The archaeological process of reconstructing and understanding our past has undergone several reassessments in the last century and latest years, producing an equal amount of new perspectives and approaches. The recent material turn emphasizes the necessity to ground those achievements in order to build fresh avenues of interpretation and reach new boundaries in the study of the human kind and its ecology. If materiality is a key element in the development of the archaeological and anthropological discourse, symbols are the intrinsic value that lead to interpretation, infused in their physical body as well as a result of the minds and gestures that created it in a specific context and with a specific chaîne opératoire. Symbol, therefore, must not be conceived only as allegory but also, and perhaps mainly, as reason (raison d’être) and meaning (culture). For these motivations, symbols must be considered as a paramount aspect in the archaeological investigation, which require their own dedicated space for a collective analysis and discussion, hence the ICAS conference.

The ICAS 1 – International Conference on the Archaeology of Symbols will take place on 25-27 May 2022, in
Florence (Italy). The conference is organized by CAMNES Center for Ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern Studies
& The CAMNES School of Religious Studies.

Keynote address

Ian Hodder (Stanford University), “Symbols as flows of energy”

Scientific Committee

Ian Hodder (Stanford University)
Francesco D’Andria (University of Salento)
Peter Dubovsky (Pontificium Institutum Biblicum)
Alessandro Naso (University of Naples Federico II)
Pascal Butterlin (University Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne)
Aren Maeir (Bar-Ilan University)
Julia Shaw (University College London)
Salima Ikram (American University in Cairo)
James Brown (Northwestern University)
Paolo Matthiae (University of Rome La Sapienza)

Organizing Committee

Nicola Laneri (CAMNES – University of Catania)
Guido Guarducci (CAMNES)
Stefano Valentini (CAMNES)

Conference venue

The main conference venue is the ex-Church of San Jacopo in Campo Corbolini located in Via Faenza 43, Florence (Italy).

Registration

To attend the Conference Registration is mandatory.
Abstract approval is required for Speaker registration.
Papers must be presented at least by one registered author.
Speakers/first authors must hold a PhD degree or equivalent.

Registration fees:

Speaker: 130€

Listener: 90€

Companion: 70€

Registration includes:

-Conference paper presentation (Speakers only)

-The option to submit your paper for the proceeding’s evaluation (Speakers only)

-Badge (Speakers & Listeners only)

-Conference kit (Speakers & Listeners only)

-Morning and afternoon coffee breaks

-Gala dinner buffet

Please note that the all fees do not include any lunch, travel, transportation to the Conference venue, and accommodation.

The Organizing Committee is not going to recommend any accommodating solutions and informs its participants that no discounts or special rates are available at this time. Please look for the best offers on Booking.com and Airbnb.com in relation to the city center of Florence (Italy) or the immediate environs. Conference venue address is listed above.

Publishers may contact the Secretariat ([email protected]) for arranging a stand for the duration of the Conference.

Registration opens on November (along with abstract publication) and closes on March 1st 2022

Proceedings

All Speakers may submit their paper for evaluation after the Conference. If the paper is accepted it will be published in the new MaReA (Material Religion in Antiquity) CAMNES Series edited by Nicola Laneri and published by Oxbow.

Contacts

For further information please contact the ICAS Secretariat at: [email protected]

Registration opens November 2021

Registration deadline: March 1st 2022

3rd Circular with the Final Program will be published by April 1st 2022