Report of the SGA/SSA Annual Meeting 2024 in Geneva
The 2024 Annual Meeting and Workshop of the SGA/SSA took place on November 22 and 23 in Geneva and was kindly organized by Dr. Jocelyne Desideri and her team.
Friday 22nd of November
The first day of the meeting was scheduled in the Science II building of the University of Geneva. Due to the heavy snowfall that paralyzed the train lines the day of, the program had to be slightly changed, as some presenters encountered delays. Nonetheless, things kicked off to a great start, with a keynote presentation by Gwennaelle Goude titled “Consortium WomenSOFar: A new perspective on the study of women's roles in the past: the example of the ANR WomenSOFar project”. The talk highlighted the need for highly interdisciplinary and integrative research when it comes to isotope analysis, demonstrating the nuances required in interpreting data from isotopes studies.
The second keynote speaker was Anne Mayor, with a talk titled “Foodways in West Africa: an integrated approach on pots, animals and plants”. This presentation described the ongoing project of the ARCAN laboratory in West Africa, focusing once more on an interdisciplinary approach with archaeological and ethnographical specialists working together to better understand the importance of food acquisition and processing in the region.
The first session was dedicated to interdisciplinary research in Africa, with many fascinating new projects by young researchers, followed by a first varia session. Due to the small change of schedule, after the coffee break, the meeting resumed with presentations from the second varia session.
The meeting was then adjourned for the day, participants who wished to could attend a private visit to the Cathédrale Saint-Pierre, with the cantonal archaeologist, Nathan Badoud, narrating the visit. This was a very pleasant excursion, an occasion to see and understand the past of the city.
The evening concluded at the L’Iode restaurant, with an excellent dinner and good conversations among all presents. The choice of restaurant was lauded by all as a Geneva address to remember!
Saturday 23rd of November
On Saturday morning, the meeting resumed with the general assembly of the Swiss Society for Anthropology, where the matters pertaining to the inner functioning of the society are discussed. Per usual, the budget and accounts were approved, the past year’s activity reviewed, and an update on the bulletin given. Of note, the society approved the Ethical Guidelines drawn up by the committee, which can now be found on our website for consultation. Jocelyne Desideri and her team were warmly thanked by the society for their organization of this year’s meeting, which was particularly appreciated.
After the general assembly, the second session on interdisciplinary research in alpine agro-pastoral societies, which had been postponed due to the weather conditions the day before, began. The keynote speaker was Jocelyne Desideri with a presentation entitled "Towards a renewed vision of early alpine agro-pastoral societies through the analysis of food practices, lifestyles and population dynamics". This presentation described the ongoing project of the ARCAN laboratory on Swiss-Italian Alpine Neolithic populations, focusing on an interdisciplinary approach with specialists in bioanthropology, paleopathology, isotope geochemistry, genetics and archaeobotany working together to discuss how these populations evolved and lived in their environment.
Lunch was then served at the Sofra restaurant, where we enjoyed an excellent Lebanese meal in a friendly and stimulating atmosphere.
Saturday afternoon was devoted to a workshop on the study of dental calculus under the expert guidance of Charles Le Moyne, postdoctoral fellow at the ARCAN laboratory. Participants benefited from a highly didactic introduction to the study of this material, highlighting the potential and limitations of the approach, followed by practical observation of residues under the microscope.
Following the workshop, the meeting was closed.
Save the date!
We look forward to the 2025 edition, which will take place on the 21st and 22nd of November in Liechtenstein.
