Archaeological Science and Experimental Archaeology Can Inform Sustainable Innovative Craft

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

The study deals with an interesting topic, which is currently discussed in the academic community. Examining the processes of transformation of industrial spaces, taking into account their cultural and social value as part of the cultural heritage, contributes to solve numerous problems in the field of urban planning, creation of public spaces, tourism and many others. The paper has a logical structure and the authors use correct methods. I find the aim of the study to demonstrate new ways of thinking about production and to create a community of artisans and customers who produce and consume on a smaller scale, thus giving a fair value to work, time, and final objects, a highly relevant one. The content of the study is balanced, relies on relevant sources and provides an interesting insight that can be useful in practice as well as for further academic discussion. However, I would like to make a few comments.

I think the focus of the study is relevant to the protection of intangible cultural heritage. Therefore, the authors should explicitly stress in the introduction that in the case of sustainability they are referring to (not only) but especially to the social aspect of sustainability. As this is primarily an academic study, I recommend expanding the theoretical part, because the described experiment also has obvious potential to contribute to the development of domestic so-called heritage tourism - the project has an educational character in addition to its commercial one. In the theoretical background it is necessary to define the theoretical aspects of the definition of heritage as this is the thematic core of the study. Natural and cultural heritage can be seen as a process through which objects, events, places, practices, personalities and their interpretations derived from the past are transformed into experiences in and for the present. It is also the thoughtfully constructed outcome of current political, social or economic needs. heritage defined in this way must be understood from the outset not only as an approach that was but also is a means for understanding the past in the present. The key link between the past and the present through the surviving tangible and intangible relics of the environment is at the heart of heritage marketing. Not only does it have the ability to transcend time and allow the past to exist in the present but it also plays an important role in shaping the present. The aspect of preserving, protecting, resurrecting, commemorating and recreating the past can be presented in the present in a variety of ways. For example, a study (Matlovičová, Husarova 2017) identifies three paradigmatic transitions in the approach to the past that have been and are currently being applied in the process of creating environments, originally created in the past, that serve needs that have been forgotten today. They are ordered chronologically according to how they were introduced: from a) preservation, to b) conservation, to c) heritage. Jed According to the authors, the individual stages do not have precise boundaries and, from a contemporary point of view, they represent a layered structure of approaches, created gradually, by building on existing ones. In other words, each stage is an extension of the original with a new perspective, in such a way that it simultaneously preserves the previous ones, and at the same time they all interpenetrate each other. (Matlovicova, K, Husarova, M. 2017. Potential of the Heritage Marketing in Tourist Destinations Development. Cicva Castle Ruins Case Study. Folia Geographica 59/1, pp.5-35). As far as the support of local communities is concerned, it would be appropriate to include that another option for tourism development is the so-called CBT - community-based tourism, or CBET - community-based ecotourism, in the initial stage aimed at domestic tourists, with the potential to attract foreign tourists as well (especially if small craft businesses connected with the demonstration of production methods will be located in the hinterland of major tourist centres). See e.g. Sumarmi S., Arinta D., Suprianto A., Aliman M. 2021. The Development of Ecotourism with Community-Based Tourism (Cbt) in Clungup Mangrove Conservation (Cmc) of Tiga Warna Beach for Sustainable Conservation. Folia Geographica 63/1, pp. 123-142; or Acharya A., Pathak A.K., Mondal B.K.,Dash P., Bhadra. T. 2021. Assessing the Economic Impact of Tourism and Verdict Ecotourism. Potential of the Coastal Belt of Purba Medinipur District, West Bengal. Folia Geographica 63/2, pp. 82-107 or Mika M., Zawilińska B., Kubal-Czerwińska M. 2019. Exploring the Determinants of Local People's Attitude Toward National Parks in Poland. Folia Geographica 2019, 61/1, pp. 5-16.

