The Society for Archaeological Sciences’ Post

📌 Training TrainingIn Frontier Archaeology Agent-Based Modeling and Network Science: Concepts and Practical Applications in Archaeology ICArEHB is happy to announce the training “Agent-Based Modeling and Network Science: Concepts and Practical Applications in Archaeology” taking place on 12-14th February 2025 at UAlg (Faro, Portugal). 🔍 Explore how Agent-Based Modeling (ABM) and Network Science (NS) can shed light on past human societies. Initially used in social sciences, ecology, and economics, these methods have now become invaluable in archaeology—helping researchers simulate agent interactions and uncover ancient social structures and dynamics. 📅 When: 12-14th February 2025 📍 Where: University of Algarve, Faro, Portugal This introductory course will guide you through the core concepts and practical applications of ABM and NS, building the foundation to apply these tools in your research. 🔗 Learn More & Register: https://lnkd.in/d7eMxGPk #ICArEHBTraining #TIFA #Archaeology #AgentBasedModeling #NetworkScience #ResearchTraining

Uncover the Future of Archaeology Labs 🏺 Tracking artifacts, managing stratigraphy, and linking interdisciplinary datasets doesn’t have to feel overwhelming. Scispot is your all-in-one solution: ✅ Track samples from intake to analysis. ✅ Link data from Leica microscopes, DNA analyses, and field notes. ✅ Automate reporting for stakeholders and funding agencies. Built for archaeology labs, Scispot streamlines workflows so your team can focus on unearthing discoveries that matter. Learn more here: https://lnkd.in/gvQ4Qsy7

We are happy to announce that the Proceedings of the 8th ARCH_RNT - In Memoriam Nikolaos Zacharias will be published as three Special Issues in the 𝗝𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗼𝗳 𝗔𝗿𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗲𝗼𝗹𝗼𝗴𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗦𝗰𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲: 𝗥𝗲𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁𝘀! 🎉 These Special Issues are titled: ▪️ Archaeomaterials ▪️ Digital & Geophysical Applications ▪️ Bioarchaeology 📅 Submission: February 1, 2025 – May 1, 2025 📄 Manuscript types: Short Papers, Research Articles, or Review Articles. To ensure that all manuscripts are correctly identified for inclusion into the Special Issue, please select the name of the special issue (𝗦𝗜: 𝟴 𝘁𝗵 𝗔𝗥𝗖𝗛_𝗥𝗡𝗧 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗰𝗲𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀 - 𝗔𝗿𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗲𝗼𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗮𝗹𝘀 𝗼𝗿 𝗦𝗜: 𝟴𝘁𝗵 𝗔𝗥𝗖𝗛_𝗥𝗡𝗧 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗰𝗲𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀 - 𝗗𝗶𝗴𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗹 & 𝗚𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗵𝘆𝘀𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗔𝗽𝗽𝗹𝗶𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗼𝗿 𝗦𝗜: 𝟴𝘁𝗵 𝗔𝗥𝗖𝗛_𝗥𝗡𝗧 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗰𝗲𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀 - 𝗕𝗶𝗼𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗲𝗼𝗹𝗼𝗴𝘆) when you upload your manuscripts. ❗️ Please keep in mind that there is no guarantee for acceptance / publication, which is depended on the anonymous peer review process of the Journal. For details and submission guidelines, be sure to check the Journal’s website at https://lnkd.in/dg2Xqhvy #arch_rnt #archaeometry #bioarchaeology #kalamata

