The Local Organizing Committee is excited that over 50 sessions and workshops will occur at PanAF Moz 2026.

If you have any questions about specific sessions, please email panaf2026moz@gmail.com and we will be happy to direct your inquries to the relevant session chairs.

Please see our final session list below!

Draft Schedule is coming shortly!

Session #1

New trends in African Archaeology over the last 10,000 years

Organizers: Malebogo Mvimi, Alemseged Beldados

The Holocene epoch in African archaeology has been a significant area of research for archaeologists over the past few decades. This research has focused on key topics such as the transition from foraging to farming, the beginnings of early agriculture, human-environment interactions, animal and plant domestication, the emergence of complex societies, trade, and state formations. The goal of the researchers has been to reconstruct the cultural history of people during the early, mid, and late Holocene periods. With this background, this session aims to assess the current state of archaeological research during the Holocene epoch across different regions of the African continent. It will serve as a platform to share advancements in the study of African archaeology, with a particular emphasis on the early, mid, and late Holocene periods. We invite submissions for papers that explore various proactive approaches related to the outlined topics. We strongly encourage studies that incorporate, but are not limited to, ethnoarchaeology, ethnography, zooarchaeology, archaeobotany, isotopic analysis, linguistic archaeology, data science and other relevant methodologies. The session organizers especially welcome research and progress reports from graduate students.

Session #2

Beyond the Colonial Shipwreck: Envisioning a Transformative African Maritime Archeology

Organizers: Cezar Mahumane, Luis Felipe Santos, Madicke Geye

Until recently maritime archaeological research received little attention from African scholars, due in part to a lack of resources and specific training programs, but also because those few interventions that did occur in the African region typically sought shipwrecks that spoke to colonialist-centered histories and often embodied the extractive and exploitative objectives of salvage.
This panel will bring together African, diasporan, and international scholars, who are contributing to an exponential increase in maritime archeological research across Africa – to plot new directions for a more inclusive maritime heritage research and practice
It will consider how a less wreck centric paradigm – that draws upon archeological, heritage, archival, and oral history sources – might recover long neglected histories of African seafaring, but also capture the waterway practices that have always played a fundamental role in shaping African economic, political, social, and cultural life not only along its coasts but throughout its interior. They will also discuss the challenges to overcome in order to achieve a decolonized African maritime archeology that not only recovers neglected pasts but also harnesses heritage work to the task of multi-dimensional transformative empowerment in the present by contributing to local community well-being and finding solutions for securing genuine sustainability for African professional maritime heritage practice.

Session #3

The emergence of Swahili communities in East Africa: interactions between coast, hinterland and the Indian Ocean world

Organizers: Celso Simbine, Diogo Oliveira

Archaeological research on the east coast of Africa and the Indian Ocean has focused on combining data from archaeological survey and excavation with documentary and ethnographic sources to reconstruct the long-term cultural and ecological history of Swahili communities.

This panel aims to reflect on the cultural and historical investigations of the Swahili maritime landscape and to discuss the emergence of diversified lifestyles among Swahili communities on the mainland and the islands of coastal East Africa, with special attention to their cultural practices in private and public spaces.

The panel will address several aspects of Swahili life, including (1) connections between peoples of the hinterland to communities along the coast and the wider Indian Ocean world, (2) the dominant material culture typologies and functions (potteries, dhows, houses, mosques, etc.), (3) chronologies, and (4) geographic distribution, to further our understanding the Swhaili coast and its culture of consumption and social significance. This panel will reflect on the material culture of commerce and commercial interactions among Africa, Asia, Europe, and America from AD 800 to AD 1900.

Session #4

Discovering African Archaeology and Heritage with Borders: Novel Approaches, Perspectives, and Interpretations on African Linear Earthworks

Organizer: Tomos Llywelyn Evans

African linear earthworks are among the largest historical structures on the African continent and, indeed, the entire world. Yet they remain relatively understudied by archaeologists. Pioneering survey work at monumental linear earthwork enclosure sites, such as the Benin iya and Sungbo’s Eredo (Nigeria), suggested them to be complex architectural constructs,
combining sophisticated technological skill with elaborate structures of labour mobilisation, anf focused primarily on their utilitarian functions as structures of physical protection and prestige. Renewed research on earthworks has built on these early studies through the undertaking of rigorous excavations, and via the employment of novel theoretical and methodological approaches. These recent studies contemplate earthworks as polysemic, multiplex monuments, with a multiplicity of functions and meanings. They foreground the connections between African
concepts of socio-political power and cosmological notions in which physical demarcation is intimately associated with spirituality and the need to regulate dangerous esoteric forces. They have also explored practices of memory-making in recalling the specific deities, ancestors, and events inhabiting these linear earthwork landscapes, such as their associated gateways, ditches, roadways, shrines, and sacred groves. Furthermore, technological advancements have led to new innovations in archaeological methods used to study these earthworks, including improvements in radiometric dating, geoarchaeology, GPR, and remote sensing techniques such as LiDAR and photogrammetry. This panel will explore this novel research on linear earthworks, considering their important uses as fortifications, enclosures, monuments, and
mnemonic landscapes, while also exploring their implications for understanding past technologies and socio-political and labour relations pertaining to their construction and maintenance.

Session #5

African landscapes and geospatial technologies

Organizers: Lamine Badji, Stefania Merlo

The study of archaeological landscapes in Africa is constrained by vast territorial scales, difficult environmental conditions, limited infrastructure, scarce research resources, and ongoing political and security instabilities. These factors hinder long-term investigations of landscape dynamics and contribute to the scarcity of systematic data essential for the sustainable management of Africa’s cultural heritage. In response, geospatial technologies are increasingly being embedded in fieldwork, modelling, and data analysis across the continent. Their growing use offers promising avenues for documenting, interpreting, and safeguarding endangered or poorly understood sites and landscapes, helping to develop new spatio-temporal analytical frameworks building on the body of knowledge so far generated using traditional methods. This session invites a collective reflection on how geospatial approaches can advance the study of African archaeological landscapes. It seeks to examine the opportunities, constraints, and methodological innovations associated with these tools, and to highlight research that integrates spatial, environmental, and cultural datasets in context-appropriate ways. By doing so, the panel aims to stimulate dialogue on strategies for enhancing archaeological knowledge and heritage protection across Africa.

Session #6

The role of digital heritage databases in shaping policy, improving site management, and enhancing decision-making for heritage preservation

Organizers: Dana Salamin, Omar Paulo Madime, Thabo Kgosietsile

Digital heritage documentation is transforming archaeological research across Africa, yet its impact on policy and development planning remains limited. Despite significant advances in spatial databases, remote sensing, and digital recording systems, cultural heritage is still rarely treated as a priority within national development agendas, where economic growth, infrastructural development, and extractive industries often dominate decision-making. This session critically examines this disconnect and explores how digital heritage data might gain greater traction within policy processes. Drawing on current debates about cultural heritage governance, sustainable development, and the legacies of exclusionary policy frameworks, the session asks when digital documentation can challenge rather than reinforce the marginalisation of cultural resources. The session’s aim is to consider how digital tools enhance risk assessment, site monitoring and protection, while analysing the political, institutional, and structural barriers that prevent such data from informing development choices. Central questions include: How can digital documentation be translated into persuasive policy evidence? What institutional reforms are needed for heritage to be recognised as a development asset? In what ways can digital data challenge entrenched exclusions within heritage governance? And how can collaborative, community-centred documentation strengthen stewardship and advocacy? By identifying gaps in existing systems and proposing actionable strategies to integrate heritage into planning and policy, the session invites critical reflection on how digital documentation can reposition cultural heritage as a meaningful component of sustainable development in Africa. We invite papers that address these themes—conceptually, methodologically, or through case studies—and that offer fresh insights into bridging the divide between digital documentation, heritage management, and policy formulation. Key words: Digital heritage databases; Heritage policy and governance; Sustainable development; Decision-making; African archaeology.

