Experimental archaeology at SapienCE
Last day in the field today! All the boxes are excavated, all the samples packed. Now to go home and write the papers. Subscribe to updates to learn about the future publications!
Do you remember that we made risk assessments and took health and safety precautions before going to Jongensfontein? If you haven’t read about our preparations, you can do so by clicking your way through the calendar and our early posts Continue reading Day 25: Health and safety win!
The experimental field season is coming to an end and we only have a few days left. So now we need to excavate as fast as we can. We had some problems with the sand as it is very loose Continue reading Day 24: An empty box
We’re living an archaeological dream at the moment: Excavating all day long! We are currently busy with Experiment 2 and managed to recover the items we had buried 5 cm below the fire. Ole has been watering the sand in Continue reading Day 23: Dig, dig, dig
We have less than a week left in the camp and we’re now working hard on excavating experiments and cleaning up. The excavations are going really well, but it takes a long time to document everything. Experiment 5 was still Continue reading Day 22: Near the end
We started new experiments today! Turid is leading experiment 4 and it took quite a while to set everything up, with shells and micro mammals going under the fire surface. Beth also put some ochre into the fires, so we Continue reading Day 21: New fires!
We stay at a campsite and have many neighbors. Some of them are very interested in what we do and come by to check on us every now and then. Today Bob and Jenny visited to look at our excavation Continue reading Day 20: Traveling pensioners
We’ve been working on documentation strategies today. We want to improve where we can and have updated our excavation protocols. It means that the excavation has taken more time than expected, but we are getting everything documented. Watch out for Continue reading Day 19: Documentation strategies
Today was Jovana’s big day as she conducted her shellfish experiments. She heated shells on the fire to examine changes caused by the fire. She was very happy to have concluded her main experiments and we all look forward to Continue reading Day 18: Jovana’s day
Today in experimental archaeology: Eat your own research! Jovana is doing her PhD on shellfish and will be heating shells to see how they are affected. She does not need the meat from the shells, but we are not letting Continue reading Day 17: Eat your own research