T07/S01: Multi-Vocality in Archaeobotany: Other Perspectives on How People and Plants Interact
Format: Paper presentations with discussion
Organisers: Anna Florin, School of Archaeology and Anthropology, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia, anna.florin@anu.edu.au
Julian Garay-Vazquez, Archaeology and History Department, University of Exeter, Exeter, UK, J.J.Garay-Vazquez@exeter.ac.uk
Makayla Harding, School of Social Science, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia, makayla.harding@uq.net.au
David Doyle, Menindee Aboriginal Elders Council, Kinchega National Park, Menindee, Australia, Dave.Doyle.Creative@gmail.com
Emily Grey, University of Western Australia, Perth, Australia, emily.grey@research.uwa.edu.au
Sinyati Robinson Mark, School of Social Science, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia, s.robinsonmark@uq.net.au
Madonna Thomson, Jagera Daran Community and Heritage Solutions, Brisbane, Australia, Madonna.Thomson@jageradaran.com
Archaeobotanical research plays a key role in understanding the history of relationships between people, plants, environments, and food production globally. However, like other archaeological subdisciplines, archaeobotany was developed in Europe and Southwest Asia within a Western Enlightenment framework of cultural evolution. Key definitions, concepts, and methodologies shaped by modern Eurocentric understandings of plants, people, and the environment have been applied globally. This has narrowed the perspectives that inform archaeobotanical research and reduced the input of local communities with knowledge systems outside the Western scientific tradition into the study of their heritage. This session invites speakers working on regions outside Europe and Southwest Asia and incorporating non-Western perspectives to discuss their understandings of plants in the past and present, including how archaeobotanical research can be used to support sustainable food futures. We aim to celebrate and explore the diversity of people-plant interactions and how these can be understood beyond the constraints and legacies of colonial practices. We especially welcome Indigenous speakers and Autochthonous community members to share their experiences, research, and Traditional Ecological Knowledge to disrupt the status quo of the discipline.
T07/S02: Food Systems through the Ages: Innovation, Material Culture and Foodways Traditions
Format: Paper presentations with discussion
Organisers: Akash Kumar Srivastava, Dept of Humanistic Studies, Indian Institute of Technology (BHU) Varanasi, India, akashkrsrivastava.rs.hss21@itbhu.ac.in
Ahana Ghosh, Archaeological Sciences Centre, Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar, India, ahanaarchaeo@gmail.com
The food system is a complex phenomenon in human cultures, consisting of social, ecological, technological, and symbolic dimensions. Throughout the human past, multiple and diverse technologies and strategies have developed to exploit food resources more efficiently, often intricately woven into complex cultural systems. Thus, humans have interacted with their environment through the continuous interplay of subsistence dynamics and cultural complexes. Perhaps the earliest technology developed and applied in this direction was fire-based cooking, followed by grinding stones, cooking vessels, ceramic vessels, etc., giving various new dimensions to human culinary practices. This session seeks papers that examine multiple lines of information to understand the traditions of past foodways, primarily through the analysis of cooking tools and food residues coupled with archaeozoological and archaeobotanical analyses. Moreover, it invites contributions grounded on the ‘food-procurement strategies’ and ‘culinary practices’ of contemporary Indigenous peoples in tropical environments around the world. The topics of interest include, but are not limited to:
- Insights about the human-food entanglements.
- The Archaeological evidence related to cooking technology.
- Food preparation techniques in human history.
- Ethnoarchaeological studies on foodways traditions.
- Intangible features related to Indigenous culinary practices and their socio-economic intricacies.
Finally, the session will focus on an interdisciplinary perspective to uncover the ancient foodways tradition, so we look for fresh, cutting-edge ideas.
T07/S03: Archaeologies of the Pacific [This session is now closed]
Format: Paper presentations with discussion
Organisers:
Jason Kariwiga, The University of Queensland & University of Papua New Guinea, j.kariwiga@uq.edu.au; jkariwiga@upng.ac.pg
Rachel Wesley, Ōtākou Whakaihu Waka/University of Otago, smira014@student.otago.ac.nz
Edson Willie, Vanuatu Cultural Centre, willie.edson01@gmail.com
Loretta Hasu, Ōtākou Whakaihu Waka/University of Otago & Papua New Guinea National Museum and Art Gallery, lorettahasu@gmail.com
Charles J. T. Radclyffe, Ōtākou Whakaihu Waka/University of Otago, charles.radclyffe@otago.ac.nz
The Pacific Ocean covers nearly a third of our planet’s surface and is a region of global archaeological importance. This is reflected in a wide array of significant human achievements, from the first arrivals of modern humans into Sahul, the independent invention of agriculture in the New Guinea Highlands, to the late Holocene expansion by Lapita peoples into the eastern Pacific and the development of expansive trade and exchange systems and maritime technology. This diversity in origins and lifeways is reflected today in the varied groups of people who have called this region home for millennia. These isolated yet connected communities showcase the Pacific as a crucial convergence of human and human-environment interaction and adaptation, over a time span reaching back thousands of years.
