“Old Excavations and Finds, New Data and Interpretations: The Use of Archives in Current Archaeological Research Projects” is a session of the 30th European Association of Archaeologists Conference to be held the 31 August 2024, at the Sapienza University. This session aims to address both these conceptual and pragmatic dimensions of the archives-based history of archaeology.

Abstract

“Old Excavations and Finds, New Data and Interpretations: The Use of Archives in Current Archaeological Research Projects” is a session of the 30th European Association of Archaeologists Conference, to be held the 31 August 2024, 8:30-16:00, at the Sapienza University (Room 50, Maths building) in Rome, Italy.

This session is organised in collaboration with the “History of Archaeology” commission of the International Union for Prehistoric and Protohistoric Sciences.

The history of archaeology is a growing field of investigations which provides a range of studies and insights based on rigorous historical methodologies, drawing on archival materials, and organised into a veritable community with its research programs and widespread publications. Besides providing new knowledge on the practices and theories of archaeology worldwide, these empirical (archive-based) investigations have also focused attention on the production, conservation, dissemination and re-use of a range of documents produced by past archaeologists in the course of their excavation or collection activities. In turn, this has generated renewed interest in the archives of archaeology, be it in order to better understand the scientific, cultural and social implications of the discipline, or to make practical use of archival materials as a source of evidence and interpretations about the past. This session aims to address both these conceptual and pragmatic dimensions of the archives-based history of archaeology. Contributors will address issues such as:

• the scientific use of archival information: how, in our age of open science and (digital) data-reuse, are the results of past research integrated in the current production of knowledge?
• the organisation of archive-based research projects: who leads such projects, and what division of labour between archaeologists, historians or archivists are at stake?
• publication policy: to which audiences (scientific, laypeople) and in what publications are presented the results of projects combining new and old archaeological data?

Organisers

• Maddalena Cataldi
• Nathan Schlanger
• Kertsin Hofmann
• Chloé Rosner
• Sébastien Plutniak

This session is organised in collaboration with the “History of Archaeology” commission of the International Union for Prehistoric and Protohistoric Sciences.

Programm

8:30-16:00

• Kerstin P. Hofmann, Katja Rösler. Combining the old with the new for a more reflective future
• Chloë Ward. Knowledge construction in and with the archaeological archive
• Mikael Eboskog, Roger Nyqvist. Lilla Jored a chieftain burial? – Reconstruction an early 19th century excavation
• Jenny Elisabeth Wallensten, Ulf R. Hansson, Axel Frejman. Creating Common Ground. Swedish Archive Research on the Past for the Future
• Janusz Budziszewski, Michał Szubski. Raw materials circulation during the EBA in the Sandomierz Upland. Data of the “PAR” program in the new technological reality
• Pin-Wen Chen, Chi-Lin Lee Lee. Archival Research on Shipwrecks in Taiwan’s Waters: Its Contribution to Underwater Archaeology Surveys
• Sara Bozza, Μarco Galli, Tommaso Ismaelli. The Basilica Iulia Project and the archive of Laura Fabbrini (1960-1964): questions of workflow, method, and data transparency
• Francesca Meneghetti. Browsing legacy material: the case of the archives of the French mission at Enkomi (Cyprus)
• Thomas Lebée, Alexandra Kardianou. Investigating Elaeus, from the Trenches to Press
• Aneta Skalec, Wojciech Ejsmond. Ancient, archival, and modern sources combined within the Ptolemaic Pathyris Project (Egypt)
• Katarzyna Anna Kasprzycka. Archives tell the truth – reconstructing the history of archaeological and conservation work at the Temple of Hatshepsut in Egypt
• Vincent Delvigne, Bruno Bosselin, Jacques Virmont, Jean-Paul Raynal. Le Blot 40 Years Later: An Example of Fuzzy Logic in Archaeology
• Angelica Gabrielli. De Stefani’s Archive as a portrait of the European history of archaeology in the second half of the XIX century
• Julie Bessenay, Julien Vieugué. Back to the sixties! New investigations on Jean Perrot’s excavations at the Neolithic site of Munhata (8th-6th millennia BC)
• Chloé Rosner. Administrating and shaping archaeology in British Mandate Palestine in light of the archives of the Department of Antiquities archives
• Caitlin Clerkin. Whose Work? Telling New Stories with Archaeological Archives at the Harvard Art Museums
• Mustafa Kemal Baran. Archaeological Archives and Local Communities: How Can History of Archaeology Inform Heritage Practices