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.
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...
Didn't medieval shoes have soles and didn't they wear out very soon (NL)?
Medieval shoes had merely a thin sole. To prevent this from wearing out too fast, but also in order to prevent the feet from getting wet, people wore wooden shoes called "trip". These are a kind of wooden slippers which could be worn over the shoe. Experiments show that such shoes are worn out after a couple of months. Probably the medieval people then bought a new pair or had the old ones fixed.
Women in prehistory surely wore jewellery. What about men (CZ)?
This differed through times and regions but also within different social groups. We often find in male graves, especially rich ones, ornaments, for example torques and necklaces...
Did people know they were people or did they still think they were monkeys (NL)?
Many peoples modestly called and still call themselves ‘people’, like the Ainu in Japan or the Inuit of the Polar Circle as do many others. Prehistoric groups of people like the Neanderthal may have had the same habit...
How did Biskupin settlement seize to exist (PL)?
Because of the rising water table of Lake Biskupin the inhabitants abandoned the settlement.
Where were the inhabitants of the lake fortress buried (LV)?
The inhabitants of the lake fortress were buried in the flat cemetery on a hill on the north-eastern shore of Lake Āraiši near the Liepiņas farm. As part of the archaeological research on the Āraiši area, 168 female, male and children’s graves were...
Where did the raw materials fot the medieval blacksmith come from and how did they get to him (NL)?
Probably, there were already tradesmen in iron and coal. Iron came form Germany, Sweden and the UK. Here there are locations where iron ore is found at the surface. Coal came from Germany...
What musical instruments did people use in the Middle Ages (NL)?
In those days, people knew stringed instruments like the harp, lyre, lute and the hardy-gurdy. The blown instruments they knew were horn, trumpet, bagpipes and flute. And then the percussion instruments: drums, timpani, rattle, clatter, bells, cymbals and tambourines.
Did they have chimneys in prehistory (CZ)?
They did not have chimneys in our sense of the word, but from at least the Bronze Age we presume that makeshift chimneys, for example made from wicker and daubed with clay would take smoke from hearths through ceilings...
Which types of animals did people keep in the Iron Age (SE)?
The Iron Age agricultural structure was more based on animal husbandry than the growing of crops. The Iron Age farmers of what was to become Sweden kept several types of animals. The two most important ones were cows and sheep...