Welcome to the class portfolio for HNRS 1530/3900: Technologies of the Past
This course explores technologies of past societies through the field of experimental archaeology. How did these past cultures develop and advance technologies in premodern societies? In this class, students are focusing on food preparation, textiles, painting and ceramics. Combining academic resources with lab-based activities, they are experiencing how communities engaged with these common aspects of daily life. Below you will see student's weekly lab reports reflecting on the the labs as well as Module reports where students reflect on the module as a whole.
Experimental Archaeology
This course not only explores technologies from the ancient Mediterranean through scholarship but will also engage with experimental archaeology. Experimental archaeology is one approach to study all aspects of the about the past, but specifically those areas that we do not know much about. While some textual records exist, they often focus on the upper and elite classes. Archaeology can preserve a lot of materials from a range of sites, but often it is unclear how to fully interpret that information. Experimental archaeology helps to answer some of those questions by trying to recreate those technologies through experiments with scientific questions. Throughout this semester, students will explore food, textiles, paintings and ceramics from the ancient Mediterranean in a series of experiments. These labs are conducted mostly on campus within a class period, thus certain limitations arise. Below you can follow along as this class explores these topics by reading students' reflections of the labs as well as whole modules. Come back often and to see what we've been up to!
Module 1: Food
Lab 1: Seed Processing and Hummus
For the first lab, students partook in two linked activities. The first part simulated the work of a paleoarcheobotany, which studies the remains of ancient plants through a series of technologies. This lab specifically asked students to recreate the study of macrobotanical remains, frequently done on archaeological projects with the naked eye. The second lab, students were given the ingredients for hummus, along with a small mortar and pestle. Through experimentation with a variety of ingredients and trial and error, students explore various ways to make hummus by hand.
Module 1 : Food
Lab 2: Bottle Gourds and the Poor
Archaeological remains of bottle gourds are limited in both their quantity, and state of preservation, but it is difficult to know if that is due to lack of use, the population who used them, or their organic nature.
Columella (11.3.49), a Roman author, mentions they were used as vessels and instruments. Based on the archaeological record and textual sources, scholars have estimated that a typical farmer would have about 10 large pithoi to store foods, estimating about 70% for dry goods, 20% oil, and 10% wine (Christakis, K. S., 2010. "Pithoi and Food Storage in Neopalatial Crete: A Domestic Perspective." World Archaeology, 31 (1), pp. 1-20.). That would have been stored in larger storage vessels made in terracotta. The poor would not be able to afford these. How might they utilize the bottle gourd instead?
Module 1: Food
Lab 3: Cooking like the Ancients
This week’s lab focused on the food profiles from the ancient world. Andrew Dalby and Sally Grainger’s The Classical Cookbook presented 49 ancient world adapted for the modern cook. There are some cookery texts from the ancient world, most notably Apicius. Instead, this book looks at the texts left behind by the Greeks and the Romans (from myth to history) and tries to recreate them for the modern kitchen. In this lab, students tried to recreate a dish and flavor profile from the texts left behind. Consider your own family recipes. Are there dishes you grew up eating that you could write about but not the specific recipe? Most ancient dishes would have been passed down by families and oral tradition. Can we recreate these kinds of dishes?
At the end of each module, a small selection of students will write their reflection of the module as a whole.
Module 2: Textiles
Lab 1: Carding and Spinning
Today’s lab has two main goals. The first is to card the fleece: wool and alpaca fleece. The second is turn the carded fibers into threads. To do this each group will have one set of hand carders and drop spindles. Take turns trying the different steps of processing wool.
Hand-carding is a traditional method of preparing fleece and fibers for spinning soft, yarns of varying fiber lengths. The purpose of carding is to separate and straighten the wool fibers. Hand-carders are a pair of wooden paddles with wire faces. The result is a roving of fiber that makes spinning easier. There are two main types of drop spindles. The top whorl and the bottom whorl. You will be using a top whorl spindle, which has the round part of the spindle with the hook at the top of the spindle shaft and is held with the whorl above the shaft.
Module 2: Textiles
Lab 2: Experiments with Color
For this lab, students worked with various untreated cotton yarn. They worked with a variety of natural dyes and a range of processes to see what might be the best approach for dyeing fibers. Each group made different decisions. Students were given the following natural dyes: Chamomile, Red Cabbage, Elderberry and Hibiscus teas, Logwood, Madder, Cochineal, and Osage. Some of these dyes were aided with mordants, salts that help the dyes adhere to the fibers. For this first part of the lab, the fibers were left in the dye baths for 30-45 minutes. Students also left some of the fibers in dye baths for 3 days. Those results will be featured in Lab 3.
Module 2: Textiles
Lab 3: Weaving
For this lab, student tried their hand at weaving. This lab also built upon last week’s lab to further explore the use of natural dyes. Students were given the fibers that sat in the dye baths for 3 days. They were able to compare those to the ones that were removed after 30-45 minutes in the last lab. Students then were given the materials to make a small cardboard loom to try weaving with a traditional Mediterranean approach of setting up longer vertical threads (warps) and they wove their threads horizontally (wefts). Students were also encouraged to try other approaches of weaving.
At the end of each module, a small selection of students will write their reflection of the module as a whole.
Module 3: Painting & Ceramics
Lab 1: Frescoes
This lab explores the creation of paints from natural pigments to paint frescoes. Students made true frescoes, which means painting while the plaster is still wet. One of the primary goals will be to observe how the colors of the pigments change as the plaster dries and chemically bonds the pigments into the lime plaster. In fresco painting, the lime in the plaster acts as the binder when it reacts with carbon dioxide in the air to form calcium carbonate. This will cure and harden the fresco.
Module 3: Painting & Ceramics
Lab 2: Working with Clay
This week’s lab explored the ways how the ancients worked with clay. Students were provided with about 2 pounds of clay. They each made 1 vessel and could use the remaining clay can be used to make other terracotta objects.
Before they began, students thought about what they should make. What would the ancient person need? Think back to the food module. Think beyond the obvious. What else might you want around you?
Module 3: Painting & Ceramics
Lab 3: Firing Ceramics
In this lab, students fired their pots from last week in a pit fire. After getting the embers hot, students stacked their pottery in the pit and then constructed wood around them to fire the pots. Over the course of several hours, students observed the firing, through visuals, sounds, and scents.
At the end of each module, a small selection of students will write their reflection of the module as a whole.
Credits:
Student work from HNRS 1530/3900 Spring 2025. Weber State Univeristy. Dr. Stephanie Kimmey