The European Archaeologist
Creators: name: The European Association of Archaeologists (EAA)
name: Walsh, Matthew
name: Reiter, Samantha S.
Publisher: name: The European Association of Archaeologists
Year: 2022

description: Letter from the Editors

 

Dear colleagues,

The first green tips of snowdrops are just about peeking through the earth here under the box hedges and flower plots in Copenhagen. We find their presence an apt emblem for the start of 2022. Although bitter winds and evening frosts still plague us, there persist bright spots of green pushing hopeful fingers towards the winter sun. These snowdrops are what we wish for you in 2022: may the year be filled with bright hope and the opportunity and will to strive towards the brighter days which lie ahead.

Like the transition from the depths of winter towards spring, this issue of TEA also marks a slight shift in the newsletter’s direction. At the close of 2021, we conducted a poll on social media in which we asked EAA members to give us their thoughts and suggestions on the newsletter’s content and scope. We are grateful to everyone who took the time to participate! Your input was incredibly useful! While many readers are relatively satisfied with the current format and content, you also gave us some great suggestions about new and interesting kinds of content to include. Roughly 85% of those polled showed average to very high interest in seeing opinion pieces and session reports, 90% have similar interest in seeing debate pieces, and 95% would like to see more short research articles. You also suggested a wider range of shorter pieces and segments overall. As archaeology and archaeologists continue to diversify their interests, it is difficult to keep an overview of current goings-on across the many specialisms. Thus, this and subsequent issues will attempt to reflect those desires in their contents lists. However, to do this, we will need your help. Please consider contributing to TEA and feel free to contact us with ideas or inquiries on the types of offerings that may be of interest. We look forward to hearing from you!

As the deadline for EAA Budapest 2022 submissions approaches, the EAA continues to engage with a major issue of concern regarding Hungary’s current political stance on human rights in relation to the LGBTQIA+ community. As a follow-on to the online event arranged by the EAA in collaboration with the Háttér Society (Hungary’s oldest and largest LGBTQIA+ organization), Róbert Buzsáki from their legal program brings us up to speed on the current state of affairs for LGBTQIA+ rights and safety concerns prior to the AM in Budapest this year. Staying in Hungary, we also include a ‘Newsflash from Hungary,’ reporting on recent controversy surrounding the “Kings and Saints: The Age of the Árpáds” exhibition set to open at Szent István Király Museum in Székesfehérvár in March 2022.

Climate change remains at the forefront of our minds. In this issue, Hollesen et al. provide us a glimpse of the effects of climate change-driven deterioration of archaeological heritage in Greenland, summing up some of the main findings from the REMAINS of Greenland Project, which was awarded EAA’s Cultural Heritage Award in 2020.

We have already included some new features in this issue as a direct response to your kind comments and answers from the survey. These include the ‘In Case You Missed It…’ section which we have assembled in collaboration with EAA’s social media team. ‘In Case You Missed it’ is intended to highlight a small selection of the most exciting highlines in the world of European archaeology which occur each quarter.

As a follow-up from the 2021 virtual Annual Meeting in Kiel, Marianne Moen from the Museum of Cultural History at the University of Oslo offers a session overview of ‘Sacrifice and Value: Seeking an anthropological archaeology of sacrifice.’ Between time of printing and the 28th Annual Meeting, we would like to encourage similar contributions by session organizers and participants for inclusion in future TEA issues. As is so often the case with any large conference or meeting, it is impossible to attend every session, and we hope these overviews might provide an overview of sessions that readers may have missed.

Also following up from the 2021 Annual Meeting, the Archaeology and Gender in Europe Community (AGE) offers short review of their year which also includes a brief overview of the community, and highlights the community’s events and outputs. We thank the AGE Board for including this overview in TEA and we look forward to other communities following their example. (Did you know that EAA has no less than 22 active Communities, comprising a broad spectrum of interests?  Check them out here.)

Speaking of community, sadly, we conclude with obituaries for three members of our European archaeology community: George Eogan, Marie Zápotocká, and Caroline Wickham-Jones. May they – and all those that we have lost in 2021 – be remembered fondly and with gratitude. We express our sincere condolences to colleagues, friends and family for their loss.

In mourning departed colleagues as well as facing the as-yet-unknown challenges of 2022, we come together in an atmosphere of support, professionalism and care. As individuals and colleagues, as an organization and as a community within a broadly-focused discipline, we are all in this together. So, cross your fingers, mask-up and sharpen your trowels. 2022 lies ahead, and we face it together.

 

Matthew J. Walsh and Samantha S. Reiter