The EAA is so much more than an Annual Meeting
Before we took up the editorship of The European Archaeologist, we regularly referred to the EAA’s Annual Meeting as ‘The EAA’ as in “Are you going to this year’s EAA (in wherever)”? After three years of sitting in on EAA Executive Board meetings and witnessing the incredible amount of work and dedication that EAA Officials, the Advisory Board, Secretariat and Members put into the Association every day, we are extremely confident in saying that, although the EAA Annual Meeting (or AM, as we now refer to it) consistently remains a professional highpoint of our calendar year, the EAA as European Association of Archaeologists is so very much more than its AM.
The Association is a democracy of like-minded individuals who are passionate about archaeology, cultural heritage, and the past in general. But it is also a community of academics, professionals and ildsjæle (to use a Danish term which literally means ‘burning souls’) who are concerned not only with the past but stridently with the present and future as well. With this in mind, we wish to address an important question: What does the EAA do outside of the AM? The answer—which is not always visible to many Members—is ‘Very much, indeed!’
For example, the EAA has now just recently supported the Benchmarks for Archaeology and Heritage protection as a means of assessing different political parties’ positions relative to archaeology and heritage, for the second time. The EAA is consulted by the Council of Europe in relation to archaeology, heritage management, and the historic landscape. This has been particularly important recently regarding on-going concerns surrounding the protection of the environment as a human right (Hüglin 2024, TEA 80).
The Association promotes European archaeology and European archaeologists on the EU level, e.g. through support of the European Archaeology days (for more information, see Ratier 2022; TEA 74; Reiter 2023, TEA 76 and Khomenko 2023, TEA 76) and it represents the same on an international level (e.g. at the SAA conferences in the US and by the recent rapprochement with UK-based CIfA, which you can read more about in this issue).
The EAA is also vested in the interests of archaeologists themselves. This is exemplified through the Oscar Montelius Foundation’s continual furnishing of grants and bursaries for the attendance of the AM and the recent promotion of the Karen E. Waugh Foundation and their support of archaeological initiatives involved with the North Sea region. The EAA has also recently established an Anti-Harassment Board/Committee dedicated to the protection of Members, and the European Journal of Archaeology promotes research and young researchers through its yearly Student Award.
For more senior Members, it also hosts job announcements that aid many Members to advance their careers.
In addition to all of this, the EAA also provides dissemination of archaeological research, activities, and dialogues through its publications: the European Journal of Archaeology (EJA), the monograph series ‘Themes in Contemporary Archaeology’ (THEMES), and of course this very newsletter (TEA). Of exciting note in these regards, as of 16 October of this year, the EJA will transition to an open access format in a significant move to encourage academic parity and to increase the visibility and scope of dissemination of archaeological work (see Announcements). Further, the EAA provides a number of other prizes and awards that celebrate excellence in scholarship and encourage and support early career researchers; not least of these are the Book Prize and the Heritage Prize, both of which are prestigious recognition of scholarly achievements in our field.
What first really brought home the idea of what it meant to be a member of the EAA community (and here we mention not topic-specific Communities, but rather the network of Members) was following the first few days of the invasion of Ukraine. To us, it seemed that the EAA Secretariat was acting not unlike the archaeological equivalent of NASA headquarters in Huston, TX (USA), fielding calls and emails from archaeologists around the world as members offered guest rooms for displaced colleagues and temporary storage space for fragile objects fleeing the conflict, among many other offers of aid and outreach. It was but one shining instance of just how much of a community the Association is. For example, there were regular updates on EAA social media about which passes were open, so that colleagues were informed in real time about how and where they could get out of the country safely. It bears re-emphasizing here that this was all also within the archaeological community of the EAA. For those colleagues who did choose to stay in Ukraine, the EAA supported and facilitates a not-so-secret underground literature exchange, allowing colleagues in Ukraine to gain access to the literature they need to continue to conduct research and protect cultural heritage, sometimes at the very front lines of the on-going conflict (TEA 74).
It should also be mentioned that the EAA is a non-profit organization. Its officers and editorial teams are not paid; their hard work is voluntary. Speaking of volunteers, the student volunteers that work so diligently at every AM are an outstanding example of the dedication and hard work for which we and our growing membership should be extremely grateful. (Thank you volunteers!!!) It is our opinion that the strength of the EAA community on the global scale is reflected in its growing numbers; at latest count these now include 5,774 archaeologists and heritage professionals around the world.
As such, the EAA possesses a potentially tremendous amount of people power. As we move forward as a community of ildsjæle, we can expect to make adjustments and strategies that will allow us to accommodate the Association’s growth and scope. Things will change—as students of the past, we of course know this to be true. However, as far as we are concerned, we are proud to say that we are Members of the EAA. We appreciate the many things that our organization does both ‘on stage’ as well as behind-the-scenes.
Of course, the AM is a part of all of this. We believe that the AM is the point that kicks off many of the partnerships, project ideas, article recruitments, papers and research of the subsequent 12 months. However, what we love best about the EAA is not the end of August/start September AM in and of itself (though the impetus it gives the initiatives, collaborations, and working groups to come in the following year is a huge bonus), but rather what it does and continues to do to build community, protect heritage and advocate for colleagues the whole year long.
We were delighted to see so many of you at the AM, and wish you all many successful initiatives and collaborations until we meet again in Belgrade. In the meantime, we hope that this issue may whet your appetite and tide you over until 2025. We include the usual TEA fare: our cover (which represents the final winner from the 2023 photojournalism competition), the EAA Member Calendar, the ever popular In Case You Missed it and chats with EAA Official Elin Dalen of the OMF and Member Javier Mejuto.
We include overviews of a recent Bronze Age boat building project in the UK and the EAMENA Project’s amazing results on heritage monitoring via Machine Learning. Additionally, there is a thought-provoking article on using generative AI for sharpening research questions and a wonderful discussion on recent work studying the mobility and integration of the formerly enslaved in the ancient Greek world and a sneak peek into a key recent discovery of a Vučedol clay wheel from Transdanubia.
This issue is also focused on discussions of the discipline, professionalism and the EAA itself. These include a debate on the future for European professional institutions for archaeology, a review of the EAA AM, a debate on where the EAA should go next as well as a reply to the latter by EAA President Eszter Bánffy. There is a notice on recommendations for the teaching of history and other news from CINGO as well as an insight piece on the ICOMOS International Charter for Cultural Heritage Tourism and Community News about a recent visit by the Community on Archaeology and Tourism’s recent visit to Ostia antica.
We also wanted to express our thanks to Theresa Airey, Charles W. Bowers and Sandy LeBrun-Evans who once again acted as members of the TEA photojournalism competition jury to select the five entries that moved on to the competition semi-final. EAA Members made the final decision, voting for the three winning entries by means of the EAA Annual Survey. TEA congratulates members Heide Wrobel Nørgaard, Nicolas Vanderesse and João Vincíus Chiesa Back on being the winners of 2025’s Photojournalism Competition ‘Archaeology: Art or Science’. In addition to being TEA’s
‘Photojournalists of the Year’, the aforementioned winners will have their work featured on the 2025
covers of TEA, and each will receive one year’s gratis membership to the EAA.
Thank you to all of those you participated, and all of those who voted! You and your continued dedication and passion for archaeology and heritage make TEA what it is, certainly, but also make the EAA an Association of which we are proud to be members.
Before closing this issue with some important Announcements, we include a remembrance of Prof. Timothy Darvill, who was not only a respected professional but also a dear friend to many and who will be sorely missed.
Best regards,
Samantha S. Reiter & Matthew J. Walsh
Editors