UCL Archaeology research expertise on show at SAA 2025

The mission of the SAA is to expand understanding and appreciation of humanity’s past as achieved through systematic investigation of the archaeological record. The society leads the archaeological community by promoting research, stewardship of archaeological resources, public and professional education, and the dissemination of knowledge. 

The SAA annual meeting has a wide audience that ranges from anyone who has interest in archaeology to experts in the field. Attendees come from all over the United States and from over 45 other countries!

Institute staff and student research being presented:

Xiuzhen Li, Michael Charlton, and Andrew Bevan are Chairs of the Symposium on New Materials and New Insights for Our Understanding of the First Emperor’s Mausoleum and Early Imperial China. Within the symposium presentations by Institute staff and research students include: 

• Andrew Bevan, Xiuzhen Li, and Michael Charlton - A Collaborative Research Initiative on Iron Use in the First Emperor’s Mausoleum and Qin Dynasty
• Michael Charlton, Wenxiao Jiang, Andrew Bevan, Weisha Du, and Xiuzhen Li - Iron Scale Armor from the Mausoleum of China’s First Emperor and Its Wider Context
• Ying Yang, Dorian Fuller, Andrew Bevan, and Xiuzhen Li - Building the Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor: Preliminary Patterns from Building Elements in Four Ancillary Pits
• Xiuzhen Li, Marcos Martinón-Torres, Yin Xia, Andrew Bevan, and Thilo Rehren - Aesthetics and Technology: Gold and Silver Ornaments in the Qin First Emperor’s Bronze Chariots
• Patrick Quinn - Ceramic Manufacturing Technology and Organization of Production at Emperor Qin Shihuang’s Mausoleum Complex, China  

Other contributions include:

• Miljana Radivojevic and Thilo Rehren - Reviewing Arsenical Copper Production in Western Eurasia: New Evidence from the Balkans in the Symposium on Archaeometallurgy, Eurasia, and Beyond: Papers in Honor of Vince Pigott
• Marcos Martinón-Torres, Borja Legarra Herrero, Agnese Benzonelli, Jasmine Vieri, and Maria Uribe Villegas - Gold and Heterarchy: From Crete to Colombia in the Symposium on Archaeometallurgy, Eurasia, and Beyond: Papers in Honor of Vince Pigott
• Zachary Dierks and Cristina Castillo - Plant Remains from Baset Village: A Provincial Angkor Archaeobotanical Analysis in the Symposium on The Current State of Archaeological Research across Southeast Asia (Sponsored by Southeast Asian Archaeology Interest Group)
• Marco Nebbia is a Discussant in the Forum on Possibilities and Pitfalls in Teaching and Learning Digital Archaeology (Sponsored by North American Chapter of Computer Applications and Quantitative Methods in Archaeology [CAA-NA]). Marco Nebbia is also giving a presentation entitled Computational Approaches to a Sustainable Heritage Management of Central Asian Archaeological Landscapes in the Symposium on Interdisciplinary Approaches to Landscape Archaeology Part 2 (Sponsored by North American Chapter of Computer Applications and Quantitative Methods in Archaeology [CAA-NA])
• Elizabeth Baquedano is Co-Chair of the Symposium The Mexica Royal Court: A Symposium in Honor of Alfredo López Austin. Within the session Elizabeth will also give a presentation entitled The Role of Music in the Activities of the Mexica Ruler
• Panos Kratimenos - No (Holy) Lords, No Masters: Trade as Resistance at Marco Gonzalez, Belize in the Symposium on The Maritime Maya: Current Archaeology of Coastal Yucatán, Mexico, and Belize
• Elizabeth Graham and Gabriel Wrobel - Not Just Trade but Power: Merchants, Traders, and the Maya Economy in the Symposium on The Maritime Maya: Current Archaeology of Coastal Yucatán, Mexico, and Belize
• Borja Legarra Herrero - The Power of Many: Alternative Social Histories in the Relationship between Crete and Egypt in the Bronze Age in the Symposium on Many New Worlds: Alternative Global Histories through Material Stories
• Daniela Osorio, Calogero Santoro, Emily Milton, James Steele, and Kurt Rademaker - Early Human Settlers of the South-Central Andean Highlands during the Terminal Pleistocene: The Megapatch Model in the Symposium on Early Human Dynamics in Arid and Mountain Environments of the Americas
• Bill Sillar - First and Last: Stone Quarrying at the Start and End of the Inka Empire in the Symposium on New Advances in Cusco Archaeology: From the Formative to the Late Horizon

The UCL Institute of Archaeology is also exhibiting at the SAA Annual Meeting and our colleagues look forward to meeting prospective students as well as former staff and alumni.  Lisa Daniel, our Graduate Admissions Administrator, is covering a booth in the Exhibitors area and promoting the Institute’s Masters and Research programmes.  

Further details

• Society for American Archaeology

Image: Lisa Daniel, UCL Institute of Archaeology at the SAA annual meeting, Denver Colorado (Image: Mike Charlton)