Independent AMWG meeting
Cairns, Queensland, Australia
18th - 23rd June, 2012
Organisers: Kat Szabó and Sean Ulm
Advancing Method, Enhancing Understanding: Technique and Narrative in Archaeomalacology
The third independent meeting of the International Council for Archaeozoology (ICAZ) Archaeomalacology Working Group will take place in Cairns, QLD, Australia from 18th – 23rd June 2012. AMWG members and prospective members with an interest in archaeomalacology are invited to participate.
Situated by the Great Barrier Reef and within the Australian tropical zone, Cairns has a range of accommodation options and local activities allowing attendees to experience tropical Pacific reef systems firsthand. Whether you dive, snorkel or would rather stay dry there are a wide variety of options on offer to suit a range of budgets and preferences.
The meeting will be focussed around two broad themes:
Advancing method: the introduction of new techniques and the refinement of available methods allow us to ask new questions and probe existing ones with new depths or viewpoints. Presentations within this theme will be primarily focussed on issues surrounding the development, refinement or questioning of analytical methods and the impact of these upon archaeological understandings.
Enhancing understanding: How can archaeomalacological data contribute to and enhance broader archaeological narratives? Going beyond site-specific reports, how can archaeomalacology address higher-level issues such as mobility patterns, environmental change and human response, subsistence regimes, trade networks and the changes through time of humans as a species? Presentations within this theme situate archaeomalacogical data and perspectives within the wider archaeological context.