The EXARC Show

So you’ve dug up an object… but how do you know what it was used for? Microwear and use-wear analysis is a growing sub-field within archaeology looking for microscopic traces on artefacts which might give us clues on how they were used in the past – or what might have happened to them once they were abandoned. Join us on this month’s episode of #FinallyFriday for a deep dive into the world of microscopes and experimental reference ...

The 2024/1 EXARC Journal is bringing you seven reviewed and five mixed matter articles. All the articles are open access to allow for free exchange of information and further development of our knowledge of the past.

The reviewed articles come from far and wide. This time round we have four articles coming from Europe (Estonia, Denmark, Netherlands and UK) while the other two are from China and India. Trevor Creighton from Butser An...

Lather, rinse, and repeat – an insight into early chemistry. In this month’s episode of #FinallyFriday we dive into the history of soap, debunking soap origin myths and breaking down the science of making soap. From sourcing specific wood ash to hunting down ancient recipes, our two experts explore all the factors that are needed to create a good bar of soap.  

Sally Pointer is an archaeologist and freelance heritage educator with a...

It's getting closer to the end of the year, which means that it's time for our next episode of Mirrors and Windows. This year, founding member and current director Roeland Paardekooper chats with Matilda Siebrecht, who will be taking over the role of director in January. Together, they talk about what's happened in 2023 - from the conference in Turun to this year's EXARC award winners - and look ahead to what&ap...

The 2023/4 EXARC Journal presents seven reviewed and eleven mixed matters articles. All the articles are open access to allow for free exchange of information and further development of our knowledge of the past.

The reviewed articles come from Europe, Canada, Australia and Syria. As usual they cover wide variety of topics. Can Experimental Archaeology Confirm Ethnographic Evidence? Presents an experimental programme used ...

The use of metal has transformed almost every aspect of life, helping us to clothe ourselves, create cars, trains and planes, get to the bottom of the ocean and out into space. On this month’s episode of Finally Friday, we take a look at how experimental archaeology helps us to understand metal in the past, with guests Fergus Milton and Giovanna Fregni. Fergus Milton is a long-standing prehistoric metalworking demonstrator at Butse...

We all enjoy visiting museums and other archaeological areas, but what are the implications of sustainability when maintaining and rebuilding these sites? This month we consider open-air museums and cultural heritage sites from the perspective of the Sustainable Development Goals, as Matilda chats with guests Amy Stewart and Silje Evjenth Bentsen. 

Amy Stewart is the curator at the Crannog Centre Open Air Museum in Scotland. Since t...

The 2023/3 EXARC Journal is bringing you four reviewed and eight mixed matter articles. All the articles are open access to allow for free exchange of information and further development of our knowledge of the past.

The reviewed articles come from Denmark, United Kingdom and two from Italy. Two of them concern metal production – Henriette Lyngstrøm’s article on drawing wire from bog ore iron and Mauro Fiorentini’s article on castin...

In this month’s episode of Finally Friday we are talking sustainable and natural buildings! Most of us live in and around buildings every day, but could going back to historic or natural building techniques add new dimension to our architecture? This month Phoebe is joined by two experts from our EXARC community, Caroline Nicolay and Daniel Postma. 

Caroline Nicolay is an archaeologist and heritage specialist who focusses on the pub...

The 2023/2 EXARC Journal is bringing you six reviewed and eight mixed matter articles. All the articles are open access to allow for free exchange of information and further development of our knowledge of the past.

As usual the articles vary widely. Among the reviewed articles we have for example articles on Reconstructing Ötzi’s shoes by Eva IJsveld (NL), production of Roma screws by David Sim and Chris Legg (UK) and Tannūr ovens ...

Beans, beans! They’re good for the heart! In this month’s episode we are joined by two specialists from the EXARC Experimental Archaeology Award winning project Investigating the Origin of the Common Bean in the New World. We hear about the difficulties identifying beans in the archaeological record and how using organic residue analysis might begin to spill the beans… on beans.

Timothy Baumann is the lead investigator on ...

Only one month to go until our 2023 EXARC conference, and to celebrate we chatted with Linda Hurcombe, organiser of EAC12, and Grzegorz Osipowicz, organiser of the upcoming EAC13. Together, they shared their experience in what it takes to organise an international archaeology conference and how conferences have changed since the start of the COVID pandemic. We also chatted with them about their own experiences in experimental archa...

The 2023/1 EXARC Journal is bringing you seven reviewed and five mixed matter articles. All the articles are open access to allow for free exchange of information and further development of our knowledge of the past. There are some very interesting themes being discussed in this issue.

Among others we have the first three contributions from the Sustainable Revolution for Open-Air Museums Session from the ICOM conference in Prague 20...

Why do people wear shoes? What kind of materials can you make shoes out of? How can we recreate shoes from the past? On this month’s episode we are joined by two specialists in ancient footwear to think about all these questions and more…

Markus Klek is an independent researcher focussing on indigenous and prehistoric skin processing technologies, as well as related work in bone, antler and ivory tools. He has published three books ...

In this February episode of Finally Friday we're talking all about flint! This material is one of the most commonly found throughout prehistory, and so this month Matilda chatted about flint and flint-knapping with two experts from our EXARC community, Morten Kutschera and Prof. Javier Baena Preysler. What are the implications of different ways to learn and teach flint-knapping? How much do flint tools change throughout human ...

After 20 times putting together a year report, we decided it was time to do things differently: we did the year report as a podcast. EXARC Chair Dr Peter Inker leads our director Roeland Paardekooper through the year that passed. Of course we also comment on the future!

For our more than 400 members around the world, 2022 has been a difficult year, where the ones who could respond quickest to the changing circumstances were successf...

The EXARC Journal 2022-4 is published now, this issue includes 5 reviewed articles and 5 unreviewed mixed matter articles.  As usual the articles vary widely. From the process of designing and running a new course on Experimental Archaeology and Experiential History at a small liberal arts college in central Minnesota, through working with gems and research of Early British glass beads to a study of Early Mesoamerican textile produ...

In this very special edition of #FinallyFriday, we chatted with two of the main instigators of the new Support Ukraine Network (SUN). The aim of this network is to provide support for open-air museums as well as individual experimental archaeologists and traditional craft practitioners, many of whom are currently struggling to access resources or profit from research networks due to the ongoing war. EXARC have teamed up with Ukrain...

This month #FinallyFriday travels all the way back into the deep past, as we discuss the trials and joys of experimenting with Neanderthal glue.

Dr Paul Kozowyk is a post-doctoral researcher at the Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands. His work focuses on the investigation of ancient adhesives from Neanderthal and early human archaeological contexts, specifically looking at the material properties of different glue reci...