Arbeitsgruppe für Experimentelle Archäologie in der Schweiz (AEAS) (CH)

The AEAS is a platform for promoting experimental archaeology in Swizterland which was formed in 1993 and officially founded, with a constitution, in 1998. There were several catalysts to the formation of the group, including the exhibition “Pfahlbauland” in Zürich and the need for exchange of knowledge among professionals in this field.

The AEAS supports the establishment of experimental archaeology as a scientific research method. The group links people who are actively involved in experimental archaeology, or who are interested in this, and we keep contacts with experimental archaeological societies in Switzerland and abroad. We publish an annual journal called Anzeiger, which publishes contributions from members, as platform for the exchange and the distribution of knowledge.

The members of the Workgroup are employed in museums or in pedagogics; work as archaeologists or in research. They execute archaeological experiments, make (re)constructions and replicas, dem-onstrate manual skills in museum events, in schools, at courses and other activities, or are simply interested in experimental archaeology.

There is variety of projects that have been, and are being done, by AEAS members. This is a short selection:

Experiments:
Making Celtic coins, processing different types of tree bark, nettle fibres, rush and more, experiments with flint, experiments with Neolithic agriculture, making the bronze wheel of Cortaillod – a casting masterpiece, making a “Greek” firing in a pottery kiln, construction of the couch of Hochdorf.

(Re)constructions and replicas:
(Re)construction of a section of a Roman horse rider’s barrack, (re)construction of an “Arbon house” of the Horgen Culture, making bricks from clay from a Roman quarry, (re)construction of Ötzi shoes, of a Neolithic hat of lime tree bark and of the Schnide-joch bow.

Experiential archaeology:
"Archaeology: tracing traces: – Experienced and reconstructed past", "Forward into the past" (Youth camp), "The lake dwellers from Pfyn – Stone Ag live".

Our projects are published in the AEAS Anzeiger and on our website: www.aeas-gaes.ch.
The group can be contacted through email at: info@aeas-gaes.ch.

Source Image: Katrin Schäppi, AEAS