Chapter 3. Results should be renamed to Results and Discussion. The Discussion chapter should be renamed to Conclusion. A discussion focusing on the comparison of findings, possible applications, etc. with other studies published so far should be added (e.g. also in related fields: The space, like cellars, where locals keep food products plays an important role. Cellars are ideal spaces because they provide balance and do not allow thermal shock. The purpose of a cellar is to extend the shelf life of the products, regardless of season and weather conditions. The cellar must meet certain conditions, such as constant temperature and humidity, lack of unpleasant odours, darkness etc. In this respect, this study has analysed air temperature, relative air humidity and fungi in a cellar located in the village of Sălacea, Bihor County, Romania. The results obtained show that the temperature inside the cellar during the monitored period falls within the optimal parameters for preservation of products and the constant presence of mould may develop pathologies in persons who spend more hours working in this environment. Bringing these parameters to normal values is an important task for cellar owners, whose solving is necessary for preserving products over a long period of time. In Ilieș D.C, Onet A., Sonko S.M., Ilieș A., Diombera M., Gaceu O., Baias S., Ilieș M.,Berdenov Z., Herman G., Sambou A.,  Burtă L., Marcu F., Costea M., 2020. Air Quality in Cellars: A Case Study of Wine Cellar in Sălacea, Romania. Folia Geographica 2020, 62/1, pp. 158 – 173.).  Similarly in the case of alternative food networks continue which to get more and more attention from consumers who have been traditionally oriented on conventional retail environments. The results show that there are statistically significant differences between the perceptions of regular and only occasional farmers’ market visitors, while no statistically significant differences were found in the perceptions between hedonists and utilitarians. In Križan F., Hencelová P., Bilková K. 2022. Are You Looking for Better Quality, Cheaper, Local Food Directly From The Producers? Visit The Farmers' Market. The perception of visitors to the farmers' market in Bratislava. Folia Geographica 64/2, pp. 5–20,

The research problem, on which the study is focused, should be explicitly formulated.

The above comment in no way diminish the quality of the study. It is a quality study based on a well-developed and original methodology for obtaining and processing relevant data.

I definitely recommend it for publication after minor changes.

Author Response

 Reviewer: I recommend expanding the theoretical part, because the described experiment also has obvious potential to contribute to the development of domestic so-called heritage tourism - the project has an educational character in addition to its commercial one. In the theoretical background it is necessary to define the theoretical aspects of the definition of heritage as this is the thematic core of the study. 

A discussion focusing on the comparison of findings, possible applications, etc. with other studies published so far should be added

In the introduction we have added how we contribute to heritage studies with this paper. We are not mainly focusing on heritage studies because we feel that archaeological science and experimental archaeology should engage more with the communication and of research in other fields (e.g. manufacturing, construction, agriculture). We would like to stress in the paper that this project is aimed at researchers in archaeology as well as heritage studies. 

Thank you very much for the bibliographic suggestions on the topic of Heritage tourism, we have expanded our theoretical session mentioning this aspect. In the introduction we are clarifying the aim of the paper and anticipate that we are preparing a more in depth article on how this project can help the preservation and marketing of a heritage site in combination with the promotion of our intangible heritage. Seeing the complexity of this topic we decided to dedicate a separate article to the discussion of heritage and public engagement. The manuscript is in preparation and we are going to submit it to the MDPI journal 'Heritage'. In this forthcoming article we will present the results from feedback forms filled by visitors during the event in the archaeological park. These results will be compared with similar studies as suggested by this review (eg. Križan F., Hencelová P., Bilková K. 2022). We also added some comparison with similar case studies in the discussion of this paper.

reviewer: Results should be renamed to Results and Discussion. The Discussion chapter should be renamed to Conclusion. We followed the MDPI template, if the editors of this sustainability issue feel that we can alter their structure we can rename the paragraph as suggested. 

reviewer: The research problem, on which the study is focused, should be explicitly formulated.

We have now highlighted the research aim in the introduction

Reviewer 2 Report

sustainability-2565770-peer-review-v1

Review of: Archaeological science and experimental archaeology can inform sustainable innovative craft

 

 

Overall, this is a great paper that comments on a project and an experiment worth reporting.  I am only asking myself why this was submitted to MDPI Sustainability and not to MDPI Heritage (also a Q1 journal) where it would be a much better fit?

