Issue 61 - Summer 2019

Published  22 July 2019

TEA 61
(Adobe PDF File)

Editorial

Bern 2019 – the 25th EAA Annual Meeting

The 25th EAA Annual Meeting is less than two months away! Bern, with its UNESCO World Heritage central Old Town, is ready to welcome you to move Beyond Paradigms, to overcome traditional barriers, to cooperate, collaborate, and help build a brighter and better future for people and heritage alike. This year, in addition to the scientific and social programmes, EAA is celebrating our 25th anniversary year. Several sessions in Bern will explicitly include reference to developments over the past 25 years, as well as papers in a Theme looking forward to the next decade (2020-2030). We hope that all delegates have made their travel and lodging arrangements, and we remind you that if you need any assistance, please contact the EAA Secretariat at helpdesk@e-a-a.org. We hope to see all of you in Bern!

This issue of TEA includes a debate essay written by a coalition of EAA members from around Europe. “Archaeology and the Future of Democracy” calls for "openness, respect and inclusion" in an open society. From Jean-Claude Juncker publicly lamenting the lack of transparency in selecting the new EU Commissioner and other key posts, to the removal of the Central European University from Budapest, to the use of physical violence to prevent referendum voting in Catalonia, Europe is experiencing a rise in undemocratic and illiberal policies. Some of these have been directed squarely at academic freedom, such as the seizure of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, and attacks on heritage protection (Schaer 2018 in TEA). This timely essay in our pages should spur our membership to get more directly involved in pressing politicians to protect hard-won freedoms and fragile heritage, as well as renewing efforts to educate our citizens and visitors - there is strength in unity and power in community.

Other essays in this issue are “The EAA and the Coalition for Archaeological Synthesis” by Robin Skeates, and “A newsletter is a newsletter is a …”, a look back at the evolution of The European Archaeologist from 2010-2015 by former editors Alexander Gramsch and Lidia Żuk.

Elsewhere in this issue, you will find a flyer about the EAA Student Award. The best student paper presented at the EAA conference will be announced at the Opening Ceremony of the EAA Annual Meeting. If you are a student presenting at the 25th Annual Meeting in Bern, the deadline to submit your paper is 8 August 2019. We also include a report on the “Sense and Sustainability: International Conference on Archaeology and Tourism” in Zagreb and a preliminary announcement that the 2022 EAA Annual Meeting will be held in Belfast, Northern Ireland, organized by Eileen Murphy (Queen’s University Belfast) and George Diamondis (Visit Belfast).

Opening ceremonies, the EAA European Archaeological Heritage Prize, welcome reception, annual parties, and excursions all form part of our Annual Meeting experience. To help prepare readers for events in Bern, our 25 Years of EAA photo essay for this issue includes some text and images of these occasions from Thessaloniki 2002 and Riva del Garda 2009. We extend our special thanks to Ekaterina Kashina for providing photos from the Thessaloniki AM.

Finally, we remind all members to vote in the EAA 2019 Election, and attend the Annual Membership Business Meeting at 17:45 on Friday, 6 September 2019.

We sadly report that as this issue was going to press, we learned that EAA Secretary Karen Waugh passed away after a short illness. A short notice is included in this issue. Tributes to her will appear in the Autumn 2019 issue of TEA. Her efficiency, professionalism and good humour will be missed.

You may send your memories or photos from past annual meetings, your announcements of events, new books, and research projects, conference reports, or debate responses to tea@e-a-a.org. The deadline for the TEA Autumn issue is 15 October 2019.

Katharina Rebay-Salisbury and Roderick B. Salisbury