stone and pottery. After reviewing the history of experimentation in archaeological investigations we will turn to the material record. This will be followed in our initial weeks of setting up the experiments and how they will be used to compare with available data sets derived from archaeological contexts. As part of the class we will take several field trips to areas where materials exist in a natural setting. Each class member will select a specific material for the focus of their experiments. In the end students will produce several experiments using different materials, document their experiments in written reports, and finally present their results to the class for discussion and evaluation.