05/08/2026
The Archaeological Review from Cambridge is excited to announce the launch of our newest volume 41.1, The Archaeology of Skin, edited by Madison Bennett ().
To celebrate, we will be hosting a launch event on Thursday, August 13 at 5PM in the McDonald Seminar Room, where Dr. Theresa Emmerich Kamper (traditional_leather) from the University of Exeter will be joining us to speak about Fur and Skin Processing in Prehistory (see abstract below). A food and drink reception will follow, please see the poster below for more details. We hope to see you there!
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Fur and Skin Processing in Prehistory an experimental approach to prehistoric tanning technologies
The importance of skin processing technologies, in the history and dispersal of humankind around the planet cannot be overstated. Tanning technologies can be hard to identify and yet the knowledge is both archaeologically useful and can be used to inform the conservation and ongoing curation of the artefacts. This presentation outlines a systematic analysis methodology targeted at this specific material type, with the goal of determining the tanning technologies in use during prehistory, from extant archaeologically recovered processed skin objects. The methodology is a product of macroscopic and microscopic observations of a sample reference collection containing over 200 samples. These were used to produce a database of defining characteristics and tendencies for each of six tannage types; wet and dry scrape brain tan, bark tan, alum taw, urine tan and rawhide. The sample collection is made up of twenty-two economically important species from both Europe and North America, as well as a collection of well used clothing and utilitarian items, made from traditionally processed skins…(swipe for full abstract ➡️)
