You can become a Neanderthal, a Roman or a pirate for an instant… what better way to learn? This “art ” of research and dissemination has been developed mainly by the universities, and from them it has become part of the workshops common in some museums. Among many other institutions, in Burgos there is an Atapuerca Experimental Archeology Center (CAREX), focused mainly on prehistory and protohistory where they will teach you all kinds of activities related to these times.
But how can we do experimental archaeology? It's simple, we must ask ourselves a question :How did they manage to do “something” with the means they had? Then all that remains is to try and keep trying until you adjust the best possible to the result expected.
The lithic carving It is the most practiced methodology in the traditional way. There are many specialists in this field of experimentation and the results are amazing. As soon as you try to carve a bifaz , it is realized that the degree of cognition to do it is quite high. The mechanical ability combined with the brain is agile and complex, and realizing that those characteristics could define a Neanderthal is a advance gigantic.
Without going any further, not only are archaeologists interested in how they ate and took advantage of resources in past times, but also a fashion based on the Paleolithic/prehistoric diet has recently been released. . It is based on the way of eating of the caveman who only consumed wild plants and wild animals, excluding processed foods. Could it be said that imitation is a form of flattery?
But focusing on what concerns us in this post, we can talk about different experimental archeology projects, such as the reconstruction of sunken ships. A well-known example is the Hermione of France that meant so much for the independence of the United States, in which materials and construction methodology typical of the Modern Age have been used. .
But without a doubt, one of the pioneering projects of experimental archeology that is still underway since 1960 is the construction of an embankment at Overton Down (England). It is an embankment formed with chalk and peat 21 meters long and 7 meters wide by 2 meters high, parallel to which a ditch was built . So that? Do you remember the time capsules in American movies where they put objects inside a container and bury it to open it in the future? It is the same, although this research has a geological point of view , we want to know how and when the materials buried by the stratigraphy are altered. , that is, to study the postdepositional processes in a certain interval of time. In this way, the collection of data in intervals was warned. of 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64 and 128 which in real dates would be in 1962, 1964, 1968, 1976, 1992, 2024 and 2088. When 2024 We will tell you about the news of the project in our blog!
Another macro-research project concerns the mystery of the giant heads of Easter Island. It is the same approach that was made with the construction of the pyramids but the difference is that the moais they remain an enigma… There have been several attempts led by great world archaeologists that National Geographic collected in an explanatory video, although it is true that many detractors persist. .
But without a doubt, the project that best encompasses research and dissemination is the one developed in France:Guédelon, a medieval castle construction began in 1997 and they expect to finish it in 2020. Given its impact and the novelty in creating a work campus set in past times, has been the precursor of other projects, such as San Gall , in Germany, a construction plan for a Carolingian monastery that had not been developed and that it was decided to take up again today. This project has been endorsed by journalists, archaeologists and historians and have their own financing. Those in charge of making the monastery with the construction materials of the time, are volunteers and anyone could do it! On their website you can see all the members of the team, who according to their skills they play a role within the community (blacksmith, farmer, potter, etc).
We will have to put on our best clothes and launch into the world of experimental archaeology, an encouraging discipline that in view of the results can have great benefits, mainly in the field of disclosure.
Learning to shoot with a slingshot, weave, make burnished pottery or try to hunt with the instruments of antiquity is the best way to bring history from the smallest of the house to the oldest.
In our country it is spreading the use of this discipline to demonstrate hypotheses about forms of construction, navigation, exploitation... In Tarragona, for example, you can attend the Tarraco Viva festival, in which during the month of May of each year there are re-enactments of the wrestling gladiators in the amphitheater with real weapons and real fights (of course without getting to death, although they do spill some blood). This festival is well known among history buffs, where Archeology and History first became known to the public.
The dynamic and fun teach, if you don't have a plan for this weekend... experimental archaeology!
If you like historical recreation, we suggest several posts published on the Desperta Ferro website, such as the article by Yeyo Balbás (of Clan del Cuervo) entitled Historical recreation , the post about the online recreation of the Battle of Waterloo or the recreation of the events of May 2.