WORKSHOPS

This workshop stems from a belief that world archaeology must be rewritten more equitably, with a greater contribution from the Global South, whose archaeology is some of the richest in the world, yet whose archaeologists are often underrepresented in international publishing, research agendas, funding and networks. The purpose of this workshop is to help strengthen the ability of IPPA community members, and especially Early Career Researchers, to write, submit and publish their research on the archaeology and heritage of Indo-Pacific prehistory. Guidance focuses on helping participants write-up their research for publication in English-language, international and regional, academic archaeology journals.

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The International Lapita Conference series, which concluded in 2023, has left a legacy of collaboration that now requires a new, more inclusive framework. At this critical juncture, there is a growing consensus that Pacific archaeology must prioritise Indigenous participation and the equitable management of cultural heritage. This workshop serves as a formal consultative space to deliberate on the future of a regional archaeological organization. Rather than a final launch, this session is designed to facilitate an open dialogue among all Pacific stakeholders, including those from Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia, to determine whether a new pan-Pacific association (provisionally named OAHA) is the desired path forward.

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This workshop focuses on traceology or use-wear analysis and its current state and future directions. We will discuss and synthesise current methods and practices in both experimental traceology and the microscopic analysis of actual artefacts in the region. The workshop is divided into two main themes: the status and current practice of traceology, including the application of the latest technologies and development of protocols, and approaches to relevant research themes in Southeast Asia (SEA) (e.g., the ‘bamboo hypothesis’). We aim to facilitate fruitful discussions on the status and practice of traceology in SEA, and how it can be further developed to address key archaeological questions of the region. The workshop will also discuss organisation of workshops and training, and a comparison of database repositories with the goal of achieving open access and open science. We will also explore collaborations to develop and establish use-wear analysis/ traceology as a standard analytical method in the prehistoric archaeology of SEA.

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Spatial relationships are an integral part of archaeology, where evidence of the past is routinely situated in time and space through careful excavation, recording, and analysis. Despite the ubiquity of spatial data in archaeology, space has traditionally been viewed as a neutral ‘void’ in which human lives are experienced. Increased engagement with social theory and humanist ways of thinking have now highlighted that space is an active agent that both shapes and is shaped by human behaviour, and that spatial patterning in archaeological materials can provide a proxy for past sociocultural processes. The analysis and interpretation of spatial data represent a powerful, but currently underused, approach for identifying and understanding these processes. This hands-on practical workshop aims to provide participants with a foundation in spatial thinking and the use of spatial data in bioarchaeology.

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This workshop addresses the complexity of establishing precise chronological frameworks for archaeological and palaeontological sites in tropical regions and integrating them in well-dated environmental contexts. Assessing the chronology of a site/environment is often the main obstacle to interpreting archaeological assemblages and comparing them with similar records from a techno-cultural or anthropological perspective. Indeed, each dating technique is characterised by inherent methodological or geological challenges that limit their scope of application and comparison for common stratigraphies. For this reason, the development of cross-dating applications is crucial. This workshop aims to present multidisciplinary approaches that have not only enabled the confident dating of archaeological and palaeontological sites, but also to improve the current knowledge of the most used dating methods in Pleistocene tropical environments (40Ar/39Ar, ESR, ESR/U-series, U/Th, TL, OSL, 14C...). We also encourage studies that present the precise synchronization and correlation of sites with regional environmental records dated by the same geochronological approaches.

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The Indo-Pacific region is rich with assemblages containing human burials. While the number of bioarchaeology practitioners are rapidly growing in the region, the sheer scope of burial complexes throughout the region requires archaeologists to exhibit foundational osteology and paleopathology to properly reconstruct mortuary contexts and record generalised patterns of health and disease in the archaeological past. A keen awareness of future bioarchaeological research informs the excavation process for burials. The workshop is aimed at archaeologists looking to expand their skillset, curators of skeletal collections at archaeological institutions and/or museums, and students considering bioarchaeology as a field of focus. No prior knowledge is required to attend. Digital resources will be provided for the workshop, and attendees will engage in real archaeological case studies to apply techniques. Attendees are expected to bring a digital device to work from.

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The international council of archaeozoology (ICAZ) was established in 1971 in Budapest, and has since grown to a membership of over 200 across 60 countries. ICAZ goal then and now is to promote communication among archaeozoologists through sponsoring an international conference every four years and liaising with working groups (WG). Given the importance of Indo-Pacific region in human (pre)history, it has been underrepresented within ICAZ framework. Faunal analysis has evolved in the region beyond the early descriptive ‘faunal lists’ to more quantitative approaches. This has also seen a rise in local experts leading research agendas, and the growth of future faunal specialists. Geographically, the Indo-pacific region is vast dominated by marine environments, it also contains a high diversity of terrestrial species and ecozones. The region has been central in the story of human evolution to emergence of complex societies. In more recent periods, it has witnessed the rise and fall of great empires, playing a key role in emergence of modern global. Animal species have fed this evolution and development and form an important part of archaeological collections providing us with evidence of subsistence patterns related to interglacial climate change, the emergence/arrival of food producers and the movement and trade of commodities over land and sea to feed and sustain empires. This workshop is to establish an ICAZ Indo-Pacific WG. It would provide researchers within the region a platform to present and discuss ongoing research, particularly early career scientists. It would also support the growth of the discipline within the region. While ICAZ has a reduced membership it is not obligatory to join a working group.

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This workshop will provide an introductory guide to sample selection for radiocarbon dating and chronological modelling using the program OxCal and is of use to those who plan to undertake or interpret the results of radiocarbon dating in their future work. It will introduce concepts required to sample effectively, including old-wood effects, radiocarbon reservoir effects and single entity dating. It will discuss problems surrounding diagenetic alteration which can severely impact on our ability to radiocarbon date samples within the tropics and suggest potential strategies to maximize the chance of obtaining results. This introduction to sampling will then form the basis for the practical workshop using OxCal. At the end of the session, attendees will be able to build and interrogate a basic stratigraphic model and have the confidence to independently explore the program further.

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Over the past several decades, landscape archaeology has emerged as a critical counterpoint to site-based and environmentally deterministic models of the past. Within this framework, landscapes are understood not merely as spatial backdrops for human activity, but as socially produced fields of meaning in which economic practices, political authority, memory, and cosmology are materially and conceptually entangled. This workshop will guide participants in analyzing landscapes as integrated socio-spatial systems rather than as isolated archaeological “sites.” Participants will learn how to use a landscape approach to frame research questions and to employ GIS methods to examine patterns of settlement, movement, resource use, and symbolic space across multiple spatial and temporal scales. Core concepts from landscape archaeology, including ritual landscapes and settlement ecology, will be paired with applied GIS techniques such as viewshed analysis, least-cost path modeling, spatial clustering, and environmental analysis.

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