Dear Anthro/Archaeology friends,Here is our panel at the 89th Society for American Archaeology, held on 17-19 April in New Orleans. I would like to catch up if you happen to be there:My talk, "Tailoring the Truth: Archaeology and State-building in the Middle East," examines the theory and practice of archaeology in the post-Ottoman era (and Iran) and how it contributed to the invention of the desired traditions.Friday Afternoon, April 19 Symposium: THINKING WITH, THROUGH, AND AGAINST ARCHAEOLOGY’S POLITICS OF KNOWLEDGE Time: 1:00 p.m.–3:30 p.m.Chairs: Tony Chamoun; Ashley HamptonAbstract: For decades, advances in various strands of critical archaeologies have forced the discipline to grapple with its politics of knowledge. Building on these conversations, we examine the “categories, concepts, and ways of knowing” with which archaeological narratives are generated and reconfigured (Stoler 2016:10). This session reflects on the politico-ethical worlds that are interpellated when engaging “regimes of truth” (Stoler 2016). We ask participants to scrutinize topics pulled into the orbit of, and excised from, various research and political agendas. Topics include, but are not limited to, “labor,” “queer,” “difference,” “indigenous,” “race,” “enslavement,” “disability,” “religion,” and “ethics.” What histories emerge from attending to what constitutes our knowledge and what our knowledge constitutes? What politics, perspectives, and realities are created and foreclosed? What subtle forms of violence are revealed, but also deepened, concealed, or perpetuated? What “ethics” does this necessitate? Participants are also encouraged to draw on history, ethnography, literature, and language to engage archaeology’s politico-ethics of knowledge, as well as the politico-ethics of their own practices. What ways of narrating are interrupted? What does this mean for archaeology’s place in the world—personally, professionally, and in classrooms? What are the limits of such a project?Participants: Jia Tucker and Jennifer Muller; Mycroft Roske and Pamela Geller; Ashley Hampton; Heather Law Pezzarossi; Jeannie Larmon; Matthew Greer; Ahmad Mohammadpour; Lubna Omar; Tony ChamounDiscussant: Guido Pezzaross

Archaeoscape Bridges Deep Learning and ALS to Transform Archaeological Discoveries ✨📡📜 https://lnkd.in/g7F_Hqps #Archaeology #DeepLearning #LaserScanning #CulturalHeritage #MachineLearning #ALS #OpenAccess #Archaeoscape #Technology #Research arXiv

✨ Archaeology, Open Science & Digital Innovations ✨ As Vice President of CAA-Switzerland (Computer Application and Quantitative Methods in Archaeology), I had the honor of attending the first-ever CAA-France conference at the University of Paris-Nanterre. It was a fantastic opportunity to exchange ideas with our French colleagues on open science, computational approaches, and digital methodologies in archaeology. During the event, I presented the activities of CAA-Switzerland, highlighting our focus on digital processes, data standards, and digital landscapes. I was also pleased to showcase ArcheoBase through a poster presentation, which sparked engaging discussions on how our Swiss-born platform integrates artificial intelligence, predictive spatial analysis, and open-access archaeological data—available through the Archeology Swiss AS Portal, powered by ArcheoBase. The intellectual environment was incredibly stimulating, with thought-provoking talks on multi-agent systems, archaeological data interoperability, and open science policies. Seeing the diversity of French initiatives and research networks reinforced the importance of cross-border collaboration in advancing digital archaeology. A huge thanks to the organizers and all participants for their inspiring contributions. Looking forward to further strengthening the international connections within the CAA community! 🔗 More about **CAA-Switzerland**: www.caa-switzerland.ch 🔗 More about **ArcheoBase & Open Science**: **AS Portal**: https://lnkd.in/eD5FabNb **ArcheoBase**: www.archeobase.org

I am very happy to share that the main result of my #MSCA research project has been published in the journal #PlosONE (PLOS)! This paper proposes a framework for quantifying uncertainty and robustness in spatial statistical methods in archaeology, specifically point patterns and Monte Carlo simulations. This paper and a web application that I will share later resulted from a fantastic collaboration with Sébastien de Valeriola Here is the link to the paper: https://lnkd.in/eF9A_Uvc #uncertainty #archaeology #robustness #pointpatterns #landscape

