The conference theme What Future for the Past? At the Crossroads of Tradition and Innovation invites reflection on the challenges and opportunities facing the study and preservation of the human past at a moment of profound global change. It promotes intergenerational dialogue and the exchange of methodological, conceptual, and disciplinary expertise across a broad range of fields, including archaeology, history, philology, anthropology, cultural heritage studies, and related disciplines.

1. The Human-Environment Nexus

Keynote Speaker: to be announced

At a time when planet Earth is facing unprecedented challenges due to climate change and resource overexploitation, the study of interactions between human communities and the natural world is essential for addressing emerging global issues. This session aims to examine the history of human-nature relationships by exploring themes such as paleoclimate, human-induced environmental change, landscape modification, and reliance on natural resources. We welcome papers addressing these themes through geoarchaeological methods, remote sensing, geography, palaeobotanical and archeozoological analyses, modeling approaches, textual analysis, urban studies, and iconographic evidence.

 

2. Equality, Minorities, and Inclusivity

Keynote Speaker: to be announced

In today’s globalized world, questions of social inequality, minority representation, and inclusivity are key elements in understanding our plural societies. This session explores the dynamics through which human communities in ancient Southwest Asia and North Africa constructed, negotiated, and challenged social differences across time, with particular attention to voices and experiences that have often been marginalized in historical narratives. We welcome contributions examining how power, social status, and belonging were expressed, contested, and materialized in past societies. Papers may address themes such as gender, ethnicity, and minority identities, as well as the ideological and material representation of social prestige through archaeological sources, philology, history, physical and cultural anthropology, material culture studies and art history. 

 

3. Cult(s), Culture(s), and Daily Life Practices

Keynote Speaker: to be announced

This session explores cultural representations, focusing on how beliefs, identities, and social relationships were expressed through ritual behavior, material culture, everyday practices, and cultural interaction. We welcome contributions addressing cultic activities, artistic and symbolic expression, funerary practices, and other embodied cultural behaviors, with particular attention to the creative use and transformation of material culture. Papers may explore how objects, spaces, and practices conveyed meaning and were structured to create meaning in domestic and ritual contexts.

 

4. Technology, Economy, and Innovation: Past and Future in the Mirror

Keynote Speaker: to be announced

This session explores the central role of artisanal know-how and craftsmanship in the technological and economic landscapes of the past. By examining the skills, locations, and material expertise of artisans, alongside models of exchange and the circulation of goods, it seeks to illuminate how innovation and artisanal know-how contributed to the organization, production, and trade in ancient economies. We invite contributions that combine detailed studies of craft techniques with analyses of economic structures, production networks, and trade systems, as well as methodological approaches – such as hard sciences, digital tools and computational or AI-based analyses – for understanding the capacities and organization of ancient production systems.

 

5. Heritage: From Memories to Valorisation

Keynote Speaker: to be announced

This session explores cultural heritage as a dynamic process that moves from memory and documentation to interpretation and valorisation. Specifically, it examines how archives, museum collections, and legacy datasets shape our understanding of the past and may inform contemporary heritage practices.

We welcome contributions that engage with archaeological and historical archives, museum collections, and unpublished or legacy data, as well as papers that adopt diverse theoretical and methodological approaches. Topics may include the reinterpretation of archival records, the biography of objects in museum collections, digitisation and accessibility, post-excavation data management, and the ethical, political, and social dimensions of heritage valorisation. This session also welcomes papers on the inclusion of local communities during fieldwork, participatory research practices, public archaeology, and communication.