Session #7

Tracing Uganda’s Archaeology and Heritage: Research across disciplinary, societal, and administrative boundaries

Organizers: Herman Muwonge, Catherine Namono

This session invites papers that explore Uganda’s archaeology and heritage as shared national resources that stretch across cultural, environmental, and administrative lines. Although the country carries many cultural divisions, research has progressively revealed deep threads of connection linking communities to a long and varied past. At the same time, researchers often work within colonial administrative boundaries and uneven access to sites, which shape how questions are formed, how knowledge moves, and how communities are engaged. We welcome contributions that show how material culture, landscapes, archives, and oral traditions can help us rethink common heritage, while also reflecting on the practical and ethical challenges of navigating these inherited boundaries.
We also encourage papers reflecting on restitution, return, and community response. Recent returns of cultural objects to Uganda revealed a range of reactions: some objects sparked strong stories and memories, while others prompted quieter reflections, uncertainties, or new questions about meaning and custodianship. Research that engages these varied responses, addresses archival gaps, or proposes new ways of caring for heritage is especially welcome.

Session #8

Exhibitions and Education in West African Museums: Challenges and Innovations

Organizers: Daniel Kumah, Getrude Eyifa-Dzidzienyo, Mark Amenyo-Xa, Ishaq Isah Ishaq

This session focuses on the evolving role of museums in West Africa, examining how they respond to shifts in audiences, restitution debates, and digital innovation. It centers on how exhibitions, educational programs, and public engagement are being reimagined to reflect local histories and global connections, while addressing sustainability, accessibility, and relevance in rapidly changing contexts.
Presenters are encouraged to share case studies on community museums, national museums, and university museums, demonstrating innovative strategies and challenges in curating exhibitions and fostering engagement. The session specifically aims to discuss how West African museums can advance education, enhance accessibility of heritage, and create inclusive cultural futures.

Session #9

Cultural Roots for Food Futures: Reviving Indigenous Knowledge and Environmental Stewardship Across Africa

Organizers: Unified Culture Promotion Foundation

Africa’s food heritage is one of its strongest cultural assets, shaped by indigenous knowledge, local crops, and environmental wisdom. However, rapid modernization, climate change, and the loss of traditional agricultural systems are putting this heritage at risk. Across the continent, many indigenous seeds, plants, and materials once used to produce cultural foods, tools, and crafts are disappearing due to deforestation, land degradation, and poor environmental management. This loss weakens both food security and cultural identity, as communities become more dependent on imported crops and processed foods that disconnect people from their traditions. The paper examines how the decline of environmental resources directly affects Africa’s ability to sustain its food cultures and reproduce cultural expressions that rely on natural materials. It argues that reviving indigenous farming practices, traditional cuisine, and environmental conservation is essential for restoring cultural pride, promoting biodiversity, and achieving sustainable development. Through a comparative look across African regions, the study highlights how reconnecting culture, ecology, and food heritage can foster cross-border collaboration and strengthen community resilience. It calls for integrating cultural preservation into food and environmental policies as a pathway to building a united and self-sustaining Africa.

Session #10

95 years of the Zimbabwe culture: ruins, reactions, and reimaginations

Organizers: Robert T. Nyamushosho, Abigail J. Moffett

Ninety-five years ago, in her landmark 1931 publication, ‘The Zimbabwe culture: ruins and reactions’, Gertrude Caton-Thompson gave the world new vocabulary – Zimbabwe culture – for framing one of Africa’s most remarkable ancient civilizations renowned in global archaeology for its breathtaking stone-walled monuments (madzimbabwe). More than 200 sites, spread across present-day Zimbabwe, South Africa, Mozambique, and Botswana, testify to its wide reach and enduring significance for understanding Africa’s precolonial past. Its most celebrated expression, Great Zimbabwe, remains the largest precolonial urban complex in sub-Saharan Africa, second in scale only to the Egyptian pyramids, and continues to inspire new scholarship, methodologies, and interpretations. The historiography of the Zimbabwe culture is inseparable from the intellectual history of African archaeology. From antiquarian speculation to processual and post-processual approaches, and now into the current decolonial turn, research on the Zimbabwe culture reflects the broader political and theoretical transformations of the discipline. Yet this legacy is also deeply entangled with colonialism: widespread looting and vandalism scattered thousands of objects across European and North American collections, while colonial narratives reframed it’s past to serve imperial ideologies. The present moment offers an opportunity to critically revisit these legacies while highlighting innovative research being undertaken today. To mark the 95th anniversary of the coining of the term Zimbabwe culture, and in recognition of Caton-Thompson’s enduring contributions to the Pan-African Archaeological Association, we invite submissions for a special collection of papers. This collection seeks to foster critical dialogue, showcase emerging scholarship, and reimagine the Zimbabwe culture not only as a regional archaeological tradition, but also as part of a broader global conversation in archaeology, heritage, and museum studies.

Session #12

Reconstructing Africa’s Past Using Genetic, Archaeological, and Interdisciplinary Perspectives

Organizers: Carina Schlebusch, Ezekia Mtetwa

Africa holds the deepest roots of human history. Its unparalleled cultural, archaeological and genetic diversity, offers key insights into the origins, dispersals, and adaptations of our species. In recent decades, advances in ancient DNA, genomics, bioarchaeology and archaeological science have significantly expanded our ability to reconstruct Africa’s complex demographic histories and cultural trajectories across the continent, with increasing resolution.

However, these approaches often remain constrained within the boundaries of each discipline. This session seeks to bridge genetics, archaeology, linguistics, and palaeoenvironmental research to address long-standing questions regarding migration and admixture, population continuity and replacement, technological and subsistence transitions (including plant and animal domestication), and the impacts of climatic and ecological change through time.

We invite contributions that span key phases in Africa’s human past – from the emergence of early Homo and the development of behavioural complexity to the Holocene large-scale population movements, biological and cultural adaptations, and inter-regional interactions. We also welcome methodological contributions that showcase innovative applications of genomic, isotopic, or computational tools to reconstruct demographic, ecological, or cultural histories. In particular, we encourage case studies that integrate ancient and/or modern DNA with archaeological evidence that shed light on mobility, diet and social organization. In addition, we invite critical cross-disciplinary discussions on professional ethics, heritage, data governance, equitable partnerships, and capacity-building within African contexts. By bringing together scholars from across Africa and beyond, this session aims to foster interdisciplinary collaboration, strengthen continental research networks, and underscore Africa’s central role in shaping our understanding of human evolution and diversity.

Session #13

Archaeology and Heritage Studies in West Africa: Trends, Perspectives and the Way Forward

Organizers: Daniel Kumah, Kodzo Gavua, William Gblerkpor

This session seeks to critically examine the current state and future directions of archaeology and heritage studies in West Africa. Over the past two decades, scholarship in the region has expanded beyond traditional excavation and survey to embrace interdisciplinary approaches that integrate community collaborations in the area of environmental and developmental matters, archival research, museum practice, digital archaeology, site conservation and heritage tourism development. Presentations will highlight emerging trends such as community based archaeology, biocultural heritage, restitution debates, and the use of innovative technologies in documentation and public engagement.
By drawing on case studies from across West Africa including ancient trade centers, shrine economies, colonial heritage sites, and contemporary museum initiatives’ the session will provide diverse perspectives on how archaeology informs cultural resource management and heritage policy. Contributors will also address pressing challenges such as site encroachment, mining, climate change, and the politics of restitution, while proposing strategies for sustainable heritage futures.
Ultimately, this session aims to foster dialogue among scholars, practitioners, and policymakers on the way forward for archaeology and heritage studies in West Africa. It emphasizes collaborative methodologies, regional networks, and the democratization of heritage knowledge as essential pathways for strengthening the discipline and ensuring its relevance to communities and global scholarship alike.

