Going to confrerences and presenting papers or posters are a big part of the academic conversation and the research environment. It is never to early to start either! Here is a conference that is physically nearby (if at all possible) and thematically relevant to a lot of our students. So check it out and if you are curious about presenting a paper on research you’ve done as part of an essay or theisis do a little research, ask your supervisors for guidance and submit an abstract! At the very least you get better at submitting, and maybe you even get to go to a conference. At present they are not sure if the conference is open to just listen in or visit but I’ll keep you posted if that becomes the case.
Here is the infromation I got from the organisers:
The archaeological conference Death in Transition: New archaeological perspectives on burial practices and societal change will take place in Stockholm, 22-23 September 2022, and we would warmly invite paper submissions.
The conference is geographically and chronologically open and researchers from all career stages are welcome to submit proposals. The deadline for submitting abstracts is February 28. 2022 (see information below and the conference webpage for details).
We are planning to pursue publication of selected papers.
The aim is to organise an in-person event in Stockholm, but we are prepared to move the event online if circumstances necessitate it.
Conferences website: https://deathintransition.wordpress.com
Burials and burial rites often play a central role in the archaeological (re)construction of narratives of societal change. Past migrations or religious changes are traced through the spread of specific burial practices, and the inclusion of certain objects or material. Periods of social and economic strain in the past are established through or confirmed by the study of graves and grave goods. In the conference organizers’ own work we have been challenged by – and are challenging – the relationship between burials and Christianisation in late antique and Viking Age Europe respectively, where burials are used to confirm established narratives of where, when, and how the religious transformation progressed. The close connection made between burials and religious ideas has meant that graves are rarely used to address other topics, and that the possible influence of other types of societal changes and turmoil on changing burial practices has been overlooked.
In view of recent challenges to how we perceive and construct change in archaeology, this conference wishes to explore the role of graves and burial practices in the construction of narratives of transformations, as well as our understanding of burial practices in periods of societal change. The creation of new archaeological data through fieldwork and application of new methods makes it possible to re-evaluate our current state of knowledge in the field of burial archaeology.
Central questions this conference hopes to address are:
- What roles do burials and burial practices have in societal changes, as well as in the construction of archaeological narratives of change? What challenges and limitations are there in using burials as evidence of societal change?
- What is change, and what is variation in burial practice? How can we distinguish variations in burial practice from transformation of burial practice?
- How do we approach the scale and tempo of transformation processes?
- How do we link burial practices and other societal changes in periods of transition and turmoil?
- How can innovation in computational and archaeo-scientific methods lead to new understandings about burial practice, and changing burial practices in particular?
- How can new theoretical perspectives impact our understanding of death and burial in relation to societal changes?
The aim of the conference is to explore these questions through geographically and chronologically diverse perspectives in order to challenge and advance our understanding of the relationship between burial practices and change in the past. Papers may include but are not limited to the following topics:
- Periodization
- Textual sources and archaeological change
- New theoretical perspectives
- Methodological innovations
- Migration and colonisation
- War and conflict
- Religious and political change
- Environmental change
- Technological innovations
We hope to see you in Stockholm!
The organisers:
Frida Espolin Norstein
Postdoctoral researcher
Department of Archaeology and Classical Studies
Stockholm University
frida.espolin.norstein@ark.su.se
Irene Selsvold
Postdoctoral researcher
Department of Historical Studies
University of Gothenburg
irene.selsvold@gu.se