Conferences

SOCIETY FOR HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY CONFERENCE CODE OF CONDUCT

PREAMBLE

The Society for Historical Archaeology is committed to providing a safe, respectful environment for all attendees at its conferences.  To that end, the SHA will work to provide a harassment-free experience for everyone, regardless of gender, gender identity and expression, age, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, race, ethnicity, religion (or lack thereof), or any other category.  The SHA will not tolerate harassment in any form at any SHA-sponsored events.  This policy applies to all SHA members and non-members who participate in an SHA activity.

DEFINITION AND EXAMPLES OF IMPERMISSIBLE CONDUCT

Harassment includes offensive comments or behavior related to gender, gender identity and expression, age, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, race, ethnicity, religion, technology choices, sexual images in public space, deliberate intimidation, stalking, following, harassing photography or recording, sustained disruption of talks or other events, inappropriate physical contact, and unwelcome sexual attention.  Outside of research presentations that include specific considerations of sexuality or sexual representations in the past, sexual language and imagery is not appropriate for any conference venue, including talks, workshops, parties, social media and other online media.

Harassment under this Policy refers to any behavior by an individual or group that contributes to a hostile, intimidating and/or unwelcoming environment.  Such conduct is harmful, disrespectful, and unprofessional. 

OBLIGATION

All participants and attendees at the conference accept the obligation to treat everyone with respect and civility and to uphold the rights of all participants and attendees, including SHA staff, temporary staff, contractors, volunteers and hotel staff, to be free from harassment.

Attendees are bound by the SHA Ethics Principles, the SHA Sexual Harassment and Discrimination Policy, and this Conference Code of Conduct.  Attendees should also be aware that they are also bound by the codes of conduct at their home institution(s).  This policy, which is consistent with the professional ethics statement of the SHA, does not supersede institutional codes but is intended to reinforce their message.

By obtaining SHA membership, registering to present or attend SHA meetings, members and participants commit to maintaining respectful and ethical relationships in accordance with this policy.  The SHA reserves the right to remove an individual violating this policy from the SHA annual conference without warning or refund and prohibit attendance at future SHA conferences and/or activities.

Should the SHA have concerns regarding an individual’s attendance at its conference creating a safety issue, the SHA can bar the individual from registering and attending the conference. In the case of proven violations that took place prior to the annual meeting and that have been reported and documented prior to pre-registration, proven harassers/assailants will be barred from participation.  Late and on-site registrations will be rescinded immediately should information be received documenting a proven violation.  The SHA will not conduct its own investigation but will accept the investigations of law enforcement agencies, RPA, universities, EEOC and employers.  Documented harassers/assailants should be identified to SHA staff or leadership by survivors or other reporters as early as possible.  Identification with documentation of adjudication needs to be provided to bar participation in SHA events. 

REPORTING AT THE CONFERENCE

Conference attendees, who experience or witness harassment as defined by this policy, or who are aware that a conference participant is currently or has been sanctioned for assault or harassment by an adjudicating body and can provide documentation of the outcome, are encouraged to contact one of the following:

1. SHA Executive Director directly at 240-753-4397;
2. A member of the SHA Board of Directors ; or
3. A member SHA Code of Conduct Committee, whose name and contact information are listed at the end of this document.

These individuals will provide appropriate support to those who witnessed or who have experienced harassment or feel unsafe for any reason at the conference.  The Executive Director or a member of the SHA Code of Conduct Committee will advise on the formal complaints process and, if requested, forward complaints to the full SHA Code of Conduct Committee for resolution. 

Formal complaints should be as specific as possible about how alleged behavior constitutes harassment, as defined in this SHA policy.   Any report received will remain confidential to the maximum extent possible when the SHA Code of Conduct Committee considers and investigates the complaint. 

