In order to reach the main objectives, according to the type of methodology applied, to the relevance and importance of the elements/issues pursued, and continually aiming for efficiency, the specific activities will be structured as follows:
A1. Establishing a well-defined working plan which will describe the way of organizing and planning the project, in relation to the proposed objectives. A1 represents the first activity, of a mainly organizational and documentation character, in view of determining the best strategies for approaching the project, and of establishing the makeup of the logistic infrastructure necessary to implement the project in the best conditions. The entire team (from both the host institution and the partner institution) will take part in this first activity, in order to establish the working manner and the clear division of responsibilities. This first activity includes five sub-activities: I. Setting and determining the calendar for the team’s documentation, the research strategy, working schedule and the workload per team member, in relation to the goals pursued; II. Ensuring the infrastructure needed to reach the proposed objectives of the project; III. The identification of spatial and temporal distribution of the key archaeological sites, materials, etc. will be taken into account in this project; IV. Establishing the types of raw materials to be gathered/collected for the replicas, and of the types of artefacts to be replicated; V. Launching of the website of the project (following team discussions, the optimal structure of the website will be established, so that it would prove useful to other specialists, outside the project, both from Romania and abroad; design; means of increasing visibility and impact).
A2. Evaluation of the actual stage of the research in the light of bibliographic resources, by means of documentation sessions concerning this topic, and of the analysis of the unpublished materials belonging to this category. This activity will have a documentation character. The project director, as well as the team of the partner institution (Adina Boroneanț and Anca-Diana Popescu) will be involved in this action. This activity includes three sub-activities: I. Specialized documentation sessions and participation to reunions and workshops with specialists in this domain, in Romania and abroad; II. Evaluation of the archaeological collections from various specialized institutions in Romania from the perspective of this project; III. Indexation of the available bibliography and of the artefacts from the archaeological collections of certain specialized institutions in Romania.
A3. Improving the working tools through the introduction and development of a new method for the interdisciplinary archaeological research in Romania, respectively creating a database bringing together all information of technological and functional nature. This activity will be implemented by L. Duță who will create the database and M. Mărgărit (together they will establish the structure of the database), seconded by Anca-Diana Popescu, which will help with the data entry. This activity will take place throughout the entire project, by introducing new data as a result of the accumulation of information, following the experimental workshops. Subordinated sub-activities are: I. Establishing the structure of the files dedicated to the processing technology of the artefacts; II. Establishing the structure of the files dedicated to the function of the artefacts, based on the micro-marks of use-wear; III. Enter the accumulated data.
A4. Implementing the concept of “archaeological experiment”, in view of identifying the technological scheme of the raw materials transformation – represents the fourth activity, of an experimental character, in order to demonstrate the efficiency of experimental archaeology within the process of interpretation and understanding of the technology developed by the prehistoric communities. In this activity, the following members of the project will be involved: M. Mărgărit, V. Radu and I. Torcică (coordinating the entire experimental program, as they have accumulated experience in the field of experimental archaeology) together with A. Boroneanț – in order to develop her skills in this field. This activity comprises three sub-activities:
I. Completing the logistic infrastructure needed for carrying out the experiments in good conditions;
II. Experimenting in the domain of technology through workshops (at least one each year) with the participation of students and archaeologists, as well as young people from the local community; III. Posting on the project’s website the results obtained in the experiments carried out.
A5. Improving the working tools for the archaeological research in Romania by using microscopy to study technological marks. In this stage, it was important to make an accurate characterization of the morphology of the technological traces and of their succession, especially for the subsequent stage of analysis. The technological analysis will be put into practice using a Keyence VHX-600 digital microscope. The action will be performed by M. Mărgărit, the project leader, at the end of the experimental workshops when the osseous artefacts will be made. The steps of this action will be: I. Characterization of the morphology of the marks resulting from the application of the procedures within the debitage operation; II. Characterization of the marks morphology resulting from the application of the procedures within the shaping operation; III. Reconstruction of technical transformation schemes for obtaining each artefact type, based on microscopic analysis;
