24th Annual Meeting of the EAA

Reflecting futures

by Felipe Criado-Boado (EAA President)

Barcelona has been an urban laboratory since the high Medieval Ages. A place of diversity, a backdrop for  a multiplicity of social and cultural processes on multiple scales that reflect different ways of constructing the future, a city with a long experience of urban life and social innovations.
From the prehistory of Modernity through to Upper Modernity, the city space of Barcelona has always reflected the arising Modern order,. It has also been through phases of subsequent modern disorder, struggles for workers’ rights, modernist social identities, and alternative ways of living. This is a city that has constantly reinvented itself. The early industrial era, the periods of strife such as the Tragic Week of 1909 and the May Day of 1937, the Spanish Civil War, the transition to democracy, the 1992 Olympics, and present day cultural activity all reflect how Barcelona has experienced new ways of reclaiming the city for its citizens. Its history is reflected in its urban layout, and in the way that it continues to take shape.
Barcelona offers a reflection of our future pasts, much in the way that archaeology does: our profession embodies an ability to reflect on how the future comes into existence and how the past influences it. We must also have the power to prototype the future. Everyone falls in love with Barcelona. One way or another, this love affair has to do with how the future challenges our past and our present. Barcelona is a perfect location for holding the 24th Annual Meeting of the EAA, the ideal setting for an Association that seeks to continuously develop and change the direction of its ability to reflect the past, in order to be able to reflect about the future.

Reflecting futures

by Local Organising Committee: Margarita Díaz-Andreu (ICREA and Universitat de Barcelona), Sandra Montón-Subías (ICREA and Universitat Pompeu Fabra) & Raquel Piqué (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona)

¡Hola! Com va?

The EAA Executive Board, the Municipality of Barcelona, and all the institutions representing Catalan archaeology in the Advisory Board are delighted to welcome delegates to the 24th Annual Meeting of the European Association of Archaeologists in Barcelona (5-8 September 2018). Barcelona has much to offer. It has wonderful, state-of-the art museums and art galleries, it boasts some stunning architecture and it also has many archaeological sites open to the public. The city is also famous for its lively intellectual and popular culture.

The Annual Meeting venue is located in the centre of the city, at the Faculty of Geography and History of the University of Barcelona and the Centre de Cultura Contemporania de Barcelona (CCCB), cultural centre just opposite to the Faculty. Excellently situated at the heart of Barcelona, the area is witness to the extraordinary ability of this Mediterranean city to reinvent itself. Urban renewal and modernization sits comfortably side by side with the city's eclectic mix of medieval, 18thC, 19thC and Art Nouveau architecture.

The Barcelona Meeting will celebrate EAA's participation in the European Year of Cultural Heritage (EYCH) with thought-provoking discussions and exchange of ideas on heritage, material culture, archaeological science, theory and social impact. As a way to encourage debates on archaeological museums and outreach to public, a specific theme will be dedicated to the EYCH. Also, the Annual Meeting in Barcelona will foster discussions that are linked to the sustainability of the city's cultural life, such as the role of heritage in urban renovation and the opportunities for the promotion of civic pride, identity and wider promotion linked to its Mediterranean location in the archaeological past.

Join us in celebrating, cosmopolitan Barcelona for the 2018 EAA Annual Meeting!

Logo

The three figures of the logo come from the rock art site of Roca dels Moros del Cogul of Les Garrigues, province of Lleida/Lérida, Catalonia. They are painted in Levantine style and belong to a much larger panel. You can find more information here and here.

The first recording was made by lawyer and advocational archaeologist Ceferí Rocaforti i Sansó (1872-1917) and since then there have been many others (Alonso and Grimal 2007: 83-90). The recording used for the logo was made by Anna Alonso and Alexander Grimal in 2007. This recording was commissioned by the Servei d'Arqueologia i Paleontologia (Service for Archaeology and Paleontology) of the Generalitat de Catalunya (Government of Catalonia) which kindly gave permission to use the three figures selected for the logo. 

The colours chosen for the logo are different shades of blue reflecting the Mediterranean character of Catalonia and also make a link to the Annual Meeting motto. 

You can download the logo here.

Alonso Tejada, A. and Grimal, A. 2007.L'art rupestre del Cogul. Primeres imatges humanes a Catalunya. Lleida: Pagès
Rocafort, C. 1908. Les pintures rupestres de Cogul. Butlletí del Centre Excursionista de Catalunya 158: 65-73

Motto "Reflecting futures"

"Reflecting futures" evokes the Mediterranean Sea, the reflections made by her blue waters. "Reflecting" also denotes the exchanges that at the Annual Meeting will echo, but also take further, previous intellectual debates on the archaeological past. "Futures" because these discussions in Barcelona will impact on the interpretations that will enrich the study of archaeological heritage in the coming years.