 

Some  minor comments

 

Line 143          “Clays from the surveys were dried crushed and sifted at 05.mm to eliminate 143 very large inclusions.” This makes no sense to me. Which surveys. This is not clear and does not seem to have been explained in the methodology

 

Line 165            “temperature, achieved using hard 165 wood,”

 

LANGUAGE

The manuscript exhibits numerous infelicities in word choice, grammar and expression.It needs to be edited by a native English-speaking professional scientific editor (not merely a native English-speaker)

 

Table 3 Bonfire is not a sensible term here … open fire may be better

 

The manuscript exhibits numerous infelicities in word choice, grammar and expression.It needs to be edited by a native English-speaking professional scientific editor (not merely a native English-speaker)

 

Author Response

reviewer: Overall, this is a great paper that comments on a project and an experiment worth reporting.  I am only asking myself why this was submitted to MDPI Sustainability and not to MDPI Heritage (also a Q1 journal) where it would be a much better fit?

We are writing a separate paper that addresses specific aspect of heritage management. We are now stating this more clearly in the introduction. We selected sustainability to reach a wider audience that goes beyond cultural heritage studies. 

reviewer: Line 143          “Clays from the surveys were dried crushed and sifted at 05.mm to eliminate 143 very large inclusions.” This makes no sense to me. Which surveys. This is not clear and does not seem to have been explained in the methodology

Line 165            “temperature, achieved using hard 165 wood,”

these points have now been changed in the text

reviewer: The manuscript exhibits numerous infelicities in word choice, grammar and expression.It needs to be edited by a native English-speaking professional scientific editor (not merely a native English-speaker)

The second author of this paper is an native English-speaker and has edited the paper.

Reviewer 3 Report

This is an interesting contribution on an attempted combination of archaeological analysis, experimental archaeology, ethnography , small craftmanship, and public interests in a way that is suppposed to help revitalizing handicraft in the world of today and the future. As part of the project "Recipes from Ancient Artefacts to develop Future Technologies (RecRAAFT)" designed by one of the authors of the paper and with the help of the example of  heritage pottery and potters’ small businesses the article tries to show how to produce ceramic vessels by using local raw material that was identified by archaeological analysis of medieval vessels and applying medieval clay recipes. A pilot project in this regard with the participation of two potters was realized in the archaeological heritage park of Rocca San Silvestro in Tuscany. The well described project shows good and interesting results of such a transdisciplinary approach. One certainly has to agree with the two potters that using the industrial raw material for making large quantities of objects should not be forgotten. But using both, natural and industrial clays can also be supported. The realization of creating an institution in the heritage park out of the pilot project can also be seen as promising success. However, I do doubt that this can be seen as a starting point for a "long-time project" "to develop this methodology and create a network of SME artisans able to work efficiently" what the authors see as their concluding aim and also mention in their introductory remarks. Perhaps, this statement could be deleted.

One technical problem has to be mentioned: The authors are mentioned in the following way: Veronica Testolini*1, Lenore Thompson 2 and Cristina Lemorini 1. Why 1* 2 1? And why 1* without any affiliation or mentioning as independent researcher?

Author Response

reviewer: The realization of creating an institution in the heritage park out of the pilot project can also be seen as promising success. However, I do doubt that this can be seen as a starting point for a "long-time project" "to develop this methodology and create a network of SME artisans able to work efficiently" what the authors see as their concluding aim and also mention in their introductory remarks. Perhaps, this statement could be deleted.

This sentence was deleted as suggested. The authors wanted to highlight that the methodology employed in this study can be applied in other heritage contexts and locations. If applied else where longer term strategy agreed with different partners could result in better impact for businesses. The sentence was change accordingly. 

reviewer: One technical problem has to be mentioned: The authors are mentioned in the following way: Veronica Testolini*1, Lenore Thompson 2 and Cristina Lemorini 1. Why 1* 2 1? And why 1* without any affiliation or mentioning as independent researcher?

Veronica Testolini developed this research and wrote the article when working for Sapienza University of Rome, however her contract ended, and she is now an independent researcher, therefore the correspondence has to go to her private address. Also number 1 with the * appeared in the template, we filled the gaps accordingly.