Third Southeast Asian Archaeology Workshop @ Oxford

From the SEAANTHARCHHST list:

Please be advised that the third Southeast Asian Archaeology Workshop will be held on Thursday 10th June 2010 at the Institute of Archaeology in Oxford (http://www.arch.ox.ac.uk/institute.html). As per previous workshops held at University College London in 2006 and 2008, the event is intended to promote ongoing research and foster grass roots interest in the archaeology of both Mainland and Island Southeast Asia – including the countries: Brunei, Burma, Cambodia, China (some southern provinces), East Timor, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam. Although the workshops have primarily been aimed at scholars from UK institutions, attendees from further afield have been and will be very welcome indeed.

Student projects have always featured strongly but for this third event we wish to reach out specifically to junior scholars at any level, who may find attending either the Indo-Pacific Prehistory Association (http://arts.anu.edu.au/arcworld/ippa/ippa.htm) or the European Association of Southeast Asian Archaeologists (http://euraseaa.userpage.fu-berlin.de/index.htm) meetings financially out of their reach or a little daunting. Therefore, we will welcome titles and provisional abstracts for 15 minute papers on all topics, periods, and approaches to regional archaeology. If you are also going to one of the formal conferences you may use the workshop to test your findings in a relaxed setting against a discerning but supportive audience. If there is interest we could certainly run a poster session too. The title submission deadline is 31st December 2009 and abstracts by 31st March 2010. The lecture theatre is limited by health and safety regulations to 40 persons, so an indication of attendance would be useful even if you don’t wish to present – we have typically had 25-30 persons in past years.

The workshop will have an 11:00 start to allow people to catch the first off-peak train from London Paddington (currently the 09:21). Tickets can be bought online (www.firstgreatwestern.co.uk) and, booked as advance singles, are both cheaper and faster than taking the bus. There will be no charge for attending the workshop. We will endeavour to provide refreshments as normal during the day and we have traditionally gone out for dinner afterwards (at personal expense). If people need accommodation you can try the local tourism site (www.visitoxford.org/) or if you fancy the Oxford college experience (www.oxfordrooms.co.uk). I have applied for limited funding for the Workshop and, if successful, we may be able to provide some support for peoples’ travel costs, but please note that preferential assistance will be given to students of any nationality at UK academic institutions.

There will be more information to follow but in the mean time please note the date in your diary and disseminate this email to those who haven’t signed up for SEAANTHARCHHST yet (https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/seaantharchhist). The London-based workshops have been both rewarding and enjoyable and we are confident the trend will continue at Oxford!

Yours faithfully,
Oli Pryce