Center for Experimental Archaeology TIMECRAFT Odesa
Ukraine
Member Since: 2016
Focus areas: Palaeolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic, Chalcolithic, Bronze Age, Iron Age, Roman Era
Topics of Interest: Topic, Topic
TIMECRAFT Odesa is a newly established Centre for Experimental Archaeology operating under the Odesa Society of History and Antiquities, one of Ukraine’s oldest scholarly societies. The centre was created to develop experimental archaeology as a permanent research, educational, and public-engagement platform in Ukraine.
Our mission is to bridge archaeological theory and practice through the reconstruction and testing of ancient technologies, experimental replication of artefacts, and the development of reference collections for archaeological interpretation. We aim to create a space where researchers, students, museum professionals, and the wider public can explore the material past through hands-on experience.
The centre focuses particularly on prehistoric and early historic technologies of Eastern Europe and the North Pontic region. Current areas of interest include flint knapping and lithic technology, prehistoric pottery production, use-wear and experimental traceology, organic materials, ancient pyrotechnologies, and the reconstruction of daily practices of past communities. We are also interested in methodological issues of experimental archaeology, including the design of controlled experiments and the integration of experimental data into archaeological interpretation.
TIMECRAFT Odesa actively promotes collaboration between archaeology, heritage studies, museums, digital humanities, and public archaeology. Alongside experimental research, we are developing educational programmes, workshops, and outreach activities aimed at str
Looking for practitioners and living history demonstrators with skills in the following
Art, Bone / Antler, Ceramics, Fibre, Food, Jewellery, Leatherwork & tanning, Stone
Happy to collaborate with Museums and Institutions in the following
Bone / Antler, Ceramics, Leatherwork & tanning, Stone
Representatives
Dr Olha Demchenko
PhD in History, archaeologist, Associate Professor at the Department of Archaeology, Ethnology and World History, Odesa I. I. Mechnikov National University; co-founder and co-chair of TIMECRAFT Odesa, specialising in the archaeology of the North Pontic region, Mesolithic–Neolithic transitions, funerary archaeology, digital heritage, and experimental archaeology.
Dr Oksana Hrytsiuta
PhD in History, Research Fellow at the Odesa Archaeological Museum of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine; co-founder and co-chair of TIMECRAFT Odesa, specialising in traceology (use-wear analysis), experimental archaeology, and archaeological heritage research.