Bulletin of Experimental Archaeology

Simulated sites and experimental archaeology as a learning tool in Archaeology and Paleontology

Mon, 30 Oct 2023 00:00:00 +0100

Experimental archaeology has had a wide diffusion in the field of research and dissemination in recent decades. However, its use in the generation of simulated archaeological models offers a resource of enormous potential to deepen the field of interpretation of the archaeological record. In this work, we present a first approach to archaeological simulations on an experimental basis with special attention to the models created in the LAEX-UAM. We also explore its potential within the field of archaeological record interpretation.

An experimental approach to the making of coconut fiber ropes in the CHamoru Prehistory (Mariana Islands, Oceania)

Luis Berrocal-Maya — Mon, 30 Oct 2023 00:00:00 +0100

This paper has carried out an experimental approach about rope making in the CHamoru culture. Due the materials to which this ancient society had access, coconut fibers could have been one of the main resources in the production of ropes. Practical analysis has shown how it could be possible to generate these elements from one of the most abundant raw materials on the islands, coconuts, which is also easy to process and manufacture.

Function and performance analysis of a banot as javelin

Juan Antonio Cejudo Ventura — Mon, 30 Oct 2023 00:00:00 +0100

This article will explore the use of the banot as a javelin in the pre-Hispanic societies of the Canary Islands. By consulting historical sources from the conquest of the islands, compiled by authors such as Juan Luis Cuscoy, we will try to clarify the use of this tool by these societies. A small ethnographic investigation is also carried out in an attempt to look for parallels between the current Canarian culture and the aboriginal culture, in order to signify the use of the banot in the past. With all these sources, a replica of a banot that is deposited in the Town Hall of La Orotava will be recreated in order to verify its use as a javelin. To check this functionality, it will be compared with other similar pieces such as the soliferreum from the Iberian Peninsula, as it has a similar typology. An experiment will be carried out in which we will first look for the optimum way to throw the piece, using different techniques. We will then analyse the maximum distance that the piece is able to travel, and finally we will discuss the role played by the bulge in the piece, in order to clarify whether it is a handle or has some other type of use. In addition, the aim is to clarify the importance of these pieces for the aboriginal Canary Islanders and whether they were a common tool or something reserved for prestigious figures, as well as the number of pieces that each individual would carry.

MOWING WITH CLAY: THE SICKLES OF ANCIENT MESOPOTAMIA

Ezequiel Ignacio García-Municio — Mon, 30 Oct 2023 00:00:00 +0100

ABSTRACT.

The hunter gatherer realized that he needed new tools. Advances were slow and took place over hundreds of years. The trial and error in some tools would let to choose those that give the best results. One of the first tools where the sickles to collect wild seeds. The manufacture was adapted in each place to the available material, and it is possible that they have a different elaboration depending on the area. Mesopotamia was one of the places where this advance happened. In this region, the most abundant material was clay. From academic documentation and archaeological remains we know that sickles were made with the cited material. In this experimental work, the performance of these first sickles will be manufactured and tested.

KEY WORDS: Mesopotamia, sickles, clay

Deforestation in the Neolithic and Calcolithic : The step from the polished axe to the copper axe

Iván Calvo García — Mon, 30 Oct 2023 00:00:00 +0100

In this work we try to study how the development of lithics and metallurgy that came with the increase in social complexity and socioeconomic activities, led to deforestation and adaptation of the environment to their needs. To do this, a flint axe, and a copper axe in the style of an adze-axe will be made and sleeved, being able to perceive the traces of use in a microscopic and macroscopic view, all of this with the intention of seeing if technological development helped deforestation during the Neolithic and Calcolithic.

The division of labour in the creation of coptic binding

Blanca Nieto López — Mon, 30 Oct 2023 00:00:00 +0100

The aim of this paper is to analyze the difficulties that the process of making an old Coptic binding (2nd – 3rd centuries CE) raises in order to determine whether the division, and therefore the specialization of the tasks, was necessary. The article is structured in an introduction, where basic aspects of context will be addressed to understand the origin of the binding and its development; the steps of experimentation itself from scratch (materials, preparation of the different phases, ...); and finally, the results obtained are presented and discussed, and the conclusions presented.

Experimental archeology with human footprints on plaster

Rodrigo González López — Mon, 30 Oct 2023 00:00:00 +0100

In this project, previous experimental studies on human footprints are analyzed and a series of experiments are carried out using plaster. Some footprints are made walking, others carrying weight and others running to analyze the differences between them and compare them with the oldest hominid footprints found, those of Laetoli.

Making glue by using birch bark

Jesús Adrián Merino González — Mon, 30 Oct 2023 00:00:00 +0100

The glue made from birch bark is one of the oldest adhesives we know. Associated with homo neandertalensis, the cremation of birch bark in order to obtain tar results in a very effective and simple adhesive depending on the method we use or the amount of heat we use. Through 3 experiments, different aspects related to the production of this adhesive will be addressed, being the case of the manufacturing process, the results obtained and the different difficulties that arose when obtaining this glue.