EAA COMMUNITIES

Read letter to Members on EAA Committees, Communities, Commissioners of 24 May 2021

The EAA currently has the following Communities:

To subscribe to the current Communities or search its members, please log in as member and follow the links for the individual Community. You can subscribe to one or more Communities, or follow any of its parts like blog, discussion etc.

• Archaeological Prospection
• Archaeology & Astronomy in Culture (SEAC-EAA)
• Archaeology and Gender in Europe (AGE)
• Archaeology of Wild Plants
• Climate Change and Heritage (CCH)
• Community for 3D-Technologies in Archaeology
• Community for Textile Archaeology and Conservation (ComTex)
• Community for the Archaeology of the Americas (EAA4Am)
• Community on the Illicit Trade in Cultural Material
• Community on the Teaching and Training of Archaeologists
• Community on Archaeological Legislation and Organisation (ALO)
• Community on Fieldwalking Documentation (FIDO)
• Community on Fortification Research (COMFORT)
• Computational Modelling of Past Socio-ecological Systems (COMPS)
• Discovering the Archaeologists of Europe (DISCO)
• EAA and EAC Working Group on Farming, Forestry and Rural Land Management
• Early Career Archaeologists Community (ECA)
• Medieval Europe Research Community (MERC)
• Palaeolithic and Mesolithic Community (PaM)
• Political Strategies Community
• Public Archaeology Community
• Professional Associations in Archaeology (PAA)
  
• Urban Archaeology
• Community Integrating the Management of Archaeological Heritage and Tourism

In order to optimise the expert knowledge and experience that its Members can contribute, EAA institutionalises its Communities, Committees, Task Forces and Commissioners as a practical way to gather and mobilize the collective intelligence of the EAA. Our structure is both bottom-up and top-down. Communities are built bottom-up, to focus the knowledge and experience of our broad membership. Committees are top-down structures created by (and with leaders appointed by) the Executive Board (ExB), intended to build a kind of think-tank around the ExB. They offer advice in relation to the expanding list of tasks that the ExB must decide on, on an almost daily basis. New, Advisory Committees are therefore planned for introduction in the Strategic Plan period of 2021-24, to complement the existing Statutory Committees. These new Committees will have the following tasks: collecting experience in knowledge of the past (Scientific Committee); taking this knowledge into practice for a sustainable management of material remains (Heritage Committee), giving this knowledge to the next generations (Education, Training and Professional Development Committee) and promoting our results for the benefit and wellbeing of the public at large (Public Benefit Committee). All Committees will be linked to the individual Commissioners appointed by the Board to represent EAA in relevant institutions. Communities may nominate their expert representatives as candidates for relevant Committees. A Task Force is created by decision of the ExB for a limited period (usually one year) in order to achieve a particular result (formulate a policy, develop a standard, create an inventory, etc.).

EAA Communities, Committees, Commissioners and Task Forces are regulated by the EAA Handbook part 4.1 Regulation on non-statutory Committees Task Forces Communities and Commissioners.
EAA Communities report to Members annually using this form.

The 2023 EAA Communities annual reports are available here.

Creation of aN EAA Community or Task Force

An EAA Community or Task Force is created by EAA Executive Board action, either as a result of a proposal being accepted by the Annual Membership Business Meeting or on its own initiative. The proposal must contain a statement that articulates the proposed Communities' or Task Forces' area of concern, the needs it will address, the products, services or activities it will deliver, the resources required to do so and the way these will be obtained, as well as a proposal for a chairperson of the Community or Task Force respectively or a procedure for selecting and for rotating the chair of a Community. A new Community proposal must be submitted for the consideration by the EAA Executive Board through this form before 1 February each year.

The below conditions apply to approved Communities and Task forces:

• Community chairpersons, members, and advisors must maintain current membership in EAA. Communities may consult with non-members for their special expertise, but such non-members may not formally be part of the Community
• Individuals who are regular Community members or chairpersons (not ex officio) are limited to simultaneous service on two communities.
• The usual terms of Community chairs are three years, starting and ending at Annual Meetings. The Board can appoint chairs to shorter or longer terms as circumstances warrant, and chairs may be appointed to more than one term.
• A Community's composition is typically spelled out in its terms of reference. Under special circumstances (such as a temporary increase in the community's workload or the need for sitting members to withdraw from the community's deliberations), the President, in consultation with the community chair, may appoint additional members not to exceed half the number specified in the charge.
• The community chair is ordinarily appointed from existing community members to serve a term starting and ending at Annual Meetings. The usual term of a community chair is three years.
• Terms of Community’s chairpersons and members are normally coextensive with that of the Community.
• A Community chair may resign at any time or be removed for cause by the President with the approval of the Board. Should a vacancy occur during a term, a replacement appointment is made to complete the vacated term.
• Any Board member who serves on a Community does so as an ex officio member, with voice but without vote, including the Board liaison position.
• No new chairpersons or members will be appointed to Communities that will terminate by the next Annual Meeting.