Session #14

Archaeologies of Coexistence: Humans, Animals, and Environmental Change Across Sub-Saharan Africa

Organizers: Marta Osypinska, Piotr Osypinski

Contemporary conflicts and instability in the Sahel countries are pushing archaeological teams working there to look for new research areas. Many of them are finding inspiring fields of study in East and Southern Africa, continuing their programmes in completely new contexts. The “northern” perspective, resulting from research experiences in the Sahara or the Nile Valley, sheds new light on the past of other regions of Africa, previously known mainly locally, opening a discussion on the links between different areas of Africa in a new, broader perspective. The central theme of the proposed session is the enduring relationship between humans and animals – a relationship that has shaped communities, migrations and survival strategies for millennia. We encourage archaeologists, zooarchaeologists, bioarchaeologists, ethnoarchaeologists and historians working on both prehistory and historical periods to share their thoughts. We are interested in the earliest human adaptations and hunting specialisations of the Palaeolithic, the environmental breakthroughs of the Pleistocene and Holocene, pastoral migrations, the migration paths of humans and animals in antiquity, as well as the changes in human-animal and human-environment relationships over the last few hundred years.

The scope of research is broad: from analyses of animal and human remains, biomarkers in micro-residues on tools and vessels, isotopic analyses, to artistic creation/rock art, iconography, sculpture, and small-scale art. Of particular interest are interdisciplinary approaches that combine material archaeology with environmental research, zooarchaeology, palaeoecology and cultural history. The session aims to create a platform for the exchange of knowledge and experiences between archaeologists from different regions of North-East, East and Sub-Saharan Africa, which will allow for a better understanding of the dynamics of human-animal coexistence, migration and the evolution of communities in a changing environment. We invite researchers representing different eras, regions and methodologies to share their research and inspiring perspectives.

Session #15

Creative community engagement practices in African archaeology

Organizers: Ibrahima Thiaw, Lamine Badji

Today, archaeological practice in Africa invites for forms of interactions and engagements with local communities for better appropriation and more digestible consumption of archaeological knowledge. The development of a sovereign African archaeology would necessarily involve ‘epistemic disobedience’ and creativity rooted in praxis and local modes of meaning making in order to break with methods inherited from colonization. Taking local communities as ‘ethical clients’ these approaches draw on endogenous knowledge and modes of actions to rethink how archaeological knowledge is produced, disseminated, and consumed. This session proposes to explore forms of community or public archaeology inspired by endogenous African practices of meaning making, heritage preservation, and/or memorialization. Particular attention will be paid to alternative practices of mediation and circulation of archaeological knowledge, promoting service to communities, co-production of knowledge, and recognition of communities as true partners in research and heritage preservation protocols and processes. The session will pay particular attention to researchers’ creativity in developing new narrative approaches (African oral traditions and languages in archaeological practices, involvement of local groups such as griots, use of music or poetry; innovative forms of museum display, curative care in sensitive contexts such as the management of human remains. By bringing together these different perspectives, this session aims to have a lasting impact on field practices for archaeological renewal and decolonial and inclusive heritage preservation, aligned with the local sociocultural realities in Africa.

Session # 16

Archaeology and Paleoenvironment of North Africa

Organizers: Yasmina Damouche, Kahina Roumane, Ilhem Bentaleb, Iddir Amara, Djillali Hadjouis, Alejandra Calderón Ordóñez

Session #18

Current directions in eastern African Middle and Late Pleistocene Archaeology

Organizers: Amanuel Beyin, Yonatan Sahle

The Middle and Late Pleistocene (c. 750 – 12 ka) archaeological record of eastern Africa plays a key role in understanding crucial episodes and processes in the cultural and biological evolution of our species: Homo sapiens. Among other things, this time span saw the fluorescence and diversification of technological innovations, ecological niche expansion, and the development of symbolic culture by our lineage, all believed to have been facilitated by increased cognitive capacity. Discoveries from eastern Africa provide valuable insights into these developments. This Session invites contributions from ongoing international and interdisciplinary field projects investigating the Middle and Late Pleistocene archaeology of the region to gauge emergent theoretical and methodological perspectives on data collection, analysis, and interpretation. The aim is to highlight i) current trends in research design (e.g., interdisciplinarities, methodological innovations, and data sharing), ii) major questions driving research, and iii) to celebrate progress being made in all facets of research into the Middle and Late Pleistocene Archaeology of eastern Africa. The session welcomes presentations that focus on results from recent field research projects, revisits of sites/museum collections, chronological and paleoecological contexts relevant to the archaeology of the period, and/or case studies showcasing methodological advances in the broader field.

Session #19

79 years after Nairobi – revisioning the Middle and Later Stone Age in sub-Saharan Africa

Organizers: Gregor Bader, Will Archer and Decio Muianga

Seventy-nine years ago, the landmark 1947 Pan-African Congress of Prehistory and Related Studies took place in Nairobi. It was the first major international gathering to highlight African prehistory in a global scientific context. In this session, we revisit and reimagine the study of the Middle and Later Stone Ages in sub-Saharan Africa. While the Nairobi Congress was a pivotal moment in the recognition of African prehistory as integral to understanding human origins, it took place at a time when research methodologies such as excavation technique, chronometric dating and other scientific analysis were only about to emerge. This panel brings together new archaeological, paleoenvironmental, and technological perspectives that redefine the temporal, cultural, and geographical contours of these key periods.
Contributions engaging with emerging evidence from excavations, chronometric dating, lithic analysis, and environmental reconstruction are invited, as are contributions interrogating interpretive frameworks, terminologies, and the politics of knowledge production. While the congress in Nairobi was certainly influenced by colonial epistemologies and restricted access for African scholars, we are now shifting towards decolonising archaeology, offering important new perspectives on human prehistory. By juxtaposing the intellectual ambitions of the 1947 Congress with current methodological and theoretical innovations, the panel aims to foster a renewed vision of the Middle and Later Stone Ages as dynamic, interconnected and locally grounded chapters in the story of human evolution and cultural development.

Session #21

Functional Studies in Archaeological Research: Giving Meaning to dead objects

Organizer: Okopi Ade

The traditional methods for analysing and interpreting Prehistoric artefacts stone tools, bone tools, ceramics, etc. has always been techno-morphological analysis, raw material properties and contextual analysis as well as typological classification. However, since Semenov’s pioneering use wear research that resulted in his “Prehistoric Technology”, this approach has been employed for the analysis and understanding of lithic assemblages and various archaeological artefacts from different parts of the globe. This has significantly improved on the insight gleaned from lithic artefacts bone tools, ceramics, metal objects etc. Use wear analysis is the systematic observation of wear and tear marks on archaeological/experimental tools through the aided and unaided eyes in order to tell the functions of such tools. It is an attempt by the specialist to infer qualitative inferences on artefactual remains on the basis of marked quantitative attributes represented on the artefacts which could have been as a result of natural/cultural factors. The main goal of use wear studies is to infer artefact design and function. This is because traces of use present invaluable clue to the interpretation and understanding of a wide scope of stone tools in the light of their distinct functions and the task they were used to achieve.
This session will focus submissions on material studies that employs technological, morphological, typological and functional analyses in the unravelling of the functional relevance/use of prehistoric artefacts.

Session #22

Contributions of prehistory and archaeology to the sustainability and well-being of African communities

Organizers: Luiz Oosterbeek, Djibril Thiam, Ziva Domingos, Marílio Wane

Prehistoric research conveys a kind of knowledge of the past which is characterized by a rare combination of drivers: the very large time scales; the dealing with often completely different and for most unknown patterns of behavior, beliefs and ecosystems constraints; the building of understandings of the past that are primarily anchored on tangible evidence; the understanding of the unity of Humanity as being structured through its adaptive diversity; the permanent interdisciplinary nature of prehistoric science, from its dawn, two centuries ago. Furthermore, the socialization of prehistoric knowledge starts, also from its onset, with field work, engaging a vast majority of non-scholars (workers, undergraduate students, other volunteers) in the process of building the science data-sets (in surveys, excavations, site finds processing, and beyond). This, in turn, sits at the center of transdisciplinarity, since prehistoric research required, always, the input from other layers of knowledge, even when these were not acknowledged as such.
Sustainability concerns facing global and local challenges on the basis of; an understanding of the intertwined relation between human agency and the ecosystems; a valorization of science within a transdisciplinary framework; an integrated approach to different scales of human intervention; an integrated approach to the unity and diversity of humans, not as opposites but as complementary dimensions of a single species, precluding any racist or related divides.
Prehistoric research in Africa plays a paramount role in the understanding of the origins and evolution of humans, but it also contributes to enhance the relevance and diversity of precolonial cultural expressions, including insights into African traditions in domains like aesthetics, technology, networking, foresight, philosophical understandings and beyond. All these dimensions are fundamental for sustainability.
This session invites contributions that may bring reflections, examples and strategies to evidence the contributions of prehistory and archaeology for sustainability and the wellbeing of African communities.

