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Experimental archaeology is the attempt to recreate or use ancient structures or artefacts in order to learn more about ancient technology based on (primarily) archaeological source material. This can provide important information for archaeologists and can be a good way to test a hypothesis or an interpretation. It should not be confused with historical reenactment, which is generally undertaken for entertainment, rather than to examine ancient technology.

One of the main forms of experimental archaeology is the creation of copies of historical structures using only historically accurate technologies. This is sometimes known as reconstruction archaeology. A good example is Butser Ancient Farm in the English county of Hampshire which is a working replica of an Iron Age farmstead where long-term experiments in prehistoric agriculture, animal husbandry and manufacturing are held to test ideas posited by archaeologists. In Denmark, the Lejre prehistoric farm carries out even more ambitious work on such diverse topics as artificial Bronze Age and Iron Age burials, prehistoric science and stone tool manufacture in the absence of flint.

Other examples include:

Other types of experimental archaeology may involve burying modern replica artefactThis article is about the archaeological concept of artifacts (or artefacts). For other definitions, see Artifact (disambiguation). In archaeology, an artifact or artefact is any object made by a human culture, and often one later recovered by some archaes and ecofacts for varying lengths of time to analyse the post-depositional effects on them. Other archaeologists have built modern earthwork s and measured the effects of silting in the ditches and weathering and subsidence on the banks to understand better how ancient monuments would have looked.

The work of FlintknapperA flintknapper is an individual who manufactures stone tools through the process of lithic reduction. This is done by using a fabricator, such as a hammerstone, to remove lithic flakes from a nucleus or core of tool stone. More refined work can be done uss is also a kind of experimental archaeology as much has been learnt about the many different types of flint tools through the hands-on approach of actually making them. Experimental archaeologists have equipped modern professional butchers, archers and lumberjacks with replica flint tools to judge how effective they would have been for certain tasks. Hand axeA hand axe is a bifacial Paleolithic core tool. This kind of axe is typical of the lower ( Acheulean) and the middle Palaeolithic ( Mousterian) and is the longest used tool of human history. Distribution Handaxes are only found in Europe and Northern Asias have been shown to be particularly effective at cutting animal meat from the bone and jointing it.

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ArchaeologyArchaeology or archeology ( American English) is the study of human cultures through the recovery, documentation and analysis of material remains, including architecture, artefacts, biofacts, human remains, and landscapes. The goal of archaeology is to sh

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