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Dear colleagues, There is still time next week to submit an abstract to the session “Burnt animal bones in occupation contexts – Where, when and why?” at this year’s EAA conference in Helsinki 29th August-1st September (http://www.eaa2012.fi/index). The online submission of paper abstracts is open until 31st of March at http://www.eaa2012.fi/programme/abstract_submission The description of the session topic is given below. If you have any questions, please contact any of us (see contact information below). Please note: - Paper abstracts should not exceed 200 words and should include the name(s), affiliation(s) and contact information for the author(s). - The paper abstracts may be submitted at: http://www.eaa2012.fi/programme/abstract_submission - Paper abstracts submission deadline 31 March, 2012 - More information about submitting the abstracts, see http://www.eaa2012.fi/programme/abstract_submission Best regards, Kristiina Mannermaa, Jan Storå and Pirkko Ukkonen “Burnt animal bones in occupation contexts - Where, when and why?” In Finland, as well as in adjacent areas at the same latitude, animal bones are found at Stone Age sites exclusively or nearly exclusively as burnt. The acid soil of these areas is often given as the explanation why unburnt bones are not found at the sites, but the taphonomic histories of the burnt assemblages are complicated and great challenges for osteoarchaeological studies. Despite the similarity of other archaeological finds, burnt bones are abundant at some sites while scarce at others. Thus, burning or boiling of refuse seems to be connected with human cultural behaviour, at least in northern latitudes. To verify or reject this concept, more information is needed about burnt animal bones in northern regions as well as elsewhere in Europe. Our aim for the proposed session is to localize the phenomenon of burnt animal bones in time and space: - Where? In which geographical areas and environments and in what kind of depositional contexts do animal bone materials comprise totally or nearly totally of burnt, fragmented bones? - When? During which archaeological periods is burnt bone dominating bone samples? - Why? How is this phenomenon to be explained? How can the taphonomy of the burnt bones be studied? Were these, e.g., used as fuel or thrown into the fire as waste, or were they burnt accidentally, during cooking or some specific ritual? We call for interpretative and contextual studies about prehistoric burnt animal bones at settlements, hunting camps and other occupation activity areas all over Europe. The research themes can vary from geographic distribution of sites containing burnt animal bones, methodological and taphonomic studies, to combustion experiments and geochemical soil analyses. Kristiina Mannermaa PhD, Researcher Department of Philosophy, History, Culture and Art Studies/ Archaeology Box 59, FI-00014 University of Helsinki [log in to unmask] +358405457698 Jan Storå PhD, Associate professor Osteoarchaeological Research Laboratory Department of Archaeology and Classical Studies Stockholm University SE- 106 91 Stockholm [log in to unmask] +46-8-16 1287 Pirkko Ukkonen PhD, Curator Finnish Museum of Natural History, Geological Museum, Arppeanum Box 11 (Snellmaninkatu 3) FI-00014 University of Helsinki [log in to unmask] +358-9-191 22572