Session #25

Beyond the frontiers in Palaeoscience: renewing chronological, geoarchaeological, palaeolandscape and palaeoenvironmental approaches to the African Pleistocene

Organizers: Eslem Ben Arous, Emuobosa Orijemie, Tebogo Makhubela, Makarius Itambu

This session explores how recent advances in palaeoscientific methods – geochronology, geoarchaeology, and palaeolandscape approache – are transforming our ability to explore, interpret, and reconstruct Africa’s deep-time record.

Over the past decades, innovations in dating techniques, high-resolution palaeolandscape and palaeoenvironmental reconstructions, and new geoarchaeological tools are breaking down long-standing methodological and geographic boundaries. When integrated across diverse African ecoregions (tropical forests, grasslands, savannas, deserts) and a wide range of archaeological contexts (open-air sites, caves, and rock shelters), these approaches have enabled researchers to build increasingly nuanced narratives of human evolution, environmental change, and landscape dynamics across the continent.

Focusing on the Middle to Late Pleistocene – a critical period for understanding major episodes of technological and behavioral innovation that occurred during the Early Stone Age (ESA) and Middle Stone Age (MSA) – this session invites contributions that showcase how emerging analytical methods, field techniques, and conceptual models are advancing palaeoscientific research in Africa. We particularly welcome papers presenting cross-disciplinary case studies that integrate human evolution and palaeoscientific data, including advances in geochronology, geoarchaeology, palaeoenvironmental tools, and landscape reconstruction, as well as research from archaeological sequences in underrepresented regions (e.g., western and central Africa).

Session #26

Beyond heterarchy: new approaches to socio-political complexity in Africa

Organizers: Rennan Lemos, Abigail Moffett, Matthew Davies, Robert Nyamushosho

In the 25+ years since the seminal publication of “Beyond Chiefdoms”, historical and archaeological studies of African socio-political complexity have made broad advances. Embracing various understandings of heterarchy and rejecting simple Neo-evolutionary typologies, Africanist archaeologists working across the continent, have developed a series of exciting regional approaches to social organisation, power and agency. Socio-political structures in particular have been re-conceptualised as fluid with competing loci of power and the possibility for rapid transitions between less and more centralised forms. This session will therefore critically interrogate these myriads of socio-political systems, consider their fundamental material conditions, and re-theorise the processes underlying these uniquely complex societies. We challenge contributors to move beyond the superficial use of concepts such as hierarchy and heterarchy. Contributions to this session will range from the mid-Holocene onwards, and we encourage perspectives from the Nile Valley, Horn, Eastern, Central, Southern and West Africa and North Africa, the Sahel and Sahara. We suggest that we may now be at an opportune moment to review and synthesise these innovations and map out future agendas for the study of African “complex” societies in a more inclusive way.

Session #28

Maritime Archaeology of the Slave Trade: Past, present and future perspectives

Organizers: Cezar Mahumane, Steve Lubkeman, Celso Simbine, Gabrielle Miller

This session will provide a critical synopsis of recent–and potential–contributions of maritime archaeology to the history of the African slave trade, discussing questions, methods, and theoretical approaches through which maritime archeology might contribute to African and global historiographies from the 15th century onward. Drawing upon ongoing archaeological research carried out across multiple sites, we propose strategies for developing a maritime archeology devoted to recovering a fuller history of the slave trade–both as it was experienced by enslaved Africans and as a process that fundamentally shaped the modern world. We also consider how the maritime archeology of the slave trade can critically engage with the enduring legacies of this past in the present by fostering multiple forms of diversity, by centering stakeholder engagement and public education, by pursuing new models for heritage conservation and protection, and that challenges maritime archeology itself to re-consider its long neglect of this past and to rethink its role and its responsibilities in the present.

Session #30

Linking past-present-future through Biocultural Heritage

Organizers: Anneli Ekblom, Pascoal Gota

Within the field of Biocultural Heritage, methodologies and concepts are developed to learn from past- and present-day examples of low-intensity management of soil, fire, forests, farms, and water. The heritage extension stresses the importance of place-based practices, memory, and knowledge, and allows us to fuse our interests and experiences from both cultural heritage management and biodiversity conservation. In addition, community projects have led to the formation of a fascinating knowledge-practice philosophy in collaboration with academia. Landscape archaeology, soil archaeology, place-based and landscape-scale archaeobotanical and palaeoecological approaches, and remote sensing and spatial analyses are essential methods in this endeavour. We invite researchers to participate in a discussion on methods, concepts and practices of biocultural heritage on the continent.

Session #32

Digital Data Collection in African Archaeology: Tools, Practices, and Future Directions

Organizers: Pamela Ochungo, Lamine Badji

Archaeological practice across Africa is undergoing a digital transformation, with growing reliance on mobile and web-based platforms for field data collection, management, and dissemination. Traditional paper-based methods, while still common, often limit accuracy, accessibility, and long-term preservation of information. Digital platforms provide new opportunities to capture data in real time, integrate geospatial information, standardize survey approaches, and share results more effectively across institutions and borders.
This session invites papers that explore the methods, applications, and challenges of digital data collection in archaeology and heritage management. Contributions may address the use of mobile applications, open-source platforms such as KoboToolbox and ODK, integration with GIS and remote sensing, participatory mapping with communities, or comparative studies of digital versus traditional practices. We particularly welcome case studies from diverse African contexts that highlight how digital tools are shaping archaeological research, heritage preservation, and collaborative knowledge production.
The session aims to foster discussion on best practices, capacity building, ethics, and the future of standardized digital data collection in African archaeology.

Session #33

The Dynamic Cultural and Climatic Environments of the Later Stone Age to Early Farming Communities Transition in Holocene Africa

Organizers: Décio Muianga, Elena Skosey-LaLonde, Ana Isabel Gomes & Martha Kayuni

This session will explore the dynamic transition from the Later Stone Age (LSA) to Early/Later Farming Communities during the African Holocene. The focus will be on the interconnected roles of people, tools, animals, plants and paleoenvironments. The session goes beyond linear models of replacement by examining how hunter-gatherers and early agropastoralists interacted, coexisted and adapted within a shared changing ecological and social landscape. Drawing on archaeological evidence from multiple regions of sub-Saharan Africa, the session integrates lithic and ceramic analyses, zooarchaeological, archaeobotanical data, and paleoenvironmental reconstructions to investigate patterns of subsistence, mobility, and technological change. Material records are examined in relation to late Holocene climatic fluctuations, including shifts in rainfall patterns and vegetation zones, which influenced resource availability and human decision-making.

This session employs an interdisciplinary framework that combines archaeology, paleoecology, and theoretical approaches, such as resilience and network theory, to enhance our understanding of processes of interaction and transformation. By focusing on the interactions between human and non-human actors, this session contributes to broader discussions of the development of food production, the diversity of cultural paths, and the adaptive approaches of past African societies. Furthermore, the Western Indian Ocean world and the Great Rift corridors emerge as critical zones where environmental constraints facilitate unique “interfaces” between diverse economic systems. This session concludes that the LSA-EFC transition was characterized by a high degree of resilience and continuity. By synthesizing environmental data with the materiality of daily life, we provide a holistic perspective on how African communities navigated the profound ecological and social thresholds of the Holocene, laying the foundations for the complex social structures of the later Farming Communities.

