ANTH 235,
ETHNOARCHAEOLOGY &
EXPERIMENTAL ARCHAEOLOGY
Much of archaeological inference is necessarily based on
uniformitarian assumptions.
“There is no present or future; only the past endlessly
repeating itself” – Eugene O’Neill, A Moon for the
Misbegotten (1952)
or, stated another way…
“The past is never dead. It’s not even past.” – William
Faulkner, Requiem for a Nun (1951)
ethnoarchaeology: “the study of contemporary peoples to
understand the behavioral relationships that underlie the
production of material culture to aid in unraveling the
archaeological record.”
experimental archaeology: “the study of past behavioral
processes through experimental reconstruction under
controlled scientific conditions.”
Sir John Lubbock (1834-1913)
Prehistoric Times, as Illustrated by Ancient Remains and
the Manners and Customs of Modern Savages (1865)
William Johnson Sollas (1849-1936)
Ancient Hunters and their Modern Representatives (1911),
coined the phrase “ethnographic analogy”
Some archaeologists avoid analogy all together, saying
1. every culture is a unique entity
2. any inferences made about one culture based on
observations of another culture are bound to be
distortions of the truth
3. modern cultures have had longer to evolve and
develop adaptations not available in the past
ETHNOARCHAEOLOGY:
Significance of John Yellen’s work among the !Kung
Bushmen foragers of the Kalahari Desert in Botswana:
 Provided little support for the common assumption
that artifacts found in similar archaeological contexts
must have been involved in similar activities.
 Suggested debris from subsistence activities may be
mixed with debris from manufacturing activities – no
absolute spatial separation.
 Most important: these specific observations can be
generalized to help interpretation of a wide variety of
archaeological contexts.
J. Peter White’s work among the Duna-speakers in the
highlands of New Guinea (below). White wanted to
identify the social variables of flint knapping. White
explored the mental template concept.
This is a chair…
No, this is a chair…!
No, actually, THIS is a bloody chair…!
Ethnoarchaeology allows the formulation of “bridging
arguments” to link the ethnographic present with the
archaeological past.
Many controversial issues remain to be resolved, most
particularly:
 How far back in time can we apply these methods?
 Is it relevant at all to study the behavior of modern
non-industrial foraging peoples as a guide to
understanding Paleolithic life-ways?
EXPERIMENTAL ARCHAEOLOGY:
Kinds of experiments attempted by archaeologists include a
wide range of activities, including:
 raising replica stone heads (moai) from Rapa Nui
 constructing a replica Roman catapult (below, left)
 butchering animals with stone tools & cooking in skin
vessels (below, right)
No matter what the experiment, however, a number of
over-arching considerations apply:
 materials used should be those locally available to the
people who produced the original item
 methods used should not include any beyond the
technological competence of the ancient society (e.g.,
don’t use a bulldozer to construct an experimental
prehistoric canal system!)
 experiments should be repetitive, if possible, each
building on results of previous tests
 results of experiments should lead to a series of
observations that may, in turn, suggest certain
conclusions. Proof absolute should not be assumed or
claimed!
 corroborative evidence should always be sought –
more experiments, ethnoarchaeology, excavation.
CONCLUSIONS
1. Ethnoarchaeology and experimental archaeology are two
aspects of the same activity: the archaeologist’s
endeavor to glean information about the past from the
present.
2. Both proceed according to strict scientific conventions
and have moved very far away from their rather naïve,
even quaint, and simplistic origins several generations
ago to become part of the mainstream of methods and
theories that archaeologists regularly employ in their
attempt to reconstruct past human behavior.
See also:
Galloway, Patricia. (2006). Practicing Ethnohistory:
Mining Archives, Hearing Testimony, Constructing
Narrative. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.
Saraydar, Stephen C. (2008). Replicating the Past:
The Art and Science of Archaeological Experiment.
Long Grove, IL: Waveland Press.