2020 is the beginning of the next era for EAA. Over the past quarter of a century we have grown from a handful of people with a great idea to a few hundred members, and now a few thousand members. We have developed a newsletter, established the European Journal of Archaeology as an internationally respected scientific journal, produced a monograph series, and organise incredibly successful annual meetings and conferences; we are now even able to provide conference grants to help our less fortunate members attend the AM. A successful 25 years of association by any standard!
As we have evolved, EAA has become more than publications and conferences. We have forged ties with sister organisations within Europe and around the world, providing the opportunity to give and receive support and to speak in one voice when cultural heritage is threatened. EAA contributes to legislative efforts to strengthen heritage education and protection. EAA has produced strong statements about heritage preservation and the need for fraternal democratic policies. Our recent conference themes echo these actions: building bridges, reflecting futures, moving beyond paradigms, and networking.
The coming years will bring challenges, but as EAA moves into our second quarter-century, we are prepared to face these challenges. Brexit – as sad as it is for many of our members – will not threaten the relationships between our UK and European members within the EAA. For certain, a strong and integrated Europe makes collaborative research and dissemination much easier, but EAA is an association for archaeologists in Europe, from Europe, or doing research about Europe. An EAA President’s letter to UK members follows this editorial. The original Steering Committee was international, with members from the UK to Russia, and from Latvia to Italy (Fig. 2). One represented country, Yugoslavia, no longer exists as a geopolitical entity! As our history and our current participation in the Coalition for Archaeological Synthesis shows, there is plenty of room for, and benefits from, international cooperation. There are calls within this issue of TEA for proposals for cooperation projects in the Western Balkans, for Participation in the 2020 Archaeology Days across Europe, and to develop a Community for the Archaeology of the Americas.
The 25th EAA Annual Meeting in Bern saw 1866 registered delegates attend 1747 presentations in 166 sessions. Next up is Budapest. You can read the Welcome from EAA President Felipe Criado-Boado on the EAA 2020 website. The final list of sessions and organisers was published on 3 February 2020, and the abstract submission module is open. The deadline for submitting abstracts for contributions is 13 February 2020.
We encourage members to get involved, to help the association and fellow members, through a variety of platforms. This issue of TEA includes the announcement of a new Task Force for Early Research Careers in Archaeology (ERCA), and a conference report on Quality, working conditions, education and communication concerns in European contract archaeology.
2020 will also see the election of an incoming (new) EAA President. In fact, the 2020 elections will be almost unprecedented, in that we will elect not only an Incoming President, but also a Secretary, two Executive Board members, and one Emerging Professional Nomination Committee member. EAA needs nominations and members’ engagement in order to fill these positions responsibly.
For EAA to continue to grow, prosper, serve our members, our members need to be active. Vote! Nominate yourself or colleagues for Executive Board positions or community and committee leadership roles. Provide content to TEA; your research projects, legislative worries and concerns, heritage under threat, and event announcements. Of perhaps lesser importance but equal interest, TEA is still looking for member input about the new end-page section for our newsletter. In this issue we include a few photos from EAA Bern 2019. Our next issue, Spring 2020, has a deadline of 15 April 2020. What do you want to see on the final page of your newsletter? We look forward to hearing from you at tea@e-a-a.org.
Roderick B. Salisbury and Katharina Rebay-Salisbury