The 2022-3 EXARC Journal is now published, bringing you 8 reviewed and seven 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. Two of the reviewed articles introduce different aspects of RETOLD, the project ensuring that open-air museums can continue telling important cultural heritage stories by developing a standardised data collection. The six experimental articles vary widely from investigation into polished vessel surfaces through reconstruction of a tablet woven band from the Oseberg and reconstruction of the Iceman's arrow quiver to charring experiments with a variety of modern seed samples. The two articles that stand out are the articles the first experimental archaeological study to formally compare the physical characteristics of tattoos made on human skin using multiple pre-modern tools and tattooing techniques. and article breaching a highly interesting point: “when the only thing we have is the archaeologist’s body, how can we do archaeology?”
Matilda Siebrecht summarises the reviewed articles from the 2022/3 issue of the EXARC Journal. Read the Journal at https://exarc.net/issue-2022-3
The 2022-3 EXARC Journal is now published, bringing you 8 reviewed and seven 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. Two of the reviewed articles introduce different aspects of RETOLD, the project ensuring that open-air museums can continue telling important cultural heritage stories by developing a standardised data collection. The six experimental articles vary widely from investigation into polished vessel surfaces through reconstruction of a tablet woven band from the Oseberg and reconstruction of the Iceman's arrow quiver to charring experiments with a variety of modern seed samples. The two articles that stand out are the articles the first experimental archaeological study to formally compare the physical characteristics of tattoos made on human skin using multiple pre-modern tools and tattooing techniques. and article breaching a highly interesting point: “when the only thing we have is the archaeologist’s body, how can we do archaeology?”
Matilda Siebrecht summarises the reviewed articles from the 2022/3 issue of the EXARC Journal. Read the Journal at https://exarc.net/issue-2022-3
Welcome to EXARC Extracts with me, Matilda Siebrecht, as we summarise the latest reviewed articles from the most recent issue of the EXARC Journal. We look at the autumn issue of the EXARC Journal, released on September 15th 2022.
The first article is by Cordula Hansen and Rüdiger Kelm [again, I apologise for any mispronunciations I make in this episode or any episode of this show!], and is entitled RETOLD: On the way for a digital future of documentation in open-air museums – user requirements for data entry and a management product for the RETOLD project. For those who are unaware: the RETOLD project is an EXARC launched project funded by Creative Europe, which aims to develop a standardised workflow to freely document, digitise, and then share the heritage of open-air museums. You can find more information about this project on the EXARC page. This report gives an outline of the project’s current findings to date, focusing on the interviews and the surveys conducted at various establishments in order to learn more about the current state and the future requirements of digitisation in European open-air museums. If you’d like to know more about the project, as I say, visit the EXARC website, you can read the full article in the EXARC journal, and you can also listen in to the latest episode of #FinallyFriday, which features two members of the RETOLD project as our special guests.
The next article was also the topic of a recent #FinallyFriday podcast episode, and focuses on Examining the Physical Signature of Pre-Electric Tattooing Tools and Techniques, written by Aaron Deter-Wolf, Danny Riday, and Maya Sialuk Jacobsen. This project, also funded through the EXARC awards program, aimed to present the first experimental archaeological study to formally compare the physical characteristics of tattoos made on human skin using multiple pre-modern tools and tattooing techniques. These techniques included hand-poking, hand-tapping, and sub-dermal methods using tools made from bone, copper, obsidian, and even one from boar tusk. The results of their experiments – all performed btw on the leg of author Danny Riday – provide some really interesting insights into pre-modern tattooing and also many suggestions for future directions in this area of research.
Article number three looks at The Experimenter’s Body: Movement as an Artifact, by Thaisa Martins. This paper was inspired by the question: “when the only thing we have is the archaeologist’s body, how can we do archaeology?” To answer this question, the author used a trans-disciplinary approach combining the body movement analysis and theoretical framework of the study of dance, with the archaeological perspective of experimental archaeology. And I should say the article is the result of the author’s MA thesis, and therefore creates a lot of further questions that cannot really be answered unfortunately in the scope of this paper, but there are some really fascinating points raised and if you’re interested in this aspect of experimental archaeology it is definitely worth a read!