Session #38

Rethinking African Archaeology and Heritage Management: Practices and Research

Organizer: Abdulmalik Abdulrahman

There are compelling demands to decolonise archaeological and heritage management practices in Africa. Over the past decades, the continent has witnessed significant and rapid development in archaeological and heritage-related disciplines, increasing contacts and relations between researchers and community members. Curiosity about the outcome and benefit of archaeological and heritage research increases among many community members.
The continuous investigations in Africa support the withdrawal from the colonial-era methodologies to the empowerment of indigenous communities and their narratives.
Many of the recent findings of archaeological and heritage research in Africa are contributing to the crucial debates and discussions on global and local issues, including socio-cultural identity, climate change, urban development, evolution, adaptation, politics and conflict resolution. Yet, archaeological and heritage practices in Africa require further input on how archaeological and heritage practices are administered, how they were negotiated with local communities, and made relevant to the African context, how they complement traditional academic approaches, and how the knowledge is produced, generally.
This session attracts papers in two dimensions. Firstly, it seeks papers on recent findings on the archaeology and heritage of Africa. Secondly, it calls for intriguing papers on the re-evaluation of archaeology and heritage practices in Africa. As such, scholars in archaeology, heritage, museum studies, anthropology, ethnography, and art history are welcome to submit their outputs to this session.

Session #39

Archaeological Heritage & Development in Africa: Case Studies

Organizer: Solange Macamo, Miguel Raimundo, Filipe Alage, Chantal Radimilahy

This session brings together archaeologists and heritage professionals from across Africa and beyond to examine the contributions and challenges of archaeology and heritage management in advancing sustainable development. It will explore how the concept of development has been interpreted and theorized within African contexts, highlighting methodological and practical challenges encountered by archaeologists, heritage scholars, and related researchers. Emphasis is placed on the diverse typologies of archaeological heritage, terrestrial sites, built structures, cultural landscapes, intangible heritage, and submerged resources, which serve as vital archives for scientific research and require effective protection to support community-centred development initiatives. In line with the Nairobi Outcome on Heritage and Authenticity, which recognizes the role of communities in generating and transmitting knowledge, the session welcomes case studies demonstrating how African communities sustain, reinterpret, and mobilize their heritage for social and economic benefit. Development-oriented heritage models will be discussed, including interpretive centres, museums, and community markets. Examples such as the World Heritage Site of Mozambique Island and the Archaeological and Biocultural Park of Chongoene and Xai-Xai, both in Mozambique, illustrate how in situ preservation can directly benefit local populations. The Community Cultural Market operates as an innovative mechanism for empowerment by
integrating archaeological knowledge with traditional crafts, cultural revitalization, and income-generation.
Persistent gaps are addressed in heritage protection, including misconceptions that frame underwater cultural heritage as “treasure” thereby complicating legal safeguards. Aligned with the UN sustainable development agenda, the session incorporates perspectives on environmental sustainability, social inclusion, economic development, peacebuilding, and resilience in contemporary African societies.

Session #40

People, climate, and landscape dynamics in African drylands

Organizers: Sara Scaglia, Sara Krubeck, Wudu Abiye, Mudit Joshi, Thamary Mukuya, Kayla Mac Conachie, Mncedisi Taala, Paidamoyo Chingono, Alexandra Vasilyeva, Tawanda Mushweshwe

African drylands offer unique opportunities for examining population dynamics and the resilience of socio-ecological systems across Holocene climatic shifts. In the current context of climate change and land degradation, understanding the long-term human-environment interactions is critical for shaping sustainable futures. This session explores the relationship between land use and land cover, and subsistence practices in response to changing climatic and environmental conditions, linking past long-term adaptations to future challenges within African drylands. We invite contributions that investigate the emergence, spread, and intensification of agriculture, animal husbandry, and pastoralism in prehistoric and historical contexts. Complementing the focus on food production, studies on hunting, gathering and fishing are equally welcome. Additionally, we expect contributions on human-environment interactions, anthropogenic impacts, and long-term sustainability. Archaeology, heritage studies, and ethnography offer key perspectives on traditional ecological knowledge, local practices, and their relevance to contemporary sustainable policies in food production and ecosystem management. We encourage both empirical and modelling approaches, ranging from field and laboratory studies to statistical analyses and process-based simulations of land use and land cover dynamics. By highlighting interdisciplinary approaches, from archaeology and paleoenvironmental studies to ethnography, history, ecology, and policy research, this session seeks to foster dialogue on resilience, adaptation, and vulnerability in Holocene African drylands. Together, we aim to foster cross-disciplinary discussion on how societies in the past and present navigate risks, adapt to changing livelihoods, and shape their landscapes in response to environmental challenges.

Session #41

Sudan Prehistory from African Perspectives: Discoveries, Challenges, and Future Prospects

Organizers: Azhari Sadig, Ahmed Nassr

Sudan lies at the heart of Africa, distinguished by its abundant natural resources and diverse heritage across time. The Nile and the surrounding deserts provided fertile ground for human settlement and environmental adaptation during the Pleistocene and Holocene epochs. More than a century of archaeological research in Sudan has uncovered a unique prehistoric context, closely connected to East and North Africa in many cultural dimensions. Paleolithic sites along the Nile and in the deserts have yielded stratified materials dating back nearly half a million years. Mesolithic and Neolithic sites document the emergence and development of foraging and agro-pastoral communities, marked by distinctive pottery, evidence of food production, and increasingly complex social structures. Bronze Age and Kerma sites reveal the remains of sedentary pastoral-agricultural groups, laying the foundations for the rise of civilization.
Archaeological surveys, excavations, and laboratory analyses have yielded a wealth of material for addressing key questions in African archaeology. These findings illuminate the dispersal of early hominin groups out of Africa through Sudan, the expansion of pastoral communities, the emergence of food-producing societies, and the rise of early civilizations during the late prehistoric and protohistoric periods.
Sudan’s unique cultural heritage currently faces significant challenges, including the impacts of climate change, limited field facilities, and ongoing conflicts. These factors hinder the continuation of research projects and constrain efforts to explore Sudan’s broader significance within the African context. Nevertheless, archaeological work remains active, with new field discoveries and laboratory findings emerging on a regular basis. Many critical research questions still await further development, particularly those concerning the design of sustainable research strategies and the establishment of local community awareness and engagement.
In this session, we aim to address issues related to Sudan’s prehistory within the broader framework of African prehistoric archaeology. Our contribution seeks to underscore the importance of this heritage, highlight the current challenges it faces, and advance plans for its exploration, interpretation, and preservation.

Session #43

Mobility, Technology, and Food Systems in the Early Iron Age of Southern Africa

Organizers: Mica Jones, Russell Kapumha, Alice Williams, Shadreck Chirikure

The Early Iron Age of southern Africa (c. 1st millennium CE) was a period of profound technological, economic, and social transformation. Across the subcontinent, the movement and spread of ironworking, pottery traditions, and food production systems created new networks of interaction and exchange that reshaped landscapes and lifeways. These processes were neither uniform nor linear. Recent advances in dating and geospatial methods, archaeometallurgy, and bioarchaeology reveal striking regional diversity and innovation. Together, these findings challenge long-standing diffusionist and “package” models of cultural change.

This open session invites papers that explore all dimensions of Early Iron Age life in southern Africa. We welcome contributions addressing:

1) settlement patterns, subsistence, and environmental adaptation;
2) exchange and interaction among farming and foraging groups;
3) the formation of social identities and cultural traditions;
4) new scientific and theoretical approaches to movement, connectivity, and transformation.

We particularly encourage interdisciplinary research integrating archaeological, linguistic, genetic, and historical perspectives, as well as community-based and heritage-focused studies. Comparative papers linking southern Africa to wider sub-Saharan contexts are also welcome.

By bringing together diverse evidence and perspectives, the session aims to advance dialogue on the Early Iron Age as a dynamic mosaic of interconnected communities and innovations. In doing so, It highlights the first millennium CE as a foundational era in Africa’s deep history of technological creativity, mobility, and social change.