IV. Creation of several series of photos of the technological traces, associated to each artefact.
A6. Intermediary quantification of the data gathered on the issues approached, and formulation of some working hypotheses, in order to realize a viable interpretative equation regarding the technological schemes for the transformation of the raw materials, according to the data accumulation following A4. This activity has mainly the attribute of synthesizing the accumulated data in order to improve the working tools needed on the technology of prehistoric osseous industries, and the entire project team will contribute to its successful completion. It comprises four sub-activities: I. Processing the data, the samples and the materials gathered by means of the experimental research undertaken, but also obtained via laboratory investigations on the archaeological collections available in various specialized institutions; II. Developing and updating the database with further information obtained via experimental research on prehistoric technology, and also by means of specialized studies on the collections present in different institutions of this domain; III. Formulation of working hypotheses concerning the data gathered; IV. Formulation of the interpretative equation concerning the data related to osseous industries, both at a practical and a theoretical level.
A7. Promoting the partial research results through the dissemination of the results obtained, within the national and international scientific community – this activity aims to valorise the results obtained, within the national and international scientific community and the whole team will contribute with their own expertise. Four sub-activities are targeted: I. Participation to national and international scientific reunions; II. Elaboration of minimum two papers in BDI indexed journals or in peer-reviewed collective volumes; III. Organization of a conference to present the partial results of the project at the host institution, in order to carry out the educative side of the project; IV. Elaboration of the report for the first part of the project.
A8. Implementation of the concept of “archaeological experiment”, in order to identify the manner of usage of the various artefacts – represents the eighth activity, also of an experimental character. The same team-members as listed at A4 will be involved in this activity. The following steps are included:
I. Experimenting in the domain of the functionality of the artefacts through workshops (at least one each year) with the participation of students and archaeologists, as well young people from the local community;
II. Record all useful information obtained during the experiments, such as: efficiency of the artefacts for the chosen action, modification of the active extremities at a macroscopic level during the experiments, macro-stigmas observed on processed materials using experimental replicas, etc.; III. Posting on the project’s website the results obtained in the experiments carried out.
A9. Improving the working tools for the archaeological research in Romania by using microscopy in the study of micro-marks developed on replicas during use in different actions /on different materials. During this stage, it is important to make an accurate characterization of the morphology of the micro-traces. This type of analysis will be performed with an Olympus BX53M metallographic microscope (magnifications ranging from 50x to 500x), equipped with an EOS 1200D Canon camera. The action will be carried out by M. Mărgărit, the project leader, during experimental workshops where the replicas previously made will be used. The steps of this action will be: I. Characterization of the frequency and distribution of the polish, edge rounding and pattern of the functional scratches which generally appear especially during the first stages of use; II. Deformations of the initial volume, micro-topography, the presence of micro-fractures and exfoliations (appearing in the more advanced stages of use) will be rigorously recorded and described; III. Creation of the image collection using the above mentioned camera, to be associated to each artefact.
A10. Final quantification of the entire data gathered on the issues approached, and the formulation, analysis and testing of the final hypotheses based on comparisons between the data recorded following the making and the use of replicas, and those recorded through the analysis of the archaeological collections. This activity has mainly the attribute of synthesizing all the existing data, in order to structure the final form of the interpretative equation on prehistoric osseous industries. The whole team will contribute to the synthesis of the accumulated data. This activity comprises five sub-activities: I. Processing the data, samples and materials gathered by means of laboratory investigations on the archaeological collections available in different institutions, and by means of the experimental results; II. Design and implementation of the final model concerning the management and use of the database information, and entry in the database of the information obtained as a result of the previous activity; III. Creation of a final reference collection and of a collection of microscope-captured images, which will be made available to the specialists also after the finalization of the project; IV. Creation of an experimental protocol and methodological guidelines for prehistoric osseous industries; V. Formulation of a final interpretative equation, both at a practical and a theoretical level.
A11. Evaluation, valorization and dissemination of the data obtained by the project – this will be the last activity of the project, aiming to promote the project’s results, both nationally and internationally. The whole team will contribute to the dissemination of the results. The sub-activities included are as follows:
I. Participation to national and international scientific reunions; III. Elaboration of two scientific papers to be published in BDI indexed journals or in peer-reviewed collective volumes; IV. Publishing a collective volume, summarizing the current state of research in the European experimental archaeology and the new methodological directions that should be reached; V. Elaboration of the final scientific report for UEFISCDI.