We invite papers that delve into the various aspects of archaeological and interdisciplinary research focused in and around the entirety of the Pacific. The potential topics are as diverse as the region and can include (though be not limited to) the colonisation of Wallacea and Sahul and subsequent migrations into Near and Remote Oceania by modern humans, systems of food production and procurement, human-megafauna interaction, island, coastal and highland environment adaptation, regional and local trade and exchange systems, and Indigenous and European settler interactions.
We especially invite papers focusing on community-centred and/or Indigenous research methodologies, and findings that emphasize regional insights and contributions to archaeology.
The aims of this session are twofold. Firstly, we want to highlight the value of Pacific Island archaeology, cultures and perspectives, areas that are often underrepresented in Western-learning archaeology discourse. Secondly, by incorporating the Western-leaning discipline of archaeology with Indigenous Pacific knowledge systems, we can help redefine approaches to understanding sustainable environmental management practices and building meaningful and long-lasting collaboration with Indigenous communities.
T07/S04: Tropical Technologies: Global Patterns of Material Culture Analogy and Homology
Format: Paper presentations with discussion
Organisers:
Marina González-Varas, Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, Musée de l’Homme, Paris, France; Institut français d’études andines (IFEA), Lima, Perú, marina.gz.varas@gmail.com
Antonio Pérez-Balarezo, Sección de Arqueología, Departamento de Humanidades, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú (PUCP), Lima, Perú; Grupo de Investigación en Poblamiento Inicial de las Américas, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú (GIPAM-PUCP), Lima, Perú, bperezb@pucp.edu.pe
Justin Guibert, Université Toulouse Jean Jaures, UMR 5608 TRACES/SMP3C, Maison de la Recherche, 5 allée Antonio Machado 31058 Toulouse Cedex, France, justin.guibert@yahoo.fr
Yuduan Zhou, Archaeological Institute for Yangtze Civilization, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, China, zhouyuduan@yeah.net
Hubert Forestier, Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, Musée de l’Homme, Paris, France, hubforestier@gmail.com
Valéry Zeitoun, UMR 7207-CR2P-CNRS-SU, Centre de Recherche en Paléontologie-Paris, Sorbonne Université, France, pythecanthro@gmail.com
Tropical environments have shaped distinctive human technological adaptations across different regions and time periods. This session will bring together research exploring analogies—similarities in material culture developed independently in response to shared tropical challenges—and homologies, where similar technologies reflect a common cultural or historical origin within tropical biomes. By focusing on both analogy and homology, this session aims to foster a nuanced understanding of tropical technologies, emphasising how environmental and climatic conditions in the tropics have influenced resource use, tool design, subsistence strategies, and economic practices. Contributions from diverse temporal and geographical contexts are encouraged, from earliest Indigenous adaptations to colonial interactions and their legacies. The session particularly welcomes interdisciplinary and collaborative research integrating archaeological, ethnographic, ecological, and Indigenous knowledge. Historically, tropical technologies and their trajectories have often been perceived as extensions or reflections of temperate region innovations, shaped by Western academic perspectives. This session aims to challenge such biases by highlighting the unique and independent development of tropical technological traditions. We invite contributions from the Americas, Africa, Asia, and Oceania, encouraging presenters to investigate both functional analogies and evolutionary homologous traits in tropical material culture. By examining these global patterns, the session seeks to enhance our understanding of human adaptability and the creative diversity of technological solutions within tropical landscapes.
