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Inaugural Meeting of the EAA in LjubljanaHugh Jarvis (C129QP43@UBVM.BITNET)Wed, 5 Oct 1994 22:51:34 EDT
---------------------------------------------------------------- After some years of planning and preparing, the Inaugural Meeting of the _European Association of Archaeologists_ (EAA) took place last week in Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia (former Yugoslavia). This seems to be an important event that perhaps deserves some thought on this list. In the following, I will give you briefly a few comments about the conference, before you -- I hope -- begin a discussion about more specific issues relating to the conference or the EAA. (Sorry if you see this message twice. I cross-post it to ARCH-L and ARCH-THEORY; the latter list, being a 'European' and a 'theoretical' list, would perhaps be the best place for a discussion about archaeology in Europe and the EAA.) First of all, for all those who are not too familiar with European geography: LJUBLJANA lies in the very West of the former Yugoslavia and is now the capital of Slovenia. It is *not* an area where any war is, or recently was taking place. Slovenia appears today more like Northern Italy and Austria (both countries are very close, and their culture clearly does not stop at their borders) than like a typical 'Eastern European' country. We all, I believe, were very impressed by the beauty of the town and its surrounding landscape, but also by the living standard in this country which appeared to be virtually no different from the UK. We were also impressed by the Department of Archaeology at the University of Ljubljana which organised this meeting perfectly. Present at the conference were APPROX. 250 PARTICIPANTS from almost all European countries: field archaeologists, heritage officers as well as university lecturers. Unfortunately, a number of Russian and Eastern European archaeologists could not come at short notice, because it turned out to be financially impossible (those who came travelled mostly by train -- one apparently had spent 7 days on the Transsiberian railway!). In relation to their absolute numbers, not very strongly represented were French and German archaeologists, while lots of participants came from the Iberian peninsula, Scandinavia, SE-Europe, Britain, and of course Slovenia itself. At the actual INAUGURAL MEETING of the EAA, its first Statutes were unanimously accepted. However, in the future the ruling that the working language is English will be reviewed with the acceptance of more (main) European languages in mind. Currently the 'officers' of the Board of the EAA are Kristian Kristiansen, Gothenburg (President), Alain Schnapp, Paris (Treasurer) and Henry Cleere, Paris (Secretary). For elections at the coming regular meetings a Nomination Committee has been elected which consists of Angeles Querol, Madrid (for 1 year), Anthony Harding, Durham (for 2 years), and Predrag Novakovic, Ljubljana (for 3 years). The office of the EAA is at Oslo until the end of 1995 (address see below). Besides the organisation of an annual conference, the WORK OF THE EAA consists of the production of the lively new _Journal of European Archaeology_ of which the third issue (2.1) has just appeared. The EAA also produces a regular Newsletter _The European Archaeologist_ which is open for all sorts of announcements (edited by Henry Cleere). The ACADEMIC PROGRAMME of the conference consisted of the Inaugural Lecture by Colin Renfrew, Cambridge, who emphasised the "perversion of ethnicity" as it can be seen in the ethnic propaganda of some of the new states of the former Yugoslavia, as well as a number of partly parallel sessions of papers: * Contemporary Myth of the Past (chairperson: Bozidar Slapsak, Ljubljana) * Gender Studies (chairperson: Elisabeth Arvill-Nordbladh, Gothenburg) * Archaeological Landscapes (chairperson: Felipe Criado Boas, Santiago di Compostela) * The Role of Population Movements in Creating the Multicultural Nature of Europe (chairperson: Kristian Kristiansen, Gothenburg) * Science in Archaeology * The Interaction between Animal Husbandry and Agriculture in European Prehistory (chairperson: Bogdan Brukner, Novi Sad) * Legislation Problems (chairperson: Henry Cleere, Paris) * The 'Long Duree' in the Archaeology of Europe (chairperson: John Bintliff, Durham) * The Role of Early Metallurgy * Traditions in European Archaeology (chairperson: Alain Schnapp, Paris) * Reconstruction and the Issue of Authenticity (chairperson: Michael Shanks, Lampeter) * The Interface between Archaeology and History (chairperson: Matthew Johnson, Durham) * New Developments in Cemetery Analysis (chairperson: Anna Maria Bietti-Sestieri, Rome) * Regional Perspectives in European Archaeology (chairperson: Phil Mason, Novo Mesto) * 'Commercial Archaeology' (chairperson: Gustav Trotzig, Stockholm) * Passing the Alps: The Study of Cultural Relations (chairperson: Mitja Gustin, Ljubljana) * Rock Art and Symbolic Representations (chairperson: Jarl Nordbladh, Gothenburg) In addition, two Round Tables on the 'European Institute of Archaeology' and 'Archaeology in SE-Europe' took place. We also were invited to two rather nice 'parties' in local Galleries as well as to a field-trip to the karst area of Slovenia and the most amasing caves which many of us have ever seen in their life! The NEXT CONFERENCE of the EAA will take place in late September 1995 in Santiago di Compostela (Galicia, Spain). For 1996 negotiations are being carried out with Latvian archaeologists for a meeting in Riga. In the future, participation of Eastern European (incl. Russian) archaeologists will be crucial for the success of the EAA. It is hoped to raise funds that could allow giving grants to those who could not otherwise afford to come. For a continous cooperation of European archaeologists, e-mail and discussion groups on the INTERNET as well as access to the 'World Wide Web' (WWW) can provide a generally cheap and quick medium of communication. Many continental Departments of Archaeology and Universities, however, are not yet 'on the net'. It should therefore be a priority for the EAA to improve such facilities all around Europe. This, however, in turn demands that the European archaeologists accept the EAA as 'their' association and representational body. With currently a bit more than 400 members, many more European archaeologists or archaeologists interested in European archaeology* are invited to join the EAA! (* Full MEMBERSHIP is open to professional archaeologists -- you are a professional archaeologist if you feel you want to belong to this organisation, according to Henry Cleere, Secretary of the EAA) If you want to join the EAA (and get the _Journal of European Archaeology_ for free) or contribute to _The European Archaeologist_ newsletter, please contact: The Secretariat of the EAA at Oslo c/o Riksantikvaren Dronningens gt. 13 Postboks 8196 Dep. N - 0034 Oslo Norway I am sorry if this message is a bit long, but I thought it is worth it ... Cornelius Holtorf Department of Archaeology, University of Wales, Lampeter, UK PJ015@lampeter.ac.uk
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