EXARC

03/06/2026

🪡 The colourful world of looms and weaving! Explore our new article collection 📝

Looms and weaving have shaped human societies for thousands of years, transforming spun fibres into textiles used for clothing, trade, and cultural expression.

Through experimental archaeology, researchers investigate loom weights, weaving techniques, and textile production methods to better understand how fabrics were made and how they influenced daily life and household economies.

These studies reveal that weaving was not only a practical craft, but also a technological innovation deeply connected to social identity, labour, and cultural traditions.

👉 Explore our new thematic article collection: https://exarc.net/journal/themed-collections/looms-and-weaving

📸 from the article of Billie J. A. Follensbee.

01/06/2026

📝 The 2026/2 issue of the EXARC Journal contains six peer-reviewed articles and seven mixed matters articles.

All articles in our journal are open access, enabling the free exchange of information in the fields of experimental archaeology, historical reconstruction, ancient technology, experiential learning, and presenting the past.

👉 Read the new issue online for free: https://exarc.net/issue-2026-2

30/05/2026

🎏 What is the Vlaardingen Culture?

During the Late Neolithic, nearly 5,000 years ago, the Rhine–Meuse delta in the western Netherlands was inhabited by communities who combined farming, fishing, hunting, and gathering.

In 2021, the research programme Putting Life into Late Neolithic Houses began to answer important questions about these communities and their way of life.

📝 Its major results were recently presented during the symposium "Living in a Wetland Landscape: The Late Neolithic Vlaardingen Culture Revisited".

EXARC attended the conference and helped make this important research available to everyone.

👉 Find the full conference recording on our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLqWUT1pOFU1NNA6eRuqoyBpNl_35mxBi-

28/05/2026

🏰Located in Iran, Saryazd Castle is a historic mud-brick fortress that once protected the local community living in the surrounding area. In 2019, the site was digitally documented using photogrammetry, high-resolution photography, and a virtual 360º tour to support preservation efforts and create more engaging visitor experiences.

🤔 Why is this experience interesting for experimental archaeology?

In recent years, EXARC has worked on the digitalization of craft processes through the RETOLD project, and the experience of Saryazd Castle has been an important inspiration.

👉 Would you like to know more about the RETOLD project? Read everything about how crafts and experimental archaeology activities can be digitalised in our new themed collection: https://exarc.net/journal/themed-collections/retold

📝 by Kristy-Lee Seaton and Miglena Raykovska.

26/05/2026

🪨 Between archaeology and craft: reconstructing stoneworking practices through traditional materials and techniques in Norway.

Filippo Olari is an archaeologist and stoneworker with over 25 years of experience in archaeological and historical projects across Europe. He specializes in experimental archaeology, stone craftsmanship, and heritage interpretation, with a particular focus on stoneworking traditions.

Filippo has recently joined EXARC and shared on our blog his vision of how, over the past years, his work has developed at the intersection of archaeology and craftsmanship. As both an archaeologist and a stoneworker, he approaches experimental archaeology not only as a research method, but also as a practical discipline grounded in manual skills, material knowledge, and long-term engagement with historical techniques.

👉 Read Filippo’s story on our blog: https://www.exarc.org/exarc-blog/between-archaeology-and-craft-filippo-olari

25/05/2026

🏛 In the lead-up to the European Archaeology Days, EXARC and Les Fabri Tignuarii are happy to invite you to the first EXARC online event on 5 June!

The first EXARC online event will take you back to ancient Rome!

👉 The event is open to everyone and can be joined via the link in our website: https://www.exarc.org/calendar/caught-in-the-middle-roman-construction-between-experimental-archaeology-and-cultural-mediation

Through the work of the Fabri Tignuarii association, we will explore different approaches to Roman construction in experimental archaeology and cultural mediation.

Bringing together craftsmen and scientists, the association conducts both strict archaeology-driven experiments, such as the reconstruction of a Pompeian millstone , and public engagement events held in museums and archaeological sites across France.

We’ll be very happy to meet you online soon!

The first EXARC online event will take you back to ancient Rome, thanks to the association Fabri Tignuarii, which explores ancient Roman building techniques through archaeological experiments and reconstructions.

20/05/2026

🏺 How were the globular-bellied vessels of China’s Late Bronze Age actually made?

Through experimental reconstruction, researchers explored the manufacturing techniques behind these artifacts from the Zhongshan State (770–221 BCE). The study revealed that the vessels were carefully built from three separate parts before being assembled into a single object using a highly specialized technique.

👉 Would you like to know more? Read the full article in the EXARC Journal: https://exarc.net/issue-2026-1/rev/study-globular-bellied-vessels-zhongshan-china

📝 by Bangcheng Tang and Xin Li.

18/05/2026

📢 Good news for student associations!

At a time when inflation is raising prices everywhere, EXARC has decided not only to keep membership fees unchanged, but also to make membership more accessible for smaller student groups!

Until now, student associations paid a fixed €90 yearly fee regardless of their size. From now on, smaller associations with fewer than 9 members can contact us to agree on a reduced rate.

Because we believe that students and emerging researchers should have easier access to international networks, opportunities, and collaborations in experimental archaeology and heritage interpretation!

🎓 Individual student memberships remain only €10 per year.

Interested in joining EXARC? Find all the information on our website: https://www.exarc.org/join-exarc

17/05/2026

🔪 Giving knives to children does not sound like a smart idea. But what if our desire to protect younger people results in their inability to develop certain basic skills and manual abilities that are indispensable later in life?

A few years ago, a group of experimental archaeologists and educators discussed this issue, reaching a dilemma.

If we accept that some educational experiences are essential but potentially dangerous, how do we ensure they can be carried out safely? Should we develop new ways of teaching, or give up on certain areas altogether?

👉 Read the full discussion on EXARC journal: https://exarc.net/issue-2016-2/mm/discussion-working-knives-aoams

15/05/2026

🏛 Circumnavigating the frontiers of the Roman Empire in historic outfit and equipment.

What if a once shared territory can foster a sense of belonging today and thus help to heal problems of the present? Geza Frank, our guest in this episode of the EXARC Podcast, certainly thinks it can.

🔈 Listen to the podcast here: https://www.exarc.org/exarc-podcast/reviving-a-roman-matrix

This conviction lies at the heart of his upcoming project to circumnavigate the frontiers of the entire Roman Empire in historic outfit and equipment and by historic means of transport.

Host Phoebe Baker talks with Geza, aka Gaius Flavius Constantinus Aeneas Stilicho, about his plans and how he expects a renewed focus on the Roman empire, by creating the largest UNESCO World Heritage site ever, can benefit people who live within the Limes, its former borders.

From his unique perspective as a former soldier in a modern army, he also shares some insights into what, in his view, truthful reenaction of a Roman entails (and what not).