July 21–26, 2025: 27th SAfA Meeting at the University of Algarve, Faro
Hosted by the Interdisciplinary Centre for Archaeology and Evolution of Human Behaviour (ICArEHB)
2 sessions are planned for the 2025 meeting of SAfA (Society of Africanist Archaeologists) in Faro, Portugal (July 22–25, 2025), including sessions on archaeological research in Ethiopia, Central Africa, Southern Africa, Albertine Rift, Morocco, Nile Valley; ethnoscience, heritage management, geoarchaeology, chronology, climate change, obsidian studies, ancient pottery, bioarchaeology, zooarchaeology, aquatic resources, ochre exploitation, ancient technology, Middle Stone Age, Later Stone Age, African women in archaeology and paleontology…
You will find the preliminary list of sessions in the attached file and the abstract submission procedure in the link below.
Preliminary list of sessions :
Submission instructions:
Participants may submit their abstracts during the individual call for submissions, which will be open from December 5, 2024 to January 31, 2025.
Participants submitting to the session must select the session title (”African perspectives on obsidian studies in Archaeology”) when submitting their abstract, otherwise it will not be associated with this session.
All relevant information for individual submissions will be published on https://safa2025.icarehb.com.
A preliminary program will be published on the SAfA website in January 2025.
Session details :
African perspectives on obsidian studies in Archaeology (Smith, Khakidi, Sahle)
Organizers :
Benjamin D. Smith (Cultures et Environnements, Préhistoire, Antiquité, Moyen Âge – CEPAM, CNRS – UMR 7264, Université Côte d’Azur), bdsmith1991[at]gmail.co
Lamya Khalidi (Cultures et Environnements, Préhistoire, Antiquité, Moyen Âge – CEPAM, CNRS – UMR 7264, Université Côte d’Azur)
Yonatan Sahle (Department of Archaeology, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch 7701, South Africa)
Abstract :
For decades, obsidian has played a central role in archaeological studies of past technologies in Africa. A large part of this research has focused on compositional analyses aimed at determining the geographic origin of tools made from volcanic glass. In the past two decades in particular, studies on the provenance of obsidian have multiplied with the introduction of portable XRF in the discipline, prompting a reexamination of analytical techniques and datasets.
Africa’s potential to advance obsidian research continues to be underestimated, despite its unique geology, exceptional paleontological and archaeological archives, and numerous obsidian sources. Obsidian is a unique and durable material found in lithic assemblages across all prehistoric periods of the continent. For example, Ethiopia hosts both the earliest examples of obsidian tool-making and modern skin-working communities whose economic and ontological worlds are centered on this material.
This session welcomes recent studies on archaeological and ethnographic obsidian in Africa. These may include research on volcanic geochemistry, geology, techno-typological and/or functional analyses of artifacts, as well as recent studies on obsidian sources, quarries, lithic economies, ethnoarchaeology, human dispersal/mobility, history, and materiality.
To celebrate the long-standing use of obsidian resources on the continent from prehistory to the present, the session organizers have invited guest editors to prepare a special issue in a journal to present recent and ongoing research on obsidian across the continent.
Exploitation of Aquatic Resources in the African Stone Age (Harmand, Taylor, Bocxlaer, Boës)
Organisateurs :
- Sonia Harmand (CNRS, UMR 5608 TRACES, Turkana Basin Institute, IFRA Nairobi) sonia.harmand[at]cnrs.fr
- Nicholas Taylor (Turkana Basin Institute) nicholas.taylor.archaeology[at]gmail.com
- Bert Van Bocxlaer (CNRS, UMR 8198 Evo-Eco-Paleo, Univ. Lille) bert.van-bocxlaer[at]univ-lille.fr
- Xavier Boës (INRAP, UMR 7194 Histoire Naturelle de l’Homme Préhistorique) xavier.boes[at]inrap.fr
Abtract: With only a few notable exceptions, evolutionary research and models have focused on terrestrial resources and foods as the key drivers of, technological, cognitive, and dietary change throughout the Stone Age. Africa features extensive aquatic systems, including saline coasts and lakes, freshwater lakes, wetlands, and rivers, which provided durable aquatic resources that hominins could have relied on, regardless of seasonal shifts that might have affected terrestrial food supplies during the Plio-Pleistocene. The continent’s aquatic environments harbour rich aquatic and amphibious biota, including relatively mobile (e.g., fishes, aquatic mammals) and more sedentary (e.g., molluscs) taxa that offer potentially plentiful sources of protein and fats. Furthermore, these ecosystems also supply floral and mineral resources with unique properties suitable for modification and use for exploitation by technologically-driven hominin foragers. This session aims to open a broad discussion about aquatic resource use across the Plio-Pleistocene in Africa and draws together current research including comparative work from Europe and Asia. We particularly encourage contributions focusing on the selection, modification and use, and/or consumption of coastal and lacustrine biota, particularly molluscs, but also welcome the potentially important role of aquatic resources in human evolution, including (but not restricted to) examples of symbolic or decorative items.
