Experimental archaeology is a branch of archaeological study that replicates or attempts to replicate past processes to understand how the deposits came about. This includes everything from flint knapping or atlatl studies to past farming techniques to building entire villages.
The logical extension of experimental archaeology is ethnoarchaeology, which studies living cultures to determine what the remains of their activities look like. Pioneers of experimental archaeology include John Lubbock and A.H.L. Fox Pitt-Rivers.
Issues: Iron Smelting, Shroud of Turin, Raised Field Agriculture in Peru, Flint Knapping
Books: The Reconstructed Past
Sites: L'Anse aux Meadows (Labrador), Biskupin (Poland), Colonial Williamsburg (US)
This glossary entry is a part of the About.com Guide to the Subdisciplines of Archaeology, and part of the Dictionary of Archaeology. Any mistakes are the responsibility of Kris Hirst.
