Experimental Pedagogies: Teaching through Experimental Archaeology Part II

Part of: Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

This collection contains the abstracts of the papers presented in the session entitled "Experimental Pedagogies: Teaching through Experimental Archaeology Part II" at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Experimental archaeology has become a burgeoning field that has answered significant questions about human experience driven by the same curiosity, ingenuity, and creativity that allowed our ancestors to thrive. It has also captured the public imagination and provides thousands with a tangible link to a multitude of imagined pasts. This session aims to explore how archaeologists create those tangible links through experiential learning in the classroom, our communities, and our research sites. Papers will focus on the role of experimental archaeology in teaching students, stakeholders, and the general public about the activities of the archaeological past.

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  • Documents (9)

Documents
  • Bappir: The Ancient Mesopotamian Brewer's Best Friend (2024)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Curt Carbonell. Marie Hopwood. Laura Carbonell.

    This is an abstract from the "Experimental Pedagogies: Teaching through Experimental Archaeology Part II" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Bappir (Sumerian: "beer bread") was a ubiquitous ingredient in ancient Mesopotamian beer brewing for millennia. However, little is known about exactly what bappir was or how it was used. Nevertheless, the scant evidence available from contemporary texts, such as the second-millennium BCE "Hymn to Ninkasi," have...

  • Community-Based Ethnoarchaeology to Inform Experimental Archaeological Research: Learning from the Diasporic Tigrayan Community in Vancouver, British Colombia (2024)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Melissa Ayling.

    This is an abstract from the "Experimental Pedagogies: Teaching through Experimental Archaeology Part II" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Experimental archaeology is an extremely beneficial method of inquiry, as it centralizes the physical knowledge of material culture and sensory experiences. While experimental archaeology brings researchers closer to the realities of creating and using material culture, ethnoarchaeology reconnects researchers...

  • Earth Oven Experiments in Texas and Wyoming (2024)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Charles Koenig.

    This is an abstract from the "Experimental Pedagogies: Teaching through Experimental Archaeology Part II" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The durable remains of earth oven construction—namely, fire-cracked rock (FCR)—lack the same tactile connection to the past as lithic or ceramic artifacts. However, constructing experimental earth ovens provides an immersive experience where students, researchers, and the general public can gain a better...

  • Experimental Archaeology in Maize Farming at Range Creek Field Station, Utah (2024)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Jenna Foster. Shannon Boomgarden. Ian Farrell.

    This is an abstract from the "Experimental Pedagogies: Teaching through Experimental Archaeology Part II" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Archaeological evidence in Range Creek Canyon, Utah, shows a heavy reliance on maize farming during the Fremont occupation, 900–1200 CE. Evidence includes numerous corn cobs, ground stone tools, and food storage sites. Since 2013, researchers at the field station have used actualistic maize farming experiments to...

  • Experimental Earth Oven Agave Bakes with the Southern Paiute in Nevada (2024)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Spencer Lodge.

    This is an abstract from the "Experimental Pedagogies: Teaching through Experimental Archaeology Part II" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Beginning in 2018, I have been working with the Southern Paiute to host annual agave bakes using experimental earth ovens at the Desert National Wildlife Refuge in southern Nevada. Our events have gradually grown as we experiment with various aspects of earth oven cooking, including the use and quantity of...

  • Experimental Granary Construction in Range Creek Canyon, UT (2024)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Ian Farrell. Shannon Boomgarden. Jenna Foster.

    This is an abstract from the "Experimental Pedagogies: Teaching through Experimental Archaeology Part II" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Food storage is a key component of many human subsistence patterns and has been a topic of interest for decades. In arid environments, agricultural surplus can be critical to survival. Having stored surplus available when needed is a benefit likely well worth the costs. In Range Creek Canyon (RCC), prehistoric...

  • Making, Baking, Breaking, and Cutting: Experiential Learning through Enacting the Past (2024)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Khaled Abu Jayyab. Natalia Handziuk. Stephen Rhodes. Sean Doyle.

    This is an abstract from the "Experimental Pedagogies: Teaching through Experimental Archaeology Part II" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Concepts, such as the “chaîne opératoire” and “communities of practice” are central to material analyses and student training at the Gadachrili Gora Regional Archaeological Project Expedition (GRAPE), Republic of Georgia. Teaching abstract conceptual frameworks to undergraduate students is a challenging task for...

  • The Role of Experimental Archaeology at the Range Creek Field Station, Utah (2024)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Shannon Boomgarden. Ian Farrell. Jenna Foster. Duncan Metcalfe.

    This is an abstract from the "Experimental Pedagogies: Teaching through Experimental Archaeology Part II" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Ten years ago, the archaeological field school at the Range Creek Field Station explicitly embarked on a new direction of research. Students continue to receive training in excavation and survey techniques but actualistic experiments were added to the curriculum. The experiments are designed to calculate the...

  • Using Experimental Archaeology to Engage the Public in Arkansas (2024)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Michelle Rathgaber. Jared Pebworth. Michael Evans.

    This is an abstract from the "Experimental Pedagogies: Teaching through Experimental Archaeology Part II" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. One aspect of the Arkansas Archeological Survey’s mission is “to share what we learn with the people of Arkansas.” But how do we share and explain larger concepts such as innovation and technique changes in hunting or gardening when all we have archaeologically is a broken spearpoint or a resharpening flake from...