To list members,
At the next WAC conference in Dublin, Ireland 2008, we have proposed a
Theme on the idea of rainforest as artefact.  In this theme we 
areinterested in exploring the evidence for or ideas about the long-term 
history of human-rainforest interactions, with a primary focus on 
subsistence.  The Theme has now been accepted and we are looking for 
interested participants to present papers, or for additional session 
proposals. The main session organisers are listed in the attachment or you 
can apply through the WAC-06 website.

http://www.ucd.ie/wac-6/


RAINFOREST AS ARTEFACT
The purpose of this theme is to reset the agenda concerning research on 
the long-term history of human-rainforest interactions, with a primary 
focus on subsistence.  The major outcome of this discussion will be to (1) 
form a clearer picture of the current critical issues in understanding 
human-rainforest interactions; (2) what it is we need to know in order to 
move forward; and (3) what research strategies and methodologies are 
likely to address the identified questions and to produce the most 
significant results in the future.  

For many years researchers have been trying to identify the signature of 
human behaviour in tropical landscapes, untangle the interactions between 
human versus natural process, and determine the antiquity of occupation 
and various management and agricultural practices.  In various contexts 
archaeologists and anthropologists recognize a range of human initiatives 
and responses to the problems of daily subsistence posed by tropical 
rainforest.  Finding solutions to these problems is proving both complex 
and demanding because it requires the cross fertilization of ideas and 
methodology from a wide range of disciplines including archaeology, 
anthropology, botany, ethnobotany, palaeogeography, palaeoclimatology, and 
genetics.  It is hoped that by bringing together a wide range of scholars 
from across the globe, and from a wide variety of disciplines, the 
sessions will lead to new collaborative research projects and be a source 
for new ideas.  Our approach is multi-disciplinary an d we invite 
applications from all disciplines and methodologies to encourage all of us 
to think ‘outside the box’ and identify new research directions.  We 
invite new Session proposals within this Theme.

As part of this theme exploring the idea of ‘Rainforest as Artefact’ we 
hope to include a series of sessions 
on ‘aboriculture/agroforestry’, ‘plant translocation’, and ‘shifting 
cultivation’, which may fission into additional sessions depending on 
interest and numbers.  This list is not exclusive and we will explore new 
territory depending on interest.  In these particular sessions we would 
like to try a different approach to presentation where authors will be 
encouraged to pre-circulate their written contributions (2- 5,000 words). 
The format of oral presentations will be short 5-10 minute ‘position’ 
papers, summarizing the key issues.  Authors will also be asked to discuss 
what they perceive to be the major issues in their particular research 
areas, and address what they feel is needed to solve some of their more 
pressing research objectives.  Following the presentations, the group will 
workshop the major issues raised.  The aim will be to make concrete 
proposals regarding new definitions and concepts and identify the types of 
research that need to be undertaken to solve the questions raised in the 
papers.

Session organisers:
Huw Barton ([log in to unmask])
Robin Torrence ([log in to unmask])
Tim Denham ([log in to unmask])
Jean Kennedy ([log in to unmask])