The Material Culture Studies internship aims to familiarise students with different materials, to teach them how to design and conduct a scientific experiment, how to carry out a proper sampling programme and how to do laboratory analyses.
The internship will consist of 2 weeks of experimental fieldwork in Huize Horsterwold in the Flevopolder, followed by 2 weeks of laboratory analysis, with tasks including writing a laboratory report.
Experiments will be related to the current research projects of the Material Culture Studies Research Group (prof. dr. A.L. van Gijn and dr. D. Braekmans, assisted by Diederik Pomstra, Annemieke Verbaas and Loe Jacobs) but suggestions from other staff members are welcome. It is essential that the experiments are not an end in itself but provide data that can subsequently be studied in a laboratory context.
Examples of current research include:
Experimentally burning different kinds of fuel to study the composition of the different ashes by means of XRF and phytolith analysis;
Another current project, in collaboration with the Human Origins Research Group, is heating different kinds of stones in order to obtain insight into differences between hearth and cooking stones.