6 ppl attended

CAA2026 (Vienna)

• Many SIG members are attending CAA2026 in Vienna.
• The programme has been released: https://2026.caaconference.org/program
• Timing of the conference was discussed critically, as it includes Good Friday and overlaps with the UK Archaeological Science Conference: https://www.ukas2026.co.uk
• Workshops involving SIG members:
  • “Code review and best practices in programming” (Matteo Tomasini’s workshop); Sophie Schmidt and James Allison will join as participants.
  • “From Zero to Plotting: R for Anyone” (Petr Pajdla’s workshop); Sophie Schmidt offered to help as a tutor.
  • “Increasing interoperability and reproducibility of archaeometric data with R” (Clemens Schmid is involved in the underlying project); see https://github.com/archaeothommy/ASTR
• Sessions highlighted by SIG members:
  • S30: Unstoppable Vision, Immovable Practice: An Adversarial Debate on Linked Open Dreams and the Reality of Archaeological Data Collection
  • S31: Computational Archaeology Revisited: Building Bridges with Mathematics and Computer Science
  • S34: Modelling Seafaring: Methodological Retrospective and Future Roadmap
• SIG SSLA Meet-up at CAA2026
  • Proposed day and time:
    • Wednesday evening (chosen to avoid overlap with both the ice breaker event and the conference dinner)
    • After 19:45, meeting directly at the restaurant
  • Potential venues discussed:
    • Bierteufl: https://maps.app.goo.gl/Khz5iwguptq4Uqqi8
    • Gmoa Keller: https://maps.app.goo.gl/ehY2xnY5bcavuGuP6
    • Both locations are relatively far away from the conference venue; closer alternatives may be preferable.
  • Organisation and communication:
    • James Allison will collect a list of suitable restaurants from a colleague.
    • A reservation will be necessary once a venue is chosen.
    • SIG members are encouraged to actively invite (“drag along”) other potential members.
    • An invitation with final details (venue, exact timing) will be sent via the mailing list; participants should announce if they plan to attend.

Election of the SIG SSLA Board

• Martin Hinz announced that he is stepping down from his role as Convener.
• Matteo Tomasini stood for election as Convener; his candidacy was formally proposed by Petr Pajdla.
• Election results:
  • 6 members voted.
  • Matteo Tomasini was unanimously elected as Convener.
  • Sophie Schmidt was re-elected as Vice-Convener.
  • Clemens Schmid was re-elected as Secretary.
• The SIG expressed its sincere thanks to Martin Hinz for his outstanding work as Convener since the founding of the SIG!

News and resources

• Material culture networks paper (PCI Archaeology): https://archaeo.peercommunityin.org/PCIArchaeology/articles/rec?id=639
• Advanced R course for geospatial data analysis (FU Berlin): https://www.geo.fu-berlin.de/en/v/soga-r/index.html
• Report on AI recommendations in science (Royal Statistical Society): https://rss.org.uk/RSS/media/File-library/Policy/2026/AI-is-Statistics-FINAL.pdf
• QGIS plugin for downloading Czech archaeological data: https://plugins.qgis.org/plugins/amcr_viewer
• ESTER Project: ESTimation of the prehistoric population of Eurasia based on a large number of Records (Martin Hinz, Sophie Schmidt): https://ester-project.org

Next SIG Meetings

• Next meeting: during CAA2026 in Vienna, Wednesday, April 1, in the evening (details will follow).
• Following regular meeting: Planned for May 8 (not on May 1st), tentative invited talk (to be confirmed and announced)