EAA European Association of Archaeologists

23/10/2026

Archaeology Spotlight

🎨 At Klipdrift Shelter, South Africa, a c. 60,000-year-old layer of ochre has yielded collagen from the common eland. The authors suggest eland-derived material was mixed with ochre powder, or that an ochre-treated eland hide was left at the site. The study shows how proteins can reveal organic traces of early human material culture where nothing is visible.
🔗 https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2025.3300

🏺 Fingerprints on figures from Pit 1 of Qin Shihuang's Terracotta Army suggest the makers included adult women and children as well as adult men. The authors caution that the estimates are proportions of fingerprints rather than individual people and may overrepresent women and children. Even so, the results challenge the long-held assumption that only adult men made the figures.
🔗 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.culher.2026.09.014



📸 Photo Credits:
1 – Microscopic image of an ochre-rich sediment sample from Klipdrift Shelter. Credit: Haghighi et al. 2026
2 – Terracotta figure G11-10 showing surface (a) and relief (b) fingerprints. Credit: Li et al. 2026

22/10/2026

📢 Deadline extended!

The Call for Sessions for the 33rd EAA Annual Meeting in Leiden, Netherlands, now closes on Monday, 26 October 2026, at 9:00 AM CET.

The EAA 2027 submissions portal was briefly taken offline on 21–22 October as a precaution following a global security vulnerability affecting PHP-based websites. The necessary updates are in place, and the portal is now safely back online. We apologise for any inconvenience.

🔗 Full details: https://www.e-a-a.org/EAA2027/sessions
🔗 Submit here: https://submissions.e-a-a.org/eaa2027/login

Already submitted? Thank you for your contribution! We look forward to your proposals and to welcoming you to Leiden!

These are special categories of contributors who do not submit proposals through the EAA 2027 submissions portal. Instead, they are invited to participate in a given session directly by the session organisers. The main session organiser can add invited speakers or discussants via the EAA 2027 submis...

20/10/2026

📢 The Leiden Statement on the 2027 EAA Annual Meeting

The Faculty Board of the Faculty of Archaeology at Leiden University has shared a statement on its role as host of the 2027 EAA Annual Meeting.

Please find the statement and the EAA Executive Board response on the EAA 2027 website:

👉 https://www.e-a-a.org/EAA2027/Leiden_tabs/Leiden_Statement.aspx

The instructions for evaluating sessions and abstracts have been updated. We are also talking with the Leiden Scientific Committee about how to make next year’s Meeting a success.

The Leiden University Faculty Board statement on the 2027 EAA Annual Meeting was shared with the EAA on 14 October - please read the statement and the EAA Executive Board response below.

19/10/2026

The EAA Executive Board is pleased to announce the appointment of Barry Molloy and Maria Relaki as the new editors of the European Journal of Archaeology (EJA).

Barry Molloy takes up the role of General Editor, bringing extensive experience in archaeological research, academic publishing and editorial leadership.

Maria Relaki takes up the role of Deputy Editor, having served as EJA Assistant Reviews Editor since 2019. She brings a deep knowledge of the Journal and a broad network across the academic community.

We are confident that Barry and Maria will build on the Journal’s achievements, bringing cutting-edge research to readers and encouraging exchange across the many disciplines of archaeology in Europe and beyond.

Warm congratulations to both!

Full announcement: https://www.e-a-a.org/EAA/News___Publications/News_Items/Appointment_of_EJA_General_Editor_and_EJA_Deputy_Editor.aspx

17/10/2026

Happy International Archaeology Day! 🌍

Led by the Archaeological Institute of America, today is a day to celebrate archaeology around the world. Archaeology helps us understand who came before us, gives a voice to those missing from written history, and connects us through a shared human story

⛏️

16/10/2026

🏺 Archaeology Spotlight

⚱️ Highsted, Kent, was excavated under rescue conditions in 1955 but never published; the finds were later lost, probably stolen, and the site largely written off. Now the surviving, commingled human remains have been re-examined using osteology, aDNA, isotopes and AMS dating. The results suggest a major ‘Deal-rite’ cemetery of at least 17 apparently local people, likely in use from the Late Iron Age into the second century AD. The study shows how much can still be learned from ‘forgotten’ assemblages and fragmentary archives.
🔗 https://doi.org/10.1111/ojoa.70030

