WORKSHOPS

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.

The workshop is designed for researchers and heritage practitioners from all levels seeking to move beyond site-based analysis toward a holistic understanding of landscapes as socially produced, historically contingent, and analytically powerful. Prior to the workshop, we will accept two to three individuals interested in one-to-one mentorship from July to November 2026. Priority will be given to individuals working in Southeast Asia who have access to their own GIS datasets yet seek guidance on data framing and analysis in a methodologically rigorous, theory-driven manner. Selected participants will contribute to demonstrations and discussions during the in-person workshop itself and will present their case studies and relevant GIS workflows. The end goal of the workshop is to equip participants with both conceptual and technical tools to operationalize a landscape approach in their own research.

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This workshop focuses on traceology or use-wear analysis, and its current state and future directions. We will discuss and synthesize 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’). The team aims 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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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 prioritize 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 addresses the complexity of establishing precise chronological frameworks for archaeological and paleontological 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 characterized 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 paleontological 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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Imagine standing deep in the forests of Gadchiroli. The air is still, until a strike against stone releases a resonant, drum-like tone that lingers across the landscape. For local communities, such lithophonic stones are not inert geological formations but part of a living sonic and sacred world. This workshop begins from this encounter, using guided narration and immersive listening to explore how sound mediates relationships between humans, environments, and the unseen.

Focusing on South Asia, the session examines acoustic phenomena as a crucial yet underexplored dimension of archaeological interpretation. The echoing granite interiors of the Barabar Caves transform voice into prolonged reverberation, while the musical pillars of the Vijaya Vittala Temple demonstrate sophisticated engagement with the tonal properties of stone. These examples are considered alongside ethnographic research on musical instruments and performance traditions across Indigenous and subaltern communities in India, highlighting continuities and transformations in sound-making practices across time.

Structured as an immersive, guided experience, the workshop combines narration with curated audio-visual material, including field recordings and site-based documentation. Participants will engage in attentive listening to reconstructed soundscapes, enabling reflection on how humans perceive landscapes as relational and acoustically embedded environments rather than isolated material settings. The workshop develops novel approaches to understanding past lifeworlds through sound, foregrounding sensory and ethnographic perspectives as integral to archaeological interpretation.

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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 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, then, 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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