Check out this upcoming Register Certified Field school: "A research agenda on the Eastern Caribbean island of Nevis, West Indies, was initiated in 2007 to investigate sites that inform on colonialism, industry, environmental and cultural changes. The approach for a sustained, longitudinal research agenda has been the applied student field-school model. Students in anthropology and archaeology are given the opportunity for first-hand field experience in survey, the recovery and processing of archaeological data, excavation, and artifact recovery and cataloguing while experiencing enjoying multicultural interactions. Past projects have included survey components which located and recorded previously undetected or undocumented sites.  The PI has been conducting research on Nevis since 1996 and has a strong working relationship with the Nevis Historical and Conservation Society and Nevis Heritage Society. For summer 2024 it is proposed that students will revisit a high elevation sugar factory site first discovered in 2012 dating from the 17th century and the potential site of a habitation zone for enslaved Africans. A second objective is to document a pre-contact Salodoid era Indigenous site (ca. 950BCE) that is threatened by sea level rise and climate change. This program of field study is best suited for students in historical archaeology, anthropology, geography, bioarchaeology, geoarchaeology, and forensics for students with particularistic interest in colonialism, slavery, industrial history and Caribbean cultures. In addition to the archaeological practicum, students will also be able to visit several historic sites, meet with Nevisians, and become immersed in West Indian culture. The project is conducted as a Faculty Led Program of the Global Education Initiatives office at San Jose State University. The field school satisfies requirements for upper division anthropology, but is designed to appeal across disciplines to be as inclusive as possible to attract students from various disciplines. University credits are available as ANTH 169. The field school format maximizes student time through intensive participation. Students work and live together, sharing field duties and domestic chores as is the practice in all field schools and professional field research.  On site, students will be directed in techniques of data collection, mapping, use of Total Station and GPS, artifact identification, site illustration, GIS (geographic information systems) and other aspects of site recovery and cultural resource management curriculum. Students are instructed in how to keep a professional-standard field-book, which will be reviewed weekly, and which are used in analysis after field work is completed." Find out more at: https://lnkd.in/eJ8fc9RE

“Radiocarbon dating had its origin in a study of the possible effects that cosmic rays might have on the earth,” said Willard Libby. In 1949 he developed a method harnessing radioactive decay to determine the age of organic materials and revolutionised archaeology. His method has been used to solve historical mysteries and shed light on “the wilderness of prehistory”, and is known as radiocarbon dating or carbon-14 dating. Carbon is a fundamental component in all living material. In nature there are two variants: carbon-12, which is stable, and carbon-14, which is radioactive. Living organisms absorb both types of carbon. When an organism dies and the supply of carbon from the atmosphere ceases, the content of carbon-14 declines through radioactive decay at a fixed rate. Experts can accurately determine the age of organic materials up to 60,000 years old by counting carbon-14 atoms left in the materials. “You read statements in books that such and such a society or archaeological site is 20,000 years old. We learned rather abruptly these numbers, these ancient ages, are not known accurately,” Libby said in his Nobel Prize lecture. He initially tested his dating method on charred bread from Pompeii and a fragment of an ancient chest from Ancient Egypt. But carbon-14 dating has since been used to determine the real age of the Shroud of Turin and reveal more about Ötzi the Iceman, whose remarkable remains were found in the Alps, frozen for 5,300 years. As well as revolutionising the field of archaeology and shedding light on the history of humankind through the use of chemistry, Libby’s breakthrough has helped scientists understand Earth’s geology and changing climate, and reveal how our bodies work.

Important principles of chronology research on Vedas, Itihasas and Puranas. One should be aware of these while studying the ancient texts like Vedas, Itihasas and Puranas, to analyze the ancient events mentioned in these texts and trying to date them. 1 Rgveda get precedence over other Vedas and Itihasas. The two Itihasas get precedence over the 18 Puranas. If a person inverts this information pyramid and give importance to Puranic data over Aitihasic data, or give importance to Aitihasic data over Rgvedic data, his chronology research will get derailed and he will be led to hundreds of wrong conclusions. This is very important in chronology research. 2 The greater the number of texts consulted, the stronger the research and its conclusions will be. For example, when a researcher uses Ramayana alone to date Rama or Mahabharata alone to date Kurukṣetra War, his date of Rama and date of Kurukṣetra War - both fails. When a researcher uses Rgveda, Ramayana, Mahabharata and Puranas to date Kurukṣetra War and Rama, his research biecomes stronger and his conclusions are stronger. 3 Astronomy patterns in the sky repeats in different centuries. Hence, Astronomy cannot be the dominant field of study to date ancient events like Kurukṣetra War or date. The river dynamics, submergence events, metals, technology etc referred in the Vedas, Itihasas and Puranas carries important chronology signatures, just like the astronomy data inside them. The correct limiting range of Kurukṣetra War need to be determined using river hydrology, bathymetry, archaology, technology evolution, metallurgy etc. Only then, archao-astronomy shall be used to zero into the perfect Kurukṣetra War date within that limiting range. First fixing the date using archaeo-astronomy and later trying to force fit the date according to other disciplines won't work. These are the other important principles of chronology research.