Session #44

Bioarchaeological Connections Across the Continent

Organizers: Robert J. Stark, Matthew V. Emery

The field of bioarchaeology plays a crucial role in understanding the lifestyles and lived experiences of past populations, shaping inferences and findings from archaeological contexts and placing the past within a humanised lens. Approaches to inter-regional connections shaped by archaeological insights are well established. A similar tone has, arguably, not as often been seen from a bioarchaeological perspective, with researchers often unintentionally siloed within their areas of focus which can limit engagement and awareness of broader trends and ongoing research in bioarchaeology across diverse regional, temporal, and methodological contexts. This understandable situation is often pronounced for the continent of Africa given the multifold diversity of landscapes, cultural time depth, and differing research traditions and legacies. This session aims to be an inclusive, continent-wide synthesis of current and future directions in bioarchaeological research across time and space in Africa. This session seeks to included papers dealing with ongoing projects, research syntheses, community engagement, biomolecular methods, and all other facets of bioarchaeological inquiry. Through the consideration of diverse bioarchaeological research spanning the continent, it is hoped that a deeper sense of the broader themes and research currently underway in African bioarchaeology can be further illuminated. This session aims to foster a multi-regional and diachronic approach, bolstering inter-disciplinarity and researcher connections, as well as potential routes for future collaboration across diverse and inter-connected African landscapes.

Session #47

A Social Archaeology of African Foods: Perspectives from Across the Continent

Organizers: Eli Kuto, Shelby Ann Mohrs

Food has often been a topic explored by Africanist Archaeologists, however, this session seeks to push the field in new directions by “peopling the past.” We propose to center heritage and identity in archaeological investigations of African foodways/cuisines. For us Africanist scholars, one of the critical issues we are confronted with in our research on cuisines and culinary practices is the obvious diversity and complexity of African foodways. This presents conceptual and methodological challenges to our understanding of changing culinary practices through time. Therefore, theoretical rigor and methodological robustness are necessary to investigate the social archaeology of African foods. In this session, we revisit some of these ideas to tease out new directions for reframing and reconstituting “a social archaeology of food” that examines how everyday food traditions are entwined with social, cultural, political, and economic processes. We will also explore how local and traditional concepts of foodways offer new directions for reimagining the material realities of food heritage. This session also aims to explore the temporal dimension of African food practices, especially how ideas and knowledge of food production, consumption and distribution reconfigure and change through time. By doing so, we will contribute to an understanding of the role archaeology plays in tracing changing food practices in Africa. Finally, this session invites papers that explore a variety of social topics such as food security, food sovereignty and intangible culinary heritage.

Session #48

Functional research in Pleistocene African contexts: advancing analytical approaches to reconstruct past behaviours

Organizers: Patricia Bello-Alonso

Functional analyses in African Pleistocene contexts have developed into a consolidated line of research, offering critical insights into the design, use and performance of prehistoric tools. The marked variability of raw materials, technological strategies and artefact morphologies documented across wide temporal and environmental scales requires increasingly robust analytical approaches. Use-wear studies play a central role in this process, as the identification of microscopic and macroscopic traces provides direct evidence for reconstructing tool function, task organisation and broader behavioural patterns of past hominin groups.
The richness of African archaeological contexts has also encouraged the implementation of methodological innovations. Experimental reference collections, multi-proxy frameworks including residue analysis, petrographic assessments and evaluations of post-depositional processes and improved microscopic workflows have contributed to refining the reliability and resolution of functional interpretations. These developments have expanded the scope of functional research, situating it as a key analytical pathway for understanding the technological and economic strategies documented throughout the Pleistocene.
This session welcomes contributions focused on the functional study of lithic, bone, shell and wooden artefacts from African sites. By integrating multiscale approaches and discussing methodological protocols, analytical tools and emerging interpretive models, the session seeks to outline an updated overview of the discipline. Ultimately, it aims to highlight the capacity of functional research to illuminate the technological decisions, behaviours and social dynamics of early human groups, reinforcing its relevance within current debates on human evolution and cultural development.

Session #49

Historical and linguistic sources for the study of the history of Mozambique (16th-19th centuries)

Organizers: UEM Department of History

The historical period of Mozambique is closely linked to foreign presence, first by Arabs and then by Europeans. The former, around the 9th-10th centuries, marked their presence in the territory that would become modern Mozambique, contributing to its opening up to the outside world and leaving their mark on the economy, religion, linguistics and social organisation. The latter initially landed on the Mozambican coast at the end of the 15th century and, in addition to contributing to the opening up of Mozambique to the wider world, also left their mark on the various communities, clans, chiefdoms, kingdoms and empires. This panel aims to discuss historical and linguistic sources on Mozambique, insofar as, in addition to the marks left by foreigners on local languages, they (Arabs and Europeans) recorded their encounters with the natives in writing, although this recording did not take place under ideal conditions. Shipwrecked sailors, navigators, pirates, traders, missionaries and government officials produced a wealth of written evidence that allows us to reconstruct the history of Mozambique from the earliest moments of foreign presence. The panel also intends to consider written sources produced by Africans (e.g. Ajami script) and also to broaden the discussion to include oral histories, as communities throughout Mozambique preserve their memories and stories about the past, albeit with some gaps.

Session #50

Integrative approaches to the study of human evolution in the southern African Rift Valley

Organizers: Rene Bobe, Ester Lourenço

The Paleo-Primate Project Gorongosa (PPPG) has been conducting fieldwork in Gorongosa National Park since 2016. The project is an international and interdisciplinary initiative that includes professional palaeontologists, archaeologists, speleologists, geologists, primatologists, and geneticists as well as students from Mozambique and other countries, working together to illuminate the evolutionary history of the Gorongosa ecosystem. Our team has been exploring the extensive karstic system of the Cheringoma plateau and has documented more than 100 caves, some of them with archaeological potential. Two of these caves (Conga and Tombo Aphale 5) have been excavated and have provided late Pleistocene to Holocene lithic artefacts and fauna. The team has also discovered 26 new paleontological sites of the Mazamba Formation, with a rich fossil record that includes giant hyraxes, extinct embrithopods, sirenians, ancient crocodilians, and sharks in a rich coastal paleoenvironment. Fossil wood and other paleobotanical remains are also abundant and exquisitely preserved. The chronological placement of these fossils is in progress but preliminary dates span the Miocene epoch. With regard to the modern environments and ecology of the park, we have a special interest in the study of living primates and how they adapt to complex and dynamic landscapes, which are, in some ways, analogous to those in which early hominins evolved. We are also conducting a long-term taphonomic study of modern bone accumulations in the various Gorongosa landscapes. This session aims to present key results and discussions of these interdisciplinary approaches, whilst celebrating the first decade of the Paleo-Primate Project Gorongosa.

Session #52

Stone Age Places: Thinking, Moving, Making Meaning. Rethinking how early humans inhabited and imagined their worlds

Organizers: Laura Basell, Enza Spinapolice, Ella Egberts, Manuel Will

In evolutionary studies, landscape archaeology often focuses on large-scale climatic change or site-specific environmental reconstruction. Methodological advances and improved chronologies have encouraged correlations between environmental and behavioural change. Landscape is frequently a driver or container for cognition, adaptation, and physiology, and though local-scale analyses sometimes reference mobility systems, taskscapes, and niche construction they often lack explicit interpretative frameworks.

Research on more recent periods routinely addresses perception, experience, materiality, place-making, and agency, sometimes extending these ideas to nonhuman or more-than-human entities. Such perspectives remain uncommon in deep-time contexts. Although Stone Age geoarchaeology constantly engages with nonhuman organisms (including most hominins), research is still dominated by lithic technology, dispersals, and cognition. Hominin perception, synanthropy, sense of place and experiential dimensions are rarely tackled, and ecological information is often subordinated to “big questions” including innovation, symbolism, or migration.

This raises several questions: Are hominin qualia viewed as inaccessible due to assumptions about cognitive limits? Do progressivist narratives inadvertently influence ideas about who can possess a “sense of place?” Does a persistent nature/culture dualism obscure the deep entanglement of hominins, materials, organisms, and landscapes? And do methodological constraints or concerns about scientific credibility inhibit theoretical experimentation?

We invite papers bridging ecological space and experiential place, exploring dynamic, relational, and synanthropic understandings of early landscapes. We encourage novel approaches to Stone Age landscapes, and papers critiquing the relevance of such theory to Stone Age sites. Research from any location, grounded in fieldwork, modelling, or theory are welcome, and we plan a special issue publication.

