by Maria Gurova (gurova.maria@gmail.com)
The 28th Congress of the Union Internationale des Sciences Préhistoriques et Protohistoriques was held in the University Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, 12 Panthéon Square – an emblematic place in Paris. During the official opening, the President of the Congress, F. Djindjian, announced c. 1600 delegates (more than expected) attending this international event. The scientific programme was rich and varied, comprising 116 sessions assigned in 19 themes, covering all chronological and cultural aspects of pre- and protohistoric periods at the broadest possible spatial scale, and including interdisciplinarity and cultural heritage policy: Historiography; Theories, methods and techniques, archaeometry; Man and climate; Material culture technology; Early Palaeolithic Eurasia; Middle Palaeolithic Eurasia; Late Palaeolithic Eurasia; Final Palaeolithic and Mesolithic; Mountain settlements; Traceology; Neolithic; Metal Ages; Art; Africa and Asia; America; Oceania; Palaeoanthropology, archaeothanatology, palaeogenetics; Ethnoarchaeology, archaeobotany, archaeozoology; and Heritage and sustainable development.
The Secretary General, Luiz Oosterbeek, emphasized the fact the UISPP starts to progressively promote cultural-heritage problems in the scientific agenda. This was evident in three sessions focused on heritage matters, including session XXXVI-1 “Preventive archaeology in Europe and in the world: current problems”, XXXV-3 “Preservation and conservation of prehistoric art”, and XXXV-2 “Archaeology in transdisciplinary research: contribution to a sustainability science”.
My scientific contributions were in two full day sessions: XII-2 “Searching traces, finding people: the role of traceology for reconstructing human behaviour”, with a presentation entitled: “Beyond the functionality of prehistoric flints: case studies from Bulgaria”, and in the session XXXIV-6 “Late stone talks: Lithic industries in Metal Ages” with presentation entitled: “Bronze Age flint denticulates: a Bulgarian case study in trans-regional perspective”. My personal evaluation from both sessions, as well as four other sessions that I attended, is that these were performed at a very high professional level.
As EAA representative, I attended the official opening and the General Assembly (led by Luiz Oosterbeek), where interesting information about the structure of the UISPP, its decision-making and new practices became evident. The new governance of UISPP was discussed and approved by the Executive Committee, which includes all leaders (Presidents) of the scientific commissions in UISPP (more than 30). The following candidates were proposed and elected by the Assembly members:
Secretary General – Marta Arzarello (Italy);
President – François Djindjian (France);
Treasurer – Apostolos Saris (Greece);
Vice-President – Érika Robrahn-González (Brazil);
Vice-President – Abdoulaye Camara (Senegal).
Apart from the above, Editorial Committees of the monograph series and of the journal of UISPP were appointed, as was a Committee for strategic development. In terms of strategy, UISPP decided to initiate a major 4 year science programme on climate and human adaptations, which is supported by UAI, with hubs on all continents.
Other innovations that took place at this UISPP Congress consist of the award of 30 grants for attending the Congress, and prizes for excellence in 5 categories (Archaeological excavation, Monograph on an archaeological site, Synthetic Book, PhD thesis, and Mediation in Archaeology). Each category contained 5 prizes for the successful candidates.
My impression of the Congress was positive. UISPP is a scientifically relevant organisation maintaining a high professional standard of archaeological research and promoting innovation and various opportunities to its membership. Organization of the next UISPP congress is planned for Meknes, Morocco (2020). Meanwhile, inter-congress international conferences will be organised in different regions of the world.
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