December 28, 2020
The 2021 Annual Meeting is January 5-10, 2021. The 2021 AIA Presidential Plenary will focus on “Archaeology + New Technologies: Exciting Discoveries from around the World!“ This session brings together archaeologists and other specialists who are working with new technologies around the world to show the way these technologies are changing not just what they find, but also the way they present those discoveries and the questions they ask.
The participants study a variety of time periods and parts of the world, and use a range of technologies to accomplish their work. They include a specialist in ancient DNA who shows how collaborations between geneticists and archaeologists can help solve deep questions about the past as well as archaeologists working with new technologies in various regions of the world. They explore remote sensing and geophysical analysis of Neolithic remains in Hungary, how paleoethnobotanical analysis helps us understand household archaeology and sustainability in Mayan Mesoamerica, the connections between iron smelting and religion in Angkor Wat, Cambodia, and finally, how we might use film to train the eye in an archaeological mode.