Session #55

Maritimity in Question: Decolonizing Africa’s Oceans

Organizer: Akshay Sarathi

Maritime worlds have long been central to African cultures and societies, yet they are too often framed through Eurocentric categories of seafaring, commerce, empire, or rigid land/sea dichotomies. This session explores African oceans as spaces of connection, belonging, and heritage that transcend colonial, political, and disciplinary borders. This session foregrounds African perspectives, practices, and epistemologies by bringing together scholars working across the continent’s littorals and islandscapes from a variety of perspectives. In doing so, we challenge assumptions that African engagement with the sea can be understood primarily through colonial archives, external trade, or imported conceptual and categorical frameworks. Key questions include: what does it mean to practice an archaeology of the sea in Africa without presupposing Western categories of maritimity? How might African Indigenous knowledge, oral traditions, and the lived experiences of maritime communities reshape our interpretations of past seascapes? And how do the legacies of colonial extraction, salvage, and discovery continue to influence both scholarship and heritage practices? Contributors will highlight the value of diverse datasets (zooarchaeological remains, material culture, oral histories, ethnographies of fishing communities, shipbuilding traditions, underwater sites, etc.) while engaging with theoretical approaches from decolonial and heritage studies. By questioning and reframing “maritimity” this session advances a vision of African archaeology and heritage as dynamic and borderless: illustrating how African societies have discovered, conceptualized, and transformed their oceans as integral to the making of social worlds, political economies, and cultural identities across time.

Session #56

Dialogues with the Past: Interdisciplinary Approaches to African Rock Art in the 21st Century

Organizers: Ancila Nhamo, Decio Muianga, Albino Jopela, Benjamin Smith

African rock art constitutes one of the world’s oldest and most diverse artistic traditions, offering an unparalleled archive of human history, symbolic thought, and environmental interaction. From the ancient hunter-gatherer petroglyphs of the Sahara to the intricate San rock paintings of Southern Africa and the historic pastoralist depictions of Eastern Africa, these sites are foundational to understanding the African past.
The study of African rock art is currently undergoing a profound transformation with new technologies, theoretical frameworks, and collaborative methodologies opening unprecedented avenues for inquiry. This session aims to capture this dynamic moment by bringing together scholars from diverse fields to showcase the most current and innovative research.
The primary aim of this session is to foster a dialogue that is:
1) Interdisciplinary: Integrating archaeology, anthropology, digital humanities, heritage science, chemistry, and Indigenous knowledge.
2) Chronologically Expansive: Exploring art from the deep past to the recent historical period.
3) Methodologically Innovative: Highlighting cutting-edge techniques for analysis, dating, and preservation. 4) Community-Engaged: Emphasizing the role of descendant communities and public outreach.
We seek to create a comprehensive engagement and We look forward to a stimulating session that charts the future course of African rock art research.

Session #57

The Malagasy World: Challenges, Prospects, Solidarity

Organizers: Radimilahy Chantal, Zoe Crossland, Kristina Douglass

Madagascar has long been a crossroads where Indian Ocean worlds converged. Its archaeological and historical archives offer a dynamic lens onto the social, political, and economic processes that shaped mobility, trade, settlement, and landscape transformation over the past two millennia. Decades of scholarship, across multiple language and academic traditions, have generated a rich but dispersed corpus that now invites renewed synthesis.
As the field reaches a moment of self-reflection, it is timely to ask what questions have animated Madagascar archaeology to date and which new directions are emerging as local researchers, descendant communities, and international collaborators work within shifting political, environmental, and technological contexts. Expanding access to digital collections, advances in paleoenvironmental and biomolecular methods, and renewed commitments to community centered research have begun to bridge divides that once constrained scholarship. At the same time, persistent challenges, including structural inequities, the uneven circulation of knowledge, and the vulnerability of both cultural and ecological heritage, call for deeper intellectual and ethical solidarity.
This session takes stock of where the field stands and what lies ahead. By reflecting on past accomplishments and current transformations, we aim to chart the possibilities for a more integrated, inclusive, and forward looking archaeology of Madagascar that remains responsive to the island’s diverse histories and grounded in meaningful partnerships for the future.

Session #58

Social Identities in Archaeology Session

Organizer: David Maina Muthegethi, Mercy Kariuki

We invite submissions for a session exploring the role of social identities in shaping past societies at the 2026 PANAF Archaeological Conference. Social identities, encompassing gender, ethnicity, race, age, and social status, are critical to understanding human social dynamics. These culturally constructed categories, formed through socialization, dictate behaviors, resource access, and societal roles, as seen in material culture like artifacts, burials, or settlement patterns. Following scholars like Voss, who emphasize social identity reconstruction as a cornerstone of archaeological inquiry, this session will examine how identities influenced historical and prehistoric communities and their implications for contemporary research. We seek papers that address how social identities were constructed, negotiated, or resisted in past societies, and how these dynamics are reflected in the archaeological record. Topics may include intersectionality, identity-based hierarchies, or the impact of cultural norms on resource allocation. We encourage diverse methodological approaches, from material culture analysis to theoretical frameworks, that illuminate the interplay between identities and social structures.

Session #59

Mortuary Archaeology in Africa: Current Approaches and Ethical Dimensions

Organizers: Ezekia Mtetwa, Karin Scott

Mortuary archaeology offers a powerful lens through which to explore how the dead have been treated, their perceived agency, and the construction of identities across Africa’s diverse cultural landscapes. This session invites contributions that examine mortuary practices, including the varied ways of handling the dead body, the symbolic material culture and funerary architecture associated with these rituals, and bioarchaeological analyses that illuminate mortuary behaviors. We welcome studies of the material culture of death spanning early to recent contexts, as well as papers that engage with the ethical dimensions of mortuary research, such as the treatment of human remains, community consultation, and heritage stewardship. By bringing together archaeologists, bioanthropologists, heritage professionals, and community collaborators, this session aims to foster critical dialogue on both the scientific and ethical responsibilities of mortuary archaeology in African contexts.

Session #60

Memories of climate change from multidisciplinary archives

Organizers: Pascoal Gota, Matthew Hannaford, Anneli Ekblom

How can we construct an archaeology of the experience of living with climate change? In this interdisciplinary session, we combine our archives from soil, pollen, and seeds with written documents and oral history. We move from landscape-scale settlement patterns to local-scale domestic strategies to counter climate variability through mobility, food diversification and social networks. What can we learn from these archaeologies and histories of living with climate change? How is the memory of climate variability institutionalised through ceremonies, heritage and narratives? How do current-day experiences of climate change complement or challenge our understanding of living with climate change and ongoing efforts of climate mitigation, climate adaptation and resilience on the African continent? We invite reflections, empirical examples, and collaborative projects from across the continent in this broad approach to the archaeology of climate change.

Session #61

Archival clutter and custodianship: rethinking African epistemologies of keeping

Organizers: Kgolagano Vena, Yola Nzimela, Catherine Namono

This panel interrogates the multiple ways in which collections in Africa were/are assembled, stored and narrated. It aims to unpack what is preserved, and what is lost through displacement and cluster. Archives have historically been sites of knowledge production and violence : where institutional archives classified and displaced African heritage, and privileged state-centric narratives.

However, across Africa, archiving takes multiple forms – oral, material and ecological – through these African notions, we understand archives as broader than state institutions and museums and draw on oral traditions, sacred landscapes, living heritage,architectural forms and practices of renewal and impermanence as archival nuggets that challenge western ideals of permanence and order.

We invite papers that unsettle the boundaries between archive collections and clutter and explore alternative ways in which this order and refusal can constitute modes of archival memory, restoration and heritage.

Session #62

The History of Colonialism, Resitance Movements, and the Decolonization Processes in Africa

Organizers: Alda Saute, Hamilton Matsimbe, Filipe Pitrosse

For a long time, myths and prejudices of all kinds hid the true history of Africa from the world. African societies were considered societies that could not have a history. With the slave trade and colonization, racial stereotypes developed, creating contempt and misunderstanding, so deeply consolidated that they corrupted even the very concepts of historiography.

