After two decades the EAA has by European archaeological standards become a very large organisation. At its Annual Conferences archaeologists from all over Europe and beyond meet, present their research and discuss professional issues. As much as words and writing can change the minds of people, the results remain theoretical and intellectual, but do have very little direct impact on the situation of archaeology and archaeologists.
Last year, during the annual meeting at Glasgow, speakers introduced different aspects of political strategies to inform and stimulate discussion. Among other conclusions, it became clear EAA needs to define and prioritise policy objectives and it was agreed that despite being a sizeable organisation, EAA would be too small by itself to achieve much, and thus would be well advised to find allies with shared goals.
This year, following an idea by late Jon Humble and Karl Cordemans we have invited the EAA Working Parties to share their experiences, and explore the potential for creating a network of overlapping interests and synergies especially what regards political strategies for the EAA.
We would like to look at three main objectives:
• to review the practicalities of operating an EAA Working Group. What is the collective experience?
• to consider the overlaps in working group aims and endeavour, thereby identifying common themes
• to draft a statement of intent on future collaborative working, with recommendations to the EAA Executive Board.