“Rebuilding Titanic:” The Research Method of Experimental Archaeology

So, when I first saw the show “Rebuilding Titanic” my initial reaction was astonishment and then it turned to I wish I had that job… oddly enough this was the same reaction I had to “The Supersizers” show. Maybe I just need to get to know someone in the TV world.

Anyways, this show is really interesting because it shows a form of living history that I only shortly discussed in my presentation and in my paper. Had I remembered this show in time I would have included it, but hindsight I guess. This topic is the use of living history as a research method, or as it is also known: experimental archaeology. Although, I would say that it is more akin to experimental anthropology or sociology that is the term the professionals often use for it. So, we’ll go with it.

“Rebuilding Titanic” shows four engineers that take on trying to rebuild and recreate portions and different aspects of the Titanic to understand the skill level, the intensity of labor, and challenges of the workers that built, made, and crafted different parts of this colossal ship. From working to rebuild a portion of the bow, to painting the china, to upholstering a chair for the men’s elaborate smoking room these engineers use the tools that the laborers of these trades at the time of the Titanic would have used. They are under the direction of master craftsmen and historians while taking up these projects. Just seeing them work on these different aspects of the Titanic is soooooo interesting. Also, in this show they bring in ancestors of persons that were on the Titanic or worked on the ship, before and after it departed the shore, to tell the story of their ancestor.

There is so much great stuff in this show that I’m going to stop trying to explain it now because I feel like I’m gushing. I’ve only mentioned a couple of the projects these engineers take on, there’s at least two or three more that I’ll let you discover on your own. This show is really educational and I would define it as a documentary. A little bit of a non-traditional documentary, but still a documentary none-the-less.

One other aspect of this program that is interesting to analyze is whether this is a viable research method for historians and also if something like what these engineers are doing in this show is a viable career for public historians. I would say yes that it is definitely a useful research method. Both the historian taking part in the research methodology of experimental archaeology are learning via experimentation about history and the public watching you or reading the article you wrote about your experience can learn from it. However, I am not so certain that this could be a viable career path only because of the fact that I’m not sure that you can make money doing this type of thing unless you do what they’ve done here and put it on TV.

Feel free to add your opinion on these two quandaries.