However, since the collapse of colonial empires and the emergence of African independences, for Africans the study of African history is the search for and reaffirmation of an identity through the gathering of the dispersed elements of a collective memory and the search for their heritage to better understand the rapid and numerous political transformations and social conflicts that affect this continent. This (re)valuation is evidenced by the recent discoveries that history and archaeology have accumulated about entire civilizations (Ife, Nok, Rift Valley), as well as the Sudanese empires of West Africa described by Arab geographers: Ghana, Mali, the Kingdom of Timbuktu. For others, the interest in Africa is linked to its wealth in mineral, agricultural, and forestry raw materials.

Today, in Africa and the world in general, debates about colonialism, resistance, decolonization/liberation and independence movements are increasingly necessary and central to understanding the multiple dynamics, localized historicities, and diversely rhythmic temporalities of encounters between Africans and with other peoples so distant in time. It is in these complex articulations, between plurality and unity, that this round table intends to reflect on the following:
1) Legacies of the past regarding power, spaces, and territorialities in the construction of identities
2) Reparations and historical justice
3) Epistemic decolonization
4) Colonial borders and national identities, colonialism and the environment
5)The contribution of History to Archaeology and vice versa

Session #63

Observations et conjectures sur les systèmes de défenses endogènes en Afrique de l’Ouest

Organizers: Agani Simon, Saley Moumouni Hama, Mahamadou Ibro Souleymane, Ndiaye Oumy

Les moyens de tenir l’ennemi en dehors du lieu que l’on veut protéger sont trouvés très tôt dans l’histoire régionale ouest-africaine. En effet, la sécurité collective a constamment été un défi. Aujourd’hui, l’histoire de ces systèmes de défenses nous parvient par bribes, à travers les traditions orales, les récits historiques et surtout, par le bais des fouilles archéologiques. Par l’exploitation de cette documentation, des études nous révèlent progressivement les moyens humains et matériels qu’utilisaient les communautés pour se défendre. Grâce aux programmes de recherche, et surtout aux travaux des étudiants, l’état de connaissance sur les systèmes défensifs du passé est de mieux en mieux connu. Ces systèmes de défense endogènes allaient de simples palissades à l’édification des murs en brique, terre cuite précédés de fossé et en pierres sèches. En redécouvrant aujourd’hui les vestiges de ces systèmes de défense, de nombreuses questions se posent tant sur les techniques de mise en place que sur leurs usages, leurs fonctions et leur efficience. Pour ce panel, que nous souhaitons ouvert à toutes et à tous, les communications peuvent s’intéresser à toutes les périodes chronologiques. Elles devront mettre un accent sur la genèse des sites, l’étude des techniques d’édification, symbolisme qui entoure les formes de constructions des structures et leur fonctionnement. Enfin, les communications portant sur la destruction, la conservation et la valorisation actuelle des sites et enceintes fortifiés sont également bienvenues.

Session #64

Ancient textile production (weaving and indigo dyeing) and challenges of preserving ancestral knowledge in West Africa

Organizers: Barpougouni Mardjoua, Aisha Babaji Muhammad, Gninin Aïcha Desline
Touré, Nestor Labiyi

Although its exact origins remain poorly documented, textile production has been a central feature of West African societies since at least the sixteenth century and continues to hold deep economic, cultural, and symbolic importance. Finished and semi-finished textile goods such as threads, woven strips, and cloth formed a major component of caravan trade networks and played a significant role in regional commerce. Integral to this production chain was
indigo dyeing, a practice that shaped not only the quality and value of textiles but also their symbolic meanings. In many communities, indigo-dyed cloths were closely associated with
ritual practices and ceremonies linked to spiritual beliefs. These locally developed technologies, however, have largely declined over recent decades, displaced by the
widespread availability of inexpensive imported textiles. Today, the material traces of these once-vibrant industries are limited, often reduced to filled-in dye pits or extensive ash deposits. Their locations frequently align with former caravan routes, highlighting the close relationship between textile production and long-distance trade. In a contemporary context marked by renewed interest in identity and cultural expression, where dress remains one of the most visible markers, the few remaining practitioners who possess comprehensive knowledge of spinning, weaving, and dyeing are experiencing renewed demand. This session invites contributions that explore the distinctive characteristics of ancient textile production across West Africa. By bringing together diverse perspectives, it aims to document endangered ancestral knowledge and provide a holistic understanding of textile practices that have shaped and continue to shape the cultural landscape of the region.

Session #68

Museology and museological practices in Africa

Organizers: Alda Costa, Ana Martins, Helena Benjamim

Independent Mozambique (1975) assumed responsibilities for the conservation, enhancement and dissemination of its cultural and natural heritage. It created a structure, specific bodies, produced legislation and regulations, integrated associations, established partnerships and regional, continental and international professional networks. In the inherent policies and practices, it prioritised the recovery of African history and culture, which until then had been subordinated or denied, and gave a voice to new social actors. Many actions have taken place notwithstanding the insufficient number of professionals, the gradual reduction of the priority given to culture and heritage in national policies, the difficulties in supervision, the growing lack of resources. As other countries, Mozambique is living in a new context, with worrying repercussions for cultural and natural heritage. The Congress is an opportunity to analyse, exchange experiences, re-evaluate policies and practices followed or to be followed in each country.

The topics to be addressed may include, but are not limited to, the following: • Mozambique: archaeological research, collections, museums and the project for a national archaeological museum. • Transdisciplinary approach to cultural and archaeological heritage. • African museums since “What Museums for Africa?” (Benin, Ghana, Togo, ICOM, 1991). • Renovated museums, new museums, museums of the future. • The diversity of African museums. • ‘Contested collections’. • Training schools, centres, courses, projects and professional networks. • Museums in Southern Africa: from the SADCAM/SADCAMM experience to the present day. • Museums in Portuguese-speaking countries and communities (1987 to 2011). • Universities as guardians and managers of cultural and natural heritage.

Session #69 (Workshop)

Constructing heritage databases: a case study of the Arches platform

Organizers: Faye Lander, Orhun Uğur, Renier Van der Merwe, Stefania Merlo

This workshop, which will include a mix of theoretical and hands-on practical sessions, will equip its participants with the fundamentals of constructing a heritage database from conceptualisation to implementation. The workshop includes three sub-modules as follows: (1) a deep dive into how data can be structured through an interactive play on CIDOC-CRM ontology – the global standard used as a theoretical and practical tool for information integration in the field of cultural heritage (https://cidoc-crm.org/); (2) familiarisation with the creation and use of controlled vocabularies for heritage management interoperability in a global and regional perspective (ie Getty vocabularies, Fish vocabularies, PeriodO), and (3) an overview of heritage database creation, using the example of the Arches platform. Arches is an open-source data management platform that is freely available for organisations worldwide to install, configure and extend in accordance with individual needs and without restrictions on its use; it has been adapted to support the documentation of archaeological landscapes, heritage data and ancillary reference information. The project, Mapping Africa’s Endangered Archaeological Sites and Monuments (MAEASaM) will also demonstrate their implementation of Arches for managing data on archaeological heritage across eleven African countries as an example of the advantages and limitations of Arches in handling diverse datasets.

Session # 71

World Heritage Sites in Africa: Past, Present and Future Management Issues

Organizer: Elgidius B. Ichumbaki

World Heritage Sites (WHS) are cultural, natural or nature-culture mixed places that UNESCO has recognised as having Outstanding Universal Value (OUV). As of December 2025, Africa has 98 sites inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List as of OUV under the 1972 Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage. This number, however, is small compared to, for example, Western Europe and North America, which have over 400 and 180 sites, respectively. Further, the management of these few locales is in a dilemma due to, for instance, a lack of technical capacity, funding, political crises, and natural threats such as climate change. This session welcomes papers from academics, WHS managers, practitioners and policymakers to discuss management issues surrounding these WHS. A question for inquiry will be what kinds of natural and anthropogenic threats are facing African WHS, and how can such challenges be sustainably mitigated?