ORGANIZING COMMITTEE:
Daniella Bar-Yosef Mayer, Tel Aviv University
Anna Belfer-Cohen, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Naama Goren-Inbar, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Rivka Rabinovich, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Irit Zohar, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEE:
Guy Bar-Oz, University of Haifa
Ruby Cerón-Carrasco, University of Edinburgh
Richard Cooke, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute
Sheila Hamilton-Dyer, Bournemouth University
Arturo Morales Muñiz, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid
The 16th biennial meeting of the Fish Remains Working Group (FRWG) will be the first archaeozoological conference ever held in Israel. This FRWG is a joint research conference of the Institute for Advanced Studies of the Hebrew University, Jerusalem, and the Israel Science Foundation (ISF). It was part of an ongoing grant awarded by the ISF (Grant No. 300/06) to the Center of Excellence, under the project entitled: “The Effect of Climate Change on the Environment and Hominins of the Upper Jordan Valley between ca. 800Ka and 700Ka ago as a Basis for Prediction of Future Scenarios”.
Surrounded by diverse aquatic ecosystems (Mediterranean Sea, Red Sea, Sea of Galilee, and Jordan River) and coastal and inland archaeological sites, some dating to as early as the Lower Palaeolithic, Israel presented an ideal place for a thorough discussion on the role of fish and aquatic habitats in human evolution and in fish-based economies of past human populations. For these reasons, the meeting was will be held here with activities scheduled at several venues in Jerusalem, Haifa, and Eilat.
The meeting will bring together a diverse group of scholars from 24 countries, with training in such disciplines as archaeology, zoology, paleontology, geology, history, and anthropology. Conference sessions will be organized according to the following themes:
– Fish dispersal routes: In and out of Africa
– The role of fish and fishing during the “Agricultural Revolution”
– Fish consumption methods
– Fishing activity in Europe
– Fishing cultures of the world
– Taxonomy and nanotechnology
The topic of fish exploitation, fishing, and seafaring along the Mediterranean Sea will include a visit to Mount Carmel caves and an ichthyological workshop conducted by Dr. Dani Golani, Curator of Fishes at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. A special session will be dedicated to the memory of Professor Oscar Polaco, a renowned archaeozoologist in México, who had passed away in October 2009.
The meeting is sponsored by the Israel Science Foundation (ISF), the Institute of Advanced Studies (IAS) at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (Edmond J. Safra Campus, Givat Ram), and the Wenner-Gren Foundation.
