This theme will include sessions on all aspects of archaeological theories and methods. It will embrace debates on the theoretical reflection of archaeological interpretations and the evolution of archaeological narratives, such as population or artefact mobility, technological revolutions or evolutions, adaptations to climate change, and cultural diversity. In this regard, the history of archaeology and its position between humanities, social and natural sciences will be reconsidered to improve its standing within academia and its value for the society. In addition, discussions about the role of archaeology within the humanities and social sciences as well as the relationship to the historical sciences within the framework of historical and contemporary archaeology are welcome in this theme. The topic is also devoted to innovative methods lent from other disciplines that lead to new insights and question existing paradigms in archaeology.
This theme includes sessions and papers focusing on the interpretation of material culture from all available archaeological sources with the aim of explaining the lives of people in the past. Here, research is positioned that investigates how people used objects and how they interacted with them throughout space and time. Debates should embrace the interpretation of people´s tangible and intangible worlds, either supported by theoretical concepts or by historical sources. Broad perspectives are invited on how humans changed their environment and how communities used landscapes for economic, social and ritual purposes, as well as for communication and trade networks. Considerations on social and spatial aspects of specific archaeological sites and landscapes as well as on topics of subsistence and economy will play an important role within this theme. However, the topic is not limited to case studies but particularly encourages systematical approaches and surveys on the interpretations of human behaviour, artefacts, and landscapes.
Massifs and mountains shape landscapes in a special way. More than a third of the European continent is covered by mountains and 118 million people live here. While they are boundaries between regions, they also function as crossings at the same time, and offer unique environments for humans and animals. This theme has been chosen to pay tribute to the venue of this year´s Annual Meeting which is located in close distance to the Alps. The Alps in particular have been historically a mountain chain separating and connecting the Mediterranean and the Northern world. The theme will cover archaeological research in European and non-European mountainous landscapes including high-altitude mountains, intermontane valleys and forelands. It should embrace contributions about peopling, land use, resource management, mobility, paleoecology, and the symbolic role of mountains. Papers are welcome which discuss the influence of the specific landscape on the subsistence, daily life, and society; which also reflect in which ways alpine communities have interacted with each other and with the outside world.
Current debates in archaeological research are determined by the challenges provided by the 3rd science revolution, the application of digital techniques, and big data. Digital techniques, paleogenetics, advanced dating methods and non-destructive methods for documentation, recording and analyses of artefacts and archaeological sites provide today more accuracy and details than previous approaches. Although, there is an urgent need for reflections on how archaeologists integrate this new data in their interpretations and narratives. This theme is a panel for scientific-political observations and discussions on how new forms of data and improved analytical tools have shaped archaeology within the last decades and how a critical evaluation of those data may be handled in the future. It is tremendously important to critically evaluate the new methods (resulted from the digital turn) in order to cope with the chances, risks, and challenges of the resulting data and interpretations. Sessions and papers on multidisciplinary research are also welcome which highlight the additional value of cooperation between different sciences.
Having its 25th jubilee in 2019, the EAA is inviting sessions and papers which define the future of archaeological heritage and museum management for the decade 2020-2030. Which challenges will occur during the new decade? Which strategies can be recommended for preventive archaeology while coping with a financial shortage? Who will be responsible for the scientific analysis of archaeological sites and artefacts? Are digital solutions or virtual reality going to replace standard mediation methods in archaeology? Which strategies can be recommended for artefact storage and presentation? What are best practices for dealing with looted archaeological artefacts? Sessions are also invited which present examples of "sharing heritage" or "citizen science" projects and discuss the values and risks of such approaches. We invite contributions which discuss how to valorize sites, monuments, and artefacts as well as the importance of cultural heritage for society (Faro Convention, UNESCO World Heritage in archaeology). Other topics on archaeological heritage and museum management are welcome: solutions for heritage management, social and economic impact of heritage conservation, preventive conservation, heritage legislation, provenance research, archaeological tourism, and sustainability.
This theme is devoted to all sessions and papers dealing with the impact of global change on humans in the past. It encourages contributions on paleoclimate, human-environment interactions, land use, land cover, as well as on collapse and resilience of societies due to catastrophic events. The archaeological record functions in manifold ways as a paleoclimatic and paleoenvironmental archive which can be used to discuss the potential causal role of climate and environment in culture change. The topic therefore embraces methodological and applied approaches on paleoclimate, environmental reconstruction, genetics, diet, and paleopathology to understand human behaviour and deduce reasons for economic, subsistence, and social change. In addition, contributions are welcome which discuss human action as causative element for global change, e.g. global warming, animal breeding, spread of infectious diseases. New issues on what might be learnt from the past and on solutions applied to modern ecological problems are highly welcome, especially when they cover a long-time perspective.