Robert Ascher was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1931.  He received his Ph D from University of California, Los Angeles, in 1960 and went on to become a Professor of Anthropology at Cornell University.  Ascher’s contribution to experimental archaeology comes from his formulation of the principles of the discipline.  In his 1961 paper, Ascher provided a definition for imitative and replicative experimental approaches.  He detailed the use of replication as an experimental means of examining processes, techniques, and methods which were previously thought invisible in the archaeological record (Coles 1979, Ingersoll et al 1977, & Ascher 1961). (photo is not of Ascher).

Ascher, R. (1961) Experimental Archaeology. American Anthropologist 63(4):793-816.

Coles, J.M. (1979) Experimental Archaeology. Academic Press, London.

Ingersoll, D., J.E. Yellen and W. Macdonald (editors) (1977) Experimental Archeology. Columbia University Press, New York.

Lewis Binford, notable father of Processual Archaeology, received his PhD from Michigan in 1964.  While Binford’s participation in experimental archaeology is limited, his influence of encouraging scientific rigor in archaeology coincided with the increasly refined techniques and methodology in experimental archaeology .  Binford’s second  great accomplishment was Middle Rang Theory.  This theoretical ‘bridge’ provided experiemental archaeology a theoretical home.  The infusion of scientific rigor into this framework enabled researchers to design rigorous, hypothesis driven experiments with replicable results. While Binford’s Processual archaeology did not redefine experimental archaeology, it did help to solidify its place in scientific archaeology.

O'Brien, M.J., R.L. Lyman and M.B. Schiffer (2005) Archaeology as a Process: Processualism and Its Progeny. University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City.

Lawrence H. Keeley received his PhD from Oxford University in 1977.  His work became widely known with the publication of Experimental Determination of Stone Tool Uses in 1980.  This research marked the fundamental development of experimental archaeology as a rigorous, hypothesis driven approach.  Keeley’s work on use wear analysis provided a highly structured methodology for other researchers to follow, and it promoted the general applicability of experimentation for a wide variety of archaeological problems.

UIC website

Robert Blumenschine received his PhD from UC Berkeley in 1985.  His greatest contribution to archaeology has been in experimental and actualistic research in the field of Zooarchaeology.  He also has been instrumental in the development of taphonomy through his work in Africa, and examining the effects of carnivores on skeletal materials.    His descriptions of the tell-tale signs of carnivore damage to bone has helped researchers to evaluate the origins and taphonomic histories of assemblages believed to be the products early Hominins.   Blumenschine’s work represents a scientifically grounded experimental approach that is concerned with zooarchaeological and taphonomic processes.  His work has been heavily influenced by the groundbreaking actualistic studies of C.K. Brain.

Rutgers Website

Bruce Bradley is likely the name which comes to mind when discussing experimental archaeology.  He received his BA from the University of Arizona and his PhD from the University of Cambridge.  He spent many years as a private consultant before taking a position at the University of Exeter, where he is the director of the Experimental Archaeology Masters Programme.  This program represents one of the very few opportunities researchers have to come and work with a master knapper and earn a degree in experimental archaeology from an accredited program.  In many ways, this is the modern incarnation of the Crabtree School, illustrating just how far experimental archaeology has come as a legitimate sub-discipline within anthropology.

MA in Experimenal Archaeology from Exeter