The GAO would like to remind students to register for the upcoming conference "Death, Downturn and Destruction: the Archaeology of Crises", taking place 18-19 March 2011. The conference website and registration form can be found at http://www.arch.ox.ac.uk/conferences/articles/751.html. We hope to see many of you soon!
Best wishes,
GAO Committee 2010-2011
Following the success of last year’s "Death, Downturn and Destruction: the Archaeology of Crises", we are excited to announce a re-exploration of this theme for the 2011 Graduate Archaeology at Oxford Conference: "The Archaeology of Recovery: Adaptive Strategies in Response to Crisis" 18-19 March 2011. In this conference, we will explore the range of evidence for human adaptation to cultural, political, economic and environmental change.
Themes and questions to consider
1. Society, economics and politics
The archaeological response to political crisis can viewed through material culture, through changing settlement patterns and landscape use. How can we employ archaeological evidence to identify cultural continuity in the face of political and social change? How meaningful are concepts of identity in times of cultural transition? How can archaeological evidence be used to track population movements in the past?
2. Climate change
Climactic, social and political crises could have had enormous effects on the health and demography of past populations. How did ancient cultures respond to ill-health and population decline? How have humans managed episodes of plague and famine in the past? How can burial and skeletal evidence supplement the archaeological record?
3. Health and demography
Climactic, social and political crises can have enormous effects on the health and demography of past populations. How have ancient cultures responded to ill-health and population decline? How have humans managed episodes of plague and famine in the past? How can burial and skeletal evidence supplement the archaeological record?
4. Scientific techniques
How can scientific techniques (e.g. isotopic analysis, environmental reconstruction, residue analysis, computer modeling, ancient DNA) be used to infer population change, movement or continuity in response to crisis? How well can we correlate scientific evidence with other artistic, archaeological and textual records?
5. Archaeology and academia
The recent economic crisis and subsequent cut backs in heritage funding requires archaeology to adapt to this new situation. What strategies can be implemented to ensure the continued advancement and integration of research within academic, commercial and community archaeology? How do we ensure continuing development and advancement of archaeology research and protection of cultural heritage?
For more information, or to download a registration form, visit our website:http://www.arch.ox.ac.uk/conferences/articles/751.html
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