CROSSDEM18: Cross-Disciplinary Approaches to Prehistoric Demography Institut Català de Palaeocologia Humana i Evolución Social (IPHES) Tarragona, Spain, March 1-2, 2018 |
Conference website | https://crossdem18.wordpress.com |
Submission link | https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=crossdem18 |
Submission deadline | February 4, 2018 |
Abstract Acceptance Confirmation | February 9, 2018 |
Deadline for Registration | February 16, 2018 |
UPDATE: ABSTRACT SUBMISSION DEADLINE EXTENDED TO FEBRUARY 4TH
Prehistorians have had a long interest in the study of demography and associated processes: from the Antiquarian roots of cultural diffusion, through V. Gordon Childe’s concept of revolutions, to the more recent data-driven analyses of population growths, decays, bottlenecks and migration episodes. Scholars are not only interested in identifying such events in the archaeological record but in trying to locate their root cause, whether climatic, environmental, technological or cultural/social. However, no element of the archaeological record is directly associated with demographic factors such as population sizes, growth or fertility rates – these, therefore, must be inferred from the available data.
This is often done through statistical analyses of different proxies, often number of archaeological sites, artefact densities, radiocarbon dates, palaeoanthropological data such as cemetery age profiles, or DNA. Many such studies have successfully reconstructed important demographic factors, such as growth, fertility, mortality and dispersal rates for prehistoric societies. Other studies have identified significant population growths, crashes and bottlenecks. However, few studies have looked at different proxies for the same period and region, leaving open broader methodological issues such as whether some proxies are more sensitive than others to particular demographic processes or factors and what the impact of the scale of analysis on results is.
To shed further light on these methodological issues, and further our understanding of the very demographic processes that underscore our study areas, it is necessary to create the space for scholars applying different methods to the analysis of different proxies to come together, discuss and collaborate. This workshop therefore aims to create such a space and bring together scholars who have been considering prehistoric demography using differing, but complementary, datasets and approaches, with a view towards discussing issues raised by multi-proxy analysis, cross-disciplinarity, as well as any differences between hunter-gatherer and farmer societies’ population histories.
Examples of questions to be discussed include the identification of significant demographic events (such as booms, busts, bottlenecks and migrations) from a variety of proxies, different demographic growth models (e.g. exponential, logistic or irruptive growth), issues arising from multiproxy comparison, as well as equifinality in interpretation. We invite contributions that address these issues from either purely theoretical/methodological perspectives or through case studies. We aim to publish select contributions as a special issue of an international peer reviewed journal and, therefore, we will only accept contributions that are original, unpublished and that commit to submitting a paper for publication.
Confirmed Keynotes
- Andrew Bevan (University College London)
- Robert L. Kelly (University of Wyoming)
- Marko Porcic (University of Belgrade)
- Stephen Shennan (University College London)
- Lawrence G. Straus (University of New Mexico)
- Marc Vander Linden (University of Cambridge)
- and others...
Submission Guidelines
We aim to publish select contributions as a special issue of an international peer reviewed journal and, therefore, we will only accept contributions that are original, unpublished and that commit to submitting a paper for publication by the proposed deadline.
Abstracts should be 500 words max, plus references, and explicitly mention the materials and methods used. Deadline for abstract submission is January 26th 2018. Click the link given at the top of this page.
Committees
Scientific Committee
- Andrew Bevan (University College London)
- Jean-Pierre Bocquet-Appel (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique)
- Robert L. Kelly (University of Wyoming)
- Marko Porcic (University of Belgrade)
- Stephen Shennan (University College London)
- Marc Vander Linden (University of Cambridge)
Organizing committee
- Fabio Silva (IPHES)
- Sergi Lozano (IPHES)
- Javier Fernández López de Pablo (IPHES)
Contact
All questions about submissions should be emailed to Fabio Silva (f.silva@iphes.cat)