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Dear colleagues, By this point I'm sure none of you needs reminding that ICAZ abstracts for thematic sessions need to be submitted by the end of the month via the conference website. However, for those of you who hope to attend but haven't yet settled on what (or whether) to present, here's a reminder about the session that Jim Morris and I will be running on meta-analyses and large-scale data integration in zooarchaeology - full title and abstract below. It's #13 on the official list. We think this is going to be an increasingly central aspect of zooarchaeological research over the coming years, so we're really quite excited to have the chance to host this session now. The focus is methodological, so we welcome papers dealing with any time period or part of the world - so far we've got at least five continents represented, but it'd be great to make it six. Best, David ERC Research Associate & Teaching Fellow in Zooarchaeology UCL Institute of Archaeology *Meta-analyses in zooarchaeology: large-scale syntheses in the era of 'big data'* Large-scale meta-analyses of archaeological data have the potential to address issues well beyond the reach of conventional site-level studies. From the spread of farming in the Neolithic to the development of global trade networks in the modern era, and from the transmission of human cultural innovations to the detection of anthropogenic impacts on the environment, many of the big themes in contemporary archaeology necessitate synthesis of data on a grand-scale. This is no less true for zooarchaeology than for any other form of archaeological evidence. While past approaches have mostly been fairly informal, the cumulative results of decades of zooarchaeological research in many regions now present opportunities for more systematic synthesis or even data-mining of publications and archives -- especially where development-led archaeology has produced unprecedented volumes of data. Meanwhile, the burgeoning Open Access movement and increasing interest in online data publication raise the prospect of raw zooarchaeological data being widely available in the future. This session aims to showcase innovative approaches to large-scale synthesis of zooarchaeological data and to discuss the future potential of such studies, as well as current problems and limitations. ·Novel approaches to synthesis of metrical, age, sex, palaeopathological, taphonomic, and/or anatomical data, as well as taxonomic frequencies. ·Quality control; dealing with research biases and recovery/identification issues. ·Statistical tools for meta-analysis; maximising chronological resolution. ·Integrating zooarchaeology with other archaeological, ecological, and/or historical datasets on a grand scale. David C. Orton Institute of Archaeology, University College London [log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]> James Morris School of Forensic and Investigative Sciences, University of Central Lancashire [log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]>