The experimental approach in archaeology and ethnoarchaeology is frequently used in research projects, whether individual work or collective programs. A wide variety of issues, disciplines and materials are investigated through experimentation. Certain difficulties in implementing this approach are common to all these fields of application. These include the theoretical and practical knowledge required to carry out the various stages of the protocol. Indeed, whether the experiment is concerned with technical production processes, functional issues or taphonomic aspects, the reproduction of ancient gestures, methods or objects generally calls on know-how that is no longer commonly mastered today.
Thus, the next APERA Thematic Day will focus on the knowledge and know-how required when experimenting. At the heart of our reflections lies a fundamental question: who experiments?
This question leads us to explore various aspects, grouped under the following headings:
- What degree of technical skill is required, and what are the criteria for assessing it? - How do you select the right individual(s) to carry out an experimental project in archaeology? - Depending on whether you're a participant or an observer, how do you record and use the data? - What's the point of integrating participants' subjective data? - What are the limitations of using modern experts and practitioners? - How can we experiment with know-how whose technical memory is no longer accessible to us?
The scientific committee will ensure that each paper responds to the main theme of the Thematic Day, by developing one or more of the points listed above, while presenting concrete experimental or epistemological results. Presenters will outline the issues they had to confront while devising the experimental protocol, and the methodological choices they made, particularly with regard to the selection of experimenters. The issues, methodology and results must be explicitly presented in the abstract. The main language of the day is French; papers in English are also accepted. The event is open to students, researchers and experimenters alike.
Choice of presentation formats: - Format n°1: a 15-minute presentation followed by a 10-minute question period - Format n°2: an 8-minute presentation followed by a 10-minute question period
Abstracts (300 words) must be submitted by July 15, 2024 in the “New submission” tab.
The proceedings of the Thematic Day will be published in an issue of the APERA Bulletin, in OpenAccess (https://apera.hypotheses.org/les-numeros-du-bulletin). All presenters, whatever their chosen format, will have the opportunity to publish in this peer-reviewed volume.
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