EXPERIMENTAL
ARCHAEOLOGY – ARCHAEOLOGICAL PARK
The point of experimental archaeology is that, on the basis
of observed archaeological phenomena and finds, it tries
to reconstruct and repeat in practice the process through
which a certain object was created or a building was built.
In the process of reconstitution one can deduce details
which cannot be known through the exclusive study of finds.
Parallel to this, the natural scientific measurements (archaeometry)
connected to the archaeological phenomena are also repeated
in the process of experimental reconstruction, and with
their help one can achieve that all the characteristics
of the reconstituted objects (physical, chemical features)
approximate to those of the archaeological records. The
experimental archaeological surveys and their results can
often be seen in archaeological parks, where a wider audience
can also take part in the process of reconstitution and
see the reconstructed records thus created.
In Bodrogköz, on the border of the present-day village
Kisrozvány, in the territory of the once-extant village
of Berzseny, an archaeological park was created in order
to present the way a village looked in the period of the
conquest of the Carpathian Basin and the age of the Arpadian
dynasty. Here, apart from the reconstructed buildings (yurts,
sunken huts and timber houses), experimental archaeological
processes (i.e. pottery making) and a biohistorical yard
also can be seen. The animals to be seen here (grey cattle, racka sheep, mangalica swine,
etc.) do not in all respect correspond to the contemporary
animals identifiable through the animal bone remains but
in their characteristics they are closer to those than
the presently bred domestic animals. |
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EXPERIMENTAL ARCHAEOLOGICAL CAMP IN REGÖLY, TOLNA COUNTY
The site was created in 1982 in the vicinity of Regöly in Tolna county, next to a Neolithic, Avarian, and migration-period archaeological site. The founders (Viktor Cziráki and Sándor Szíjártó) created the presently functioning park as private persons on private property. On the site they have built Neolithic, Hunnic, Avar, nomadic Hungarian and Arpadian-period buildings with the use of original technology authenticated by archaeological excavations. From 1991 onwards, they have organized an experimental archaeological lifestyle-camp for students and young people every year in July, where the participants, apart from the manufacturing of instruments and handicraft, can experience living in reconstructed buildings. From 2001, in May and September yearly a mounted archery contest takes place. The contest is led by the disciples of Lajos Kassai, an internationally acknowledged archer. The camp more than once received Hungarian and international publicity in the media. The shots about Hunnic, Avar, nomadic Hungarian, and Arpadian-periods for the historical reconstruction documentaries of the Duna Television (Képes Krónika, 2002/2003) were made on this site, while the personality of Viktor Cziráki ("archaic man"), head of the site, was discovered by the yellow press (RTL Klub, Fókusz) as well.
PICTURES: http://www.freeweb.hu/brownfox/ujszkitia/album.php |
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