Participants in a summer 2012 workshop at SFI contributed to a recently published paper that defines the 25 defining challenges now before archaeology.
The paper, published January 21 in PNAS and American Antiquity, is the outcome of an NSF-funded effort led by Arizona State University archaeology professor Keith Kintigh to develop recommendations that would enable transformative advances in the field of archaeology.
Kintigh's team solicited suggested challenges from professional archaeologists around the world in the academic, consulting and government sectors, then assembled a group of scholars to augment, vet, and prioritize the suggestions.
The expert group developed the final challenges at a two-day meeting at SFI, the "Grand Challenges in Archaeology Workshop," July 31-August 1, 2012, hosted by Kintigh and SFI President Jerry Sabloff.
Kintigh notes that the challenges are not exclusively archaeological, but are of interest to a broad range of scientists. Likewise, tackling them will often demand transdisciplinary efforts.
SFI co-authors include Tim Kohler, Peter Peregrine, Henry Wright, and Sabloff.
Read the paper in American Antiquity (January 21, 2014)
Read the ASU news release (January 21, 2014)