🦴 At Shanidar Cave, Iraqi Kurdistan, a newly identified Neanderthal, Shanidar A, deposited c. 75,000 years ago, appears to have survived a severe facial injury. Meanwhile a c. 15 mm perforation through the left scapula is interpreted as a perimortem wound, possibly from a wooden spear. The finds add to evidence for repeated, intentional Neanderthal mortuary behaviour, and for the use of wooden weapons in the Middle Palaeolithic.
🔗 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-026-69193-z



📸 Photo Credits:
1 – Highsted Chalk Quarry, Sittingbourne, Aug 1955; the skull of this individual had been damaged by a machine. Credit: © Maidstone Museums in Legge et al. 2026
2 – Shanidar A scapula. Credit: Dr Emma Pomeroy

14/10/2026

📣 Reminder! The deadline for the Call for Sessions for the 33rd EAA Annual Meeting in Leiden, Netherlands, is 22 October 2026.

🗓️ Key Dates:
Call for Sessions: 8 September – 22 October 2026.
Final payment deadline for session organisers (EAA membership + registration): 28 January 2027

✅ Session Organiser Requirements:
You need an EAA ID to submit (membership payment not required at this stage).
One person may submit one session as main organiser, and be involved in up to two sessions total.
Each session needs 2–5 organisers from at least two different countries.
The main organiser submits via the portal and serves as main contact — this role can't easily be changed later

📝 Submission Guidelines: Submit via the EAA 2027 portal.
Title: max. 20 words
Abstract: 150–300 words
Organiser affiliations: max. 80 characters (main institution only)
Include EAA IDs for co-organisers if available

🔗 Full details: https://www.e-a-a.org/EAA2027/sessions
🔗 Submit here: https://submissions.e-a-a.org/eaa2027 We look forward to your proposals!

These are special categories of contributors who do not submit proposals through the EAA 2027 submissions portal. Instead, they are invited to participate in a given session directly by the session organisers. The main session organiser can add invited speakers or discussants via the EAA 2027 submis...

12/10/2026

Thank you to everyone at who shared their thoughts with in Athens!

At the recent European Association of Archaeologists Annual Meeting in Athens, we invited visitors to our stand to answer a simple question: What matters to you in archaeology right now? Researchers, practitioners, heritage professionals and students responded by leaving their comments on nearly 100...

09/10/2026

🦴 A re-analysis of 46 skulls from the First Dynasty (c. 3078–2900 BCE) subsidiary burials around the royal funerary complexes at Abydos, Egypt, found potentially lethal perimortem trauma in 18 of them. Paraffin wax applied around the fractures suggests Flinders Petrie saw the injuries in the 1920s but mistook them for postmortem damage.
🔗 https://doi.org/10.3389/fearc.2026.1858940

🪵 597 wooden imprints and charred remains preserved in travertine at Abric Romaní, Spain (c. 62,000–40,000 years ago), include 13 objects made by Neanderthals: spears, digging sticks, bark trays, a possible tripod, a structural pole and a club-like tool with no clear parallel in the prehistoric record.
🔗 https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aeh2287



📸 Photo Credits:
1 – Drawing of Abydos in 1867. Credit: E. Lear
2 – Bark tray from Abric Romaní. Credit: M. D. Guillén/IPHES

05/10/2026

📢 Job opportunities at Kiel University!
Four professorships are now open at Kiel University, Germany.
🔹 W1-Professorship (tenure track to W2) in Prehistoric and Protohistoric Archaeology with a focus on archaeoclimatology – Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences
👉 https://www.e-a-a.org/EAA/News___Publications/Research_Items/Professorship_in_prehistoric_and_protohistoric_archaeology_with_focus_on_archaeoclimatology.aspx

🔹 W2-Professorship in Prehistoric and Protohistoric Archaeology with a focus on archaeological theory and methods – Faculty of Arts and Humanities
👉 https://www.e-a-a.org/EAA/News___Publications/Research_Items/Professorship_in_prehistoric_and_protohistoric_archaeology.aspx

🔹 W2-Professorship in Prehistoric and Protohistoric Archaeology with a focus on historical and global historical archaeology – Faculty of Arts and Humanities
👉 https://www.e-a-a.org/EAA/News___Publications/Research_Items/Professorship_in_prehistoric_and_protohistoric_archaeology_with_focus_on_historical_archaeology.aspx

🔹 W2-Professorship (tenure track to W3) in General Linguistics – Institute of Scandinavian Studies, Frisian Studies and General Linguistics
👉 https://www.e-a-a.org/EAA/News___Publications/Research_Items/Professorship_in_linguistics.aspx

Kiel University especially encourages qualified women to apply. All positions start at the earliest possible date. Follow the links for full details and application information.