The 20th Annual Meeting of the European Association of Archaeologists took place in Istanbul, Turkey, 10-14 September 2014.

The Annual Meeting in Istanbul was by far the best attended in EAA’s history with the number of delegates exceeding 2.100; 1.929 papers were presented in 150 sessions and 267 posters were received. Such a massive academic and social event was truly an appropriate celebration of the 20th Anniversary of the Association. The EAA has come of age and grown to become a highlight for archaeologists from Europe – for all archaeologists from Europe, disregarding their home country political and economic background.

The 20th EAA Annual Meeting was held in Istanbul, Turkey, 10 - 14 September 2014. The meeting was organized at the Istanbul Technical University; the conference venues were the “Taşkışla” Building – Faculty of Architecture, and the “Gümüşsuyu” Building - Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, conveniently located near each other in the city center. The 2.107 registered participants to the conference came from 56 different countries The conference was inaugurated at the Opening Ceremony at the Hilton Convention Centre on Wednesday 10 September, followed by an Opening reception. Professor Turgut Saner, Co-Chair of the Organising Committee, opened the ceremony, Prof.Dr. Sinan Mert ŞENER, Dean of the Faculty of Architecture, ITU, Prof.Dr. Mehmet Karaca, Rector of the Istanbul Technical University, ÖMER Çelik, Turkish Minister of Culture and Tourism, and Dr. Friedrich Lüth, President of the EAA, welcomed the participants. Carsten Paludan-Müller, Chair of the EAA Heritage Prize Committee, presented the EAA Heritage Prize to Marie Louise Stig Sørensen in recognition of her ground breaking achievements in promoting heritage studies on academic grounds and leading important projects, and to Erzsébet Jerem in recognition of her outstanding multi-faceted contributions to both the protection and the presentation of the European archaeological heritage. Robin Skeates, EJA Editor and Chair of the EAA Student Award Committee, presented the 2014 Student Award to Can Aksoy and Ziyacan Bayar for their paper “Archaeological Ethnography of the Battle of Aslıhanlar (29-30 August 1922): A Case Study of Public Archaeology, Visual Storytelling and Interactive Map Design.”After a musical performance “Instrumental Music from the Ottoman Court”, two keynote lectures were pronounced: Prof.Dr. Christos Doumas spoke about "Aegean Sea: the Connecting Divide" and Prof.Dr. Aslıhan Yener gave an overview lecture “Bringing Anatolian Archaeology into the Future: Past, Present and New Directions”. Major social events during the lecture days (Thursday to Saturday) included the EAA Anniversary exhibition of conference memorabilia,·opening of “Gustave Mendel – Pascal Sébah, Documenting the Imperial Museum” exhibition followed by reception by the General Directorate of Cultural Assets and Museums at Istanbul Archaeological Museum, ·opening of “The Forgotten Kingdom: Archaeology and Photography at Ancient Alalakh” exhibition at Koç University Research Center for Anatolian Civilizations (RCAC), the Annual party at Orient Express Sirkeci Train Station, the Annual dinner at Park Hotel Bosphorus, and many other parallel events. Approximately 150 EAA members gathered at the Annual Business Meeting on the Friday afternoon to discuss the current situation of the Association. Pre- and post-conference excursions were organized to places of interest.

Academic sessions took place from Thursday morning (11 September) to Saturday afternoon (13 September). Altogether 1929 papers were collected and presented in 150 sessions, along with 267 posters. Papers were timetabled for 20 minute speeches and the set order and times of presentations were observed so that delegates can plan attendance of selected papers in different sessions; poster session took place on Thursday 11 September, but posters were displayed during the whole congress. Sessions and round tables focused on six major themes:
1. Connecting seas - across the borders
2. Managing archaeological heritage: past and present
3. Ancient technologies in social context
4. Environment and subsistence: the geosphere, ecosphere and human interaction
5. Times of change: collapse and transformative impulses
6. Retrieving and interpreting the archaeological record