Experimental Archaeology: Modern and Ancient Tool and Material Use

For this week we were assigned to look at other experimental archaeology projects done by our classmates. Some of these projects include Viking metallurgy, nalbinding, mead brewing, and cooking meat. One of our challenges that we encountered with our experiment was not being able to use authentic Viking material and tools, which we addressed in our last post. We found that while we did not have access to these resources, we could still achieve the same results with modern tools. It is useful to note the discrepancies between our tool use and Viking tool use in order to be aware of any possible differences in outcomes.

We noticed that a lot of our classmates had the same challenge with not having access to Viking materials and tools:

The nalbinding group bought needles and wool, and they are not using 100% wool for practicing. The other nalbinding 101 group bought wool and used a drill to make the holes in the needles they made from wood. The metallurgy group used a modern lighter, which is comparable to our use of a propane torch. The mead and meat group used a modern plastic jug and a modern stainless steel grater.

We have all modified our materials and tools slightly, but we have not changed the fundamental process of the experiments. Therefore, these experiments are as authentic as they can be under the circumstances of a time and resource restraint.

-Angela, Emma, Krista, & Rose