So next up we have Pit Preserve from Ida – on the Problem of Charred Seeds from Prehistoric Pits by Lutz Zwiebel. “Charred cereal grains” are one of the most common macro-remains described in archaeological collections, and this article aims to discover exactly how these remains were created, and under what conditions they preserve in the archaeological record. The author used a mixture of experimentation with modern seeds and comparison with existing archaeological data to investigate this question. They also experimented with fermentation processes, and also discussed the location of these ‘charred seeds’ in site reports. It is a very detailed and specialised article but it should be read by anyone involved in archaeobotanical research, and the author hopes that it will revive interest in the hypothesis of mixed fermentation in prehistoric European earth pits.
The next article is also about RETOLD [the project I mentioned earlier, this one’s entitled]: Open-air Museum Mobile Applications UX Report – Looking for Inspiration by Pau Sauchis Rota. This report describes the use of 15 different mobile apps across different open-air museums that were analysed as part of the RETOLD project. Using a mixture of heuristic evaluation, the analysis of information architecture, and the analysis of interaction design, the project compared the apps in light of three different model types, these were: the guide model, the experience-oriented model, and the exploration-oriented model. The results suggest that each of these models has various advantages and disadvantages. If you want to know more detail, please do go and read the full article in the EXARC journal, and as I said you should also listen in to the latest episode of #FinallyFriday, featuring two members of the RETOLD project.
The next article looks at A Tablet Woven Band from the Oseberg Grave: Interpretation of Motif and Technique by Bente Skogsaas [again, I’m so sorry about my pronunciations]. The Oseberg grave, which is a Norwegian tomb site dated to 834 AD, is often considered to have the most important textile finds from the Viking Age, according to the author. This study aimed to reinterpret one of the 48 tablet-woven bands identified at the site – specifically band 13B2. The article describes the methods used, previous interpretations of this band, and the issues encountered during experimentation, and it also provides a detailed overview of how this motif could have been created based on the author’s own weaving experience and experiments, and also a reanalysis of pre-existing data. So one for our textile experts out there.
A different kind of reconstruction is the subject of the next article by Markus Klek, whose paper is entitled The Arrow Quiver of the Iceman: Reconstruction Attempts and the Special Significance of the Fur Material. The famous find of Ötzi the Iceman and his associated artefacts, who was discovered in the Austrian-Italian Alps in 1991, has been the subject of many many studies and reconstruction attempts. However, this article focuses on a relatively understudied part of his toolkit: the arrow quiver. The author discusses the previous scientific attempts at identifying the type of skin used to create the quiver, and the importance of this identification in light of various factors, so thickness, colour, density, even whether it is the animal’s winter or summer coat. So again a lot of detail is provided about the method of reconstruction, so this paper is definitely worth a full read for all of those interested in this fascinating find!
The final reviewed article of this issue of the EXARC Journal looks at Different Vessel Surface Polishing Methods and Mutual Effects of their Applications, by Sianna Dymanska, Aleksandra Cetwinska, and Dariusz Manasterski [my apologies]. This article describes the results of experimental polishing on replica Bell Beakers using three different tool materials: bone, wood, and stone. The experimental parameters also included, for example, using different clay mixtures, applying animal grease, re-polishing, and using various firing methods. The results showed that, while all of the tools created a burnished polish on the vessels, stone was probably the best at polishing, and also applying grease prevented any dulling of the shine through firing as well as increasing the waterproof nature of the vessels. A very interesting experimental project with lots of potential for future expansion.
So those were the reviewed articles of this issue. As well as these articles, the issue also has several unreviewed ‘Mixed Matters’ articles. These include two event reviews: 50 years of cooperation between the University of Vienna and MAMUZ written by Franz Pieler, and Metallurgy Short Course at SHARP, 2022 written by Giovanna Fregni. There are also two book reviews: Investigations into the Dyeing Industry in Pompeii by H. Hopkins Pepper, reviewed by Mante van den Heuvel, and Studies in Experimental Archaeometallurgy: Metallurgies by George Verly et al, reviewed by Terry Runner. Giovanna Fregni also provides us with a review of The Historical Metallurgy Society’s Second Accidental and Experimental Conference from June this year, and Roeland Paardekooper reviews the ICOM Museum Convention in Prague from August this year. And finally, Ulrike Braun presents an overview of Virtual Reality: 1 project – 13 museums.
So that was all for this issue of the EXARC Journal. This was EXARC Extracts.
If you want to find out more about the research mentioned in this episode, check out the latest edition of the EXARC Journal, which can be accessed online at exarc.net/journal.