T07/S05: The History of Archaeology in the Tropics
Format: Paper presentations with discussion
Organisers: Michelle Richards, Indigenous Knowledge Institute, The University of Melbourne, Australia, michelle.richards@unimelb.edu.au
Hilary Howes, Centre for Heritage and Museum Studies, The Australian National University Australia, hilary.howes@anu.edu.au
Chris Urwin, Indigenous Studies Centre, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia, chris.urwin@monash.edu
The discipline of archaeology as it is commonly understood today developed from a combination of Renaissance-era interest in classical antiquity, focusing on developments in ancient art and architecture by Egyptian, Greek and Roman ‘civilisations’, and early European antiquarians’ enthusiasm for earthworks, megaliths, and other physical remains of the past in their own countries. As a result, archaeology in the 19th and early 20th centuries was largely shaped by European thinkers and practised in temperate, Mediterranean or arid climates. If early archaeologists and anthropologists looked towards tropical climates at all, it was usually in the hope of identifying ethnographic analogies to help understand Palaeolithic remains in Europe. Monumental structures and other material remnants found in tropical regions were generally interpreted in a way that legitimised Western imperialism and colonisation. For example, monuments were interpreted as the constructions of a ‘superior race’, since vanished, or of ancestors of the present-day inhabitants, since degenerated or collapsed. Although these interpretive tendencies were not confined to tropical climates, environmental determinist thought further encouraged belief in the inevitable stagnation of cultures unable to benefit from ‘favourable’ (temperate) environments.
As a result, past archaeological theory and practice has tended to foster and cement negative perceptions of people living in tropical regions. It is necessary to acknowledge this in order to promote more positive perceptions and better ideas for our shared future, especially in the context of catastrophic climate change. However, it is equally necessary to identify exceptions in the history of archaeology, and to consider the historical development of theories, techniques and methodologies better suited to tropical contexts.
We welcome papers on all aspects of the history of archaeology in the tropics, especially those considering the involvement of First Nations knowledge holders, ‘amateur’ archaeologists, women, and/or representatives of other historically marginalised groups.
T07/S06: Urbanism in Tropical Environments: Sustainability, Resilience & Collapse
Format: Paper presentations with discussion
Organisers: Prof. Prishanta Gunawardhana, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, prishanta@kln.ac.lk
Dr Keir Strickland, La Trobe University, Australia, k.strickland@latrobe.edu.au
Archaeological studies of urbanism (its emergences, transformations, and failures) have historically focussed on the Mediterranean and the Middle East, where states and cities often developed along major river systems, and where archaeological urban forms and systems conform more neatly to conventional ideas of ‘the city’. In the tropical world, on the other hand, debates persist about whether settlements were truly ‘urban’ in character, and there remains a debate about whether tropical environments – often viewed by Western science as ‘marginal’ and ‘inhospitable’ – sustained densely urban populations over the long term.
However, recent research within tropical environments has underscored the diversity of trajectories of urbanism across the tropical world, as well as highlighting the role of water management systems in attenuating hydroclimatic instability and building societal resilience to climatic change. Consequently, this session aims to explore the emergence, transformation, and failure of urbanism within tropical environments, with a particular focus upon emergence, adaptation and transformation.
By examining a range of case studies from across the tropical world, this session will investigate the forms and trajectories of both tropical urban societies and their urban landscapes, focusing on issues of water management systems (social and technological), hydroclimatic variability, urban resilience, and research approaches.
We particularly encourage contributions led by scholars from the tropics, and welcome papers that adopt interdisciplinary or comparative approaches to better understand tropical urbanism.
T07/S07: Archaeology in the Tropical Asian Uplands
Format: Paper presentations with discussion
Organisers: Tiatoshi Jamir, Dept of History & Archaeology, Nagaland University, India, tiatoshi@nagalanduniversity.ac.in
Michael Spate, Dept of Archaeology & History, La Trobe University, Australia, m.spate@latrobe.edu.au
Variously described as the Southeast Asia Massif, the Indo-Burma Hills or ‘Zomia’, the highlands of Southeast Asia and eastern India present a range of theoretical and methodological opportunities and challenges for archaeologists. A recognised global biodiversity hotspot, human populations of this region have been typified as comprising an equally diverse range of complex social-ecological systems argued by some scholars as being intentionally organised in opposition to lowland states. The role of mobile, swidden agriculture is argued as central to these systems and has also been hypothesised as a driver of ecological diversity. Given the dynamic nature of upland landscapes, detecting, interpreting and understanding these systems in the archaeological and palaeoenvironmental record is complex. This session aims to bring together archaeologists, geographers and other cognate researchers working on all aspects of community heritage, archaeology, (palaeo)ecology and other landscape-oriented work to present and discuss their findings, challenges and propose new avenues of research in the region. Taking a broad geographic scope, we invite researchers working in highland east India, southwest China and the uplands of both mainland and island Southeast Asia.