This volume builds bridges between usually-separate social groups,
between different methodologies and even between disciplines. It is the
result of an innovative conference held at Swansea University in 2010,
which brought together leading craftspeople and academics to explore the
all-too-often opposed practices of experimental and experiential
archaeology. The focus is upon Egyptology, but the volume has a wider
importance. The experimental method is privileged in academic
institutions and thus perhaps is subject to clear definitions. It tends
to be associated with the scientific and technological. In opposition,
the experiential is more rarely defined and is usually associated with
schoolchildren, museums and heritage centres; it is often criticised for
being unscientific. The introductory chapter of this volume examines the
development of these traditionally-assumed differences, giving for the
first time a critical and careful definition of the experiential in
relation to the experimental. The two are seen as points on a continuum
with much common ground. This claim is borne out by succeeding chapters,
which cover such topics as textiles, woodworking and stoneworking. And
Salima Ikram, Professor of Egyptology at the American University in
Cairo, here demonstrates remarkably that our understanding of the
classic Egyptian funerary practice of mummification benefits from both
'scientific' experimental and sensual experiential approaches. The
volume, however, is important not only for Egyptology but for
archaeological method more generally. The papers illuminate the
pioneering of individuals who founded modern archaeological practice.
Several papers are truly groundbreaking and deserve to circulate far
beyond Egyptology. Thus the archaeologist Marquardt Lund tackles the
problem of understanding the earliest known depictions of flint knife
manufacture, those from an Egyptian tomb dated around 1900 BC. He shows
the importance of thinking outside 'traditional', i.e. modern, knapping
practice. Lund's knapping method, guided by the tomb depictions, is
surprising but effective, and very different from that presented in
manuals of lithic technology or taught in academic institutions.
