Putting Life into a Stone Age Dwelling Construction: A Joint Venture of Local Volunteers and Archaeological Scientists

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Public participation in archaeological projects is becoming ever more essential, and experimental archaeology is an excellent way of reaching out and creating a scientific community in which both the general public and archaeological scientists can learn from each other. At Masamuda near Rotterdam (Netherlands), local volunteers have established an open-air archaeological educational center focused on the Rhine/Meuse delta. In 2016 volunteers and professional archaeologists built a Neolithic dwelling here. In a new collaborative project, we attempt to fill in the details of daily life around this house: which crafts were carried out, how was food processed, and how did people move about this water-rich landscape? These questions are addressed through a combination of microwear and organic residue analysis, petrography, and experimental archaeology. Discussions and practical interaction with the volunteers, each with their knowledge and experience, have raised new questions not previously posed by archaeological scientists. These have opened up new research avenues and alternative interpretations to be explored through scientific analysis and further experiments. The scientific knowledge and practical expertise obtained by the volunteers are transferred to the center’s visitors, ensuring a teaching-learning continuum outlasting the current research project.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts   •
• Society for American Archaeology 88th Annual Meeting, Portland, OR (2023)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 36481.0