House of Questions
Delphi House of Questions was an EU Culture 2000 project by three EXARC members. Under this umbrella, other EXARC members as well collected and answered the most frequently asked questions by visitors to archaeological open-air museums. The largest part of this collection of questions you can find here – as many of them still carry importance. In most cases we offer the questions both in the original language and in English. With several questions you will find illustrations by Savannah Parent.
In the Iron Age, how many people lived in one house (NL)?
About 10 people, a family group with not just mom and dad and the kids, but as well aunts, uncles, nephews and nieces et cetera. People did not get old in those days; averagely maximum 35 years. The child death rate was high as well - that is why the families were not that large.
Have the megalithic structures found in the artisans quarter of the gallo-roman city of Alesia really been used for the smelting of metal or enamel (FR)?
Experimental archaeology found that the most probable use of these structures was as heating ovens for clay-moulds being used for the smelting of bronze in the so called “lost form”...
Where do modern musicians get medieval music from (NL)?
In different monasteries and libraries, sheet music dating back to the Middle Ages is kept.
How many people lived in a Neolithic house in Northwest Schleswig (DE)?
This is not easy to say. We think that it could have been about ten persons in one long-house – all ages, all sexes, all social groups. We only can make comparisons to houses from younger times to get some idea...
What did people in the Middle Ages believe in (NL)?
The medieval people in Europe were Christian. They considered life as an earthly passage with death the gate which led to heaven. Real life started in heaven. To reach this...
Were there already Muslims and Christian people (NL)?
There are Muslims since محمد بن عبد الله بن عبد المطلب بن هاشم بن عبد مناف القرشي / Muḥammad ibn Abd Allāh ibn Abd al-Muṭṭalib ibn Hāšim ibn Abd Manāf al-Qurašī / Mohammed (about 571 – June, 8th 632) founded the Islam in about 600 AD...
What were roofs made from during the Bronze Age (CZ)?
Remains of roofs are rarely preserved so we know little about them. They may have been thatched but at that time people did not grow corn with long stalks as rye later in Middle Ages and modern times and...
What did they eat at the Crannogs in Scotland (UK)?
We have found traces of spelt and emmer wheat on site and barley. Also, a wide range of nuts and berries, including cloud-berry, raspberry, strawberry, brambles, sloes and wild cherries. Hazelnuts are in great abundance. Wild carrots, wild cabbages, wild garlic and thyme, and meat from domestic animals such as sheep and cow. Butter and cheese were found, but So far no fish bones have been found, but we have net weights.
How did the people of the lake fortress dress (LV)?
Excavated material permits reconstruction of the dress of the people living on the island. Women wore long linen shirts with half-length or full length sleeves. Simple wraparound skirts were made from a rectangular piece of woollen fabric...
People back then were not that stupid after all … (CH)
No, why should they! The modern human (Homo sapiens sapiens) is around for about 37,000 years. Ever since, people have the same appearance and the same development of the brain as we do...