Cast into the fire!
The SapienCE scientists are getting ready for an experimental field season. By using multiple fires they will examine heating effects on different materials. In this lunch talk Dr. Silje E. Bentsen will present how the team is planning to carry out the experiments, and why.
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Experiments are essential to produce robust reference samples and transform archaeological data into meaningful behavioural information. Fire use, formation processes, bone tools and engravings are among the topics for experiments in South African Middle Stone Age (MSA) archaeology. The SapienCE team will conduct an experimental field season with multiple fires to examine heating effects on different materials, for example:
1) How fire and heat affects ostrich eggshells and microfauna under, by and in a fire.
2) How fire and cooking affects shellfish and their structural, mineralogical and isotopic composition.
3) Test photogrammetric documentation of the experiments.
4) Examine how fire-related behavior forms the build-up of a site and collect reference samples.
The field season will take place at Blombos with Silje Evjenth Bentsen, Turid Hillestad Nel, Magnus Haaland, Ole Unhammer and Jovana Milic as the main participants.
