In 10 days, starting on 6th April for one week, the 12th ICAANE will be held in Italy, at the University of Bologna. Originally scheduled for last year, it had to be postponed due to the pandemic – but thanks to the dedicated commitment of the Organizing Committee, to which we are very grateful, it could be organized this year, though in a virtual form. Nicolò Marchetti and the other members of the Committee have prepared this contribution for all our Mar Shiprim readers, to provide us with some useful information for all those who are interested in attending and would like to know more about what to expect from this event!
The Alma Mater Studiorum – University of Bologna is hosting the 12th ICAANE from 6th to the 9th of April 2021.
The 12th ICAANE will be carried out remotely (only for registered participants), although the opening session with the keynote lectures will be also broadcasted live on the YouTube OrientLab channel. While we have all experienced in these months considerable restrictions to our professional and personal lives, we believe that, keeping safety as our first and foremost concern, it is important to start to reconnect our scientific community and begin to imagine and reflect together, communicating policies and practices within a changed (and ever more challenging, in the context of the current pandemic) landscape.
We look forward to welcoming colleagues in a (virtual) multidisciplinary environment pursuing interconnections (geographical and chronological as well) and inclusivity at all levels: the congress themes have been selected in an attempt at representing the current breadth and urgency of global challenges and research perspectives.
Here is a list of the 12th ICAANE Themes (for more details related to each topic, please see this webpage):
- Field Reports. Recent excavations, surveys and research
- Environmental Archaeology. Changing climate and exploitation strategies: impact on ecology, anthropized landscapes and material culture
- Hammering the material world. Characterization of material culture, processes and technologies
- Cognitive archaeology. Reading symbolic and visual communication networks and structures
- Modeling the past. Contemporary theoretical approaches to the archaeology of economies and societies
- Networked archaeology. Global challenges and collaborative research in the new millennium
- Endangered cultural heritage. Coordinated multilateral research, conservation and development strategies
- Islamic archaeology. Continuities and discontinuities between a deep past and modernity
On top of the funds collected through fees, we have invested also considerable resources on an advanced technological infrastructure that will allow, in addition to live streaming, also Q&A and private chats (during “coffee breaks” and beyond). 16 virtual rooms functioning in parallel will allow speakers to present, with copyright protection, their papers to the virtual audience of registered participants: there will be 635 papers and 80 posters. Discussions moderated by the session chairperson will be possible (remote questions via chat only). Registered academic publishers will have a virtual shop with special discounts on the platform.
A most significant session, benefiting from the support of Ismeo, will be held on Thursday 8th April, with the Directors General of Antiquities from Middle Eastern countries presenting the respective current situation of archaeological research and the priorities they set for it.
The opening session will be public: besides being broadcasted on the platform, there will also be a live broadcast on the YouTube OrientLab channel. Workshops are confirmed in the schedule within the main themes of the Congress. Posters will be presented into a virtual room and they will be available for download, with a prior registration which we suggest is made into the SocArXiv database as a precaution for intellectual protection. Poster authors will have the possibility to discuss their work with participants within this digital environment.
Besides the live streaming website and equipment, we are also investing on the golden open access publication of the proceedings with Harrassowitz.
Our website will be updated with all materials (abstract book, program, etc.) concerning the event. Check the page for the announcements of cash prizes offered to registered participants. A pdf document with a schematic program of the event might also be downloaded clicking here.
In order to foster inclusivity and disseminate results with our first and foremost stakeholders, all students (and especially those from middle eastern countries) will have the possibility – for the two weeks after the conclusion of the event – to freely access the video recordings of all the sessions, at the same time as registered participants of course.
The 12th ICAANE Organizing Committee
Pierfrancesco Callieri, Maurizio Cattani, Enrico Cirelli, Antonio Curci, Anna Chiara Fariselli, Henning Franzmeier, Elisabetta Govi, Mattia Guidetti, Simone Mantellini, Gianni Marchesi, Nicolò Marchetti (Chair), Palmiro Notizia, Adriano V. Rossi, Marco Zecchi