ABSTRACT
Experimental archaeology involves examining craft techniques and the traces of usage on tools and materials, as well as retracing the correlations between events, techniques, and everyday life in the past. Experimental archaeology does so by conducting scientific, methodologically designed studies in which the size of the variables can be altered and empirical data and information can be gained. The conflict between inductive and deductive methods is evident in contemporary debates over experimental archaeology and some of its methodological approaches. The impetus for a new take on the experimental approach in archaeology came—as it had in the 19th century—from the archaeological open-air museums of Scandinavia. The concept and methods of experimental archaeology have finally been established, yet debates over the definition and scope of the field continue. European scholars differentiate between living history, reenactment, live action role-play, experimental archaeology, histotainment, and historical theatre.
