Experimental Archaeology and Theory: Recent Approaches to Archaeological Hypotheses

Experimental Archaeology is a volume which aims to bridge the gap in archaeology between empirical testing and humanistic approaches to understanding the material record. The contributors explore a wide variety of different fields including how a phenomenological methodology can be used to increase our understanding of how a Bronze Age temple was ‘experienced’ by people in the past; how experimentation in the production of materials such as rawhide, glass and wine-making can be used to test theories or written sources and the possibilities of studying the three-dimensional morphology of Acheulian handaxes to search for possible idiosyncratic indicators during the Lower Palaeolithic. The papers in the volume reflect the continued diversity of work that experimental archaeology is able to produce and show how experimentation can be integrated with theory to substantiate a variety of hypotheses, whether validating information from written sources or testing the inferences of more recent theoretical ideology. Experimental Archaeology will set a new precedent for the role of experimentation in future archaeological research.Table of Contents1. Introduction (Frederick W.F. Foulds)2. A processional but not processual approach to Stanydale Neolithic Temple (Simon Clarke and Esther Renwick)3. Two different methods of rawhide production and their suitability to perform a variety of tasks (Sally Herriet)4. An Apprenticeship in Value: The importance of dexterity to the understanding of craft practice and archaeological artefact analysis (Frances Liardet)5. The CELLA VINARIA Project and Archaeological Park (Teià, Maremse, Barcelona): A great experimental archaeology laboratory (Antoni Martín Oliveras)6. The Enigmatic Handaxe: In search of idiosyncrasies in bifacial technology through three-dimensional form (Frederick W.F. Foulds)