Apologies for cross-posting
 
Further to the recent call for papers for the forthcoming New Ground archaeology conference in Sydney, Australia this coming September (organised jointly by all the major Australian archaeology societies), we would like to invite contributions to the New Ground in Historical Archaeology Material Culture Studies session. We would welcome contact from anyone who would like to submit a paper to this session. The session abstract is listed below to provide an overview of the session's intended focus:
 
"The interpretation of material culture is central to historical archaeology interpretation. After a long period where artefact analysis was perhaps undervalued in Australasian historical archaeology, the last ten years have seen a flowering of this type of research, and this is an exciting time for material culture studies. This session provides a forum for showcasing the new ground being broken in this field by sharing a broad range of historical archaeology material culture studies, whether these are directly associated with items excavated from a traditional site, or involve more abstract considerations of method and theory. Key themes include how the interpretation of artefacts have substantially added to the interpretation and/or understanding of a site or class of material culture, and how to advance discussion of artefact analysis methodology both regionally and internationally."
 
Contributions from HISTARCH subscribers based outside Australia and NZ who are planning to make the long trip to Sydney would be very welcome.
If you would like to contribute, please contact either:
Alasdair Brooks - [log in to unmask] 
[n.b. - that's my work address, not the home address I use for histarch]
 
or 
 
Susan Lampard - [log in to unmask] 
The conference web page is: http://newground.arts.usyd.edu.au/ 
Thank you,
Susan & Alasdair