The SHA 2025 Conference on Historical and Underwater Archaeology Committee invites you to New Orleans, Louisiana,
for the annual historical and underwater archaeology conference. The 2025 SHA conference will be held at the New Orleans
Marriott on Canal Street, located at the edge of the historic Vieux Carré/French Quarter. The conference hotel’s ideal
location at the edge of the city’s crown jewel provides direct access to a world-class gastronomic experience, an eclectic art
scene, distinctive architecture, historic and culturally significant neighborhoods, diverse music, and exciting nightlife. Enjoy
Frenchman Street in the Faubourg Marigny, where the locals hang out, or stroll through the French Market and enjoy
beignets and coffee at Café Du Monde in the Vieux Carré. Arrive before the conference begins to ring in the new year, stay
through the conference, and enjoy the first parades of the 2025 Mardi Gras season. Whether this will be your first time visiting
or you have walked the city’s storied streets multiple times, all will agree that New Orleans is like no other city!

For thousands of years Native American peoples occupied the crescent-shaped landmass adjacent to the Mississippi River
that would become New Orleans. When the French arrived in 1718, they encountered the Choctaw nation, who referred to
this location along the river as “Bulbancha,” or the Land of Many Tongues, a direct reference to the multitribal nature of this
location where fishing, hunting, and trading took place. The land mass was ideal for these purposes, because it is situated
along a natural levee further elevated by the many middens created by discarded oyster shells and sediment deposits from
thousands of years of occupation. Easy access to Lake Pontchartrain and proximity to the Gulf of Mexico made Bulbancha
an attractive location for the eventual settlement of Europeans. Today, New Orleans maintains its multicultural identity
with African American, Cajun, Creole, French, German, Spanish, Irish, Italian, Jewish, and Native American influences,
defining it as one of the most historically and culturally important places in the United States.

Today, however, the historical, archaeological, and even cultural milieu of New Orleans is directly threatened by the ongoing
global climate crisis with increasing average temperatures, rising sea levels, intensifying storms, extreme rain events,
tornadoes, and other phenomena directly linked to anthropogenic influences on our planet’s climate. The SHA 2025 Conference Committee encourages the membership to explore the effects of climate change and the impacts on historic and
underwater archaeological sites—a theme extending beyond New Orleans and the U.S. Gulf South. We encourage the
membership to be creative and consider integrating climate-related issues and themes in imaginative ways, from how our
discipline addresses climate change to how these changes influence our interpretations of archaeological sites, assemblages,
and past human behavior. While the aim of the 2025 conference and theme is not to solve the current climate crisis, we feel
that this is the right time and appropriate platform to continue to raise awareness. The presentation of research and discussion will further facilitate understanding of climate change and its impacts on historic places and landscapes, which may
aid in enhancing the future resiliency of places like New Orleans for later generations to learn from and enjoy.

Conference Co-Chairs: Christopher Horrell (Submerged Archaeological Conservancy International) and Melanie Damour
(Bureau of Ocean Energy Management)
Program Co-Chairs: Dave Ball (Bureau of Ocean Energy Management) and Jeneva Wright (Bureau of Ocean Energy Management)
Underwater Co-Chairs: Della Scott Ireton (Florida Public Archaeology Network) and Doug Jones (Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement)
Terrestrial Co-Chairs: Rachel Watson (Louisiana Division of Archaeology) and Brad Jones (Texas Historical Commission)
Popular Program Directors: Abigail Bleichner (Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency) and Maegan Smith (Louisiana Division
of Archaeology)
Local Arrangements Chair/Tour and Events Director: Barry Bleichner (Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement)
Volunteer Directors: Sadie Schoeffler Whitehurst (Louisiana Division of Archaeology) and Sarah Linden (Texas Historical
Commission)
Fundraising/Partnership Liaison: Abigail Bleichner (Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency)
Workshops Director: Jade Luiz (Metropolitan State University of Denver)

Download the SHA 2025 Conference Call for Papers

There are two important changes to the Call for Papers for the 2025 Conference, as follows:

1. OPEN vs. CLOSED SYMPOSIA. Symposium organizers can choose whether their session is “open” to additional presenters in the session or “closed” to additional presenters. Organizers will need to indicate this when they submit their session. For OPEN symposia, the title, abstract and organizer contact information will be posted to the SHA Conference page at https://sha.org/conferences/. Individuals interested in submitting their paper to a particular “open” symposium must contact the organizer to request permission to submit to the session prior to submitting their abstract. The Conference Program Committee may also assign relevant general submissions to an open symposium, subject to the approval of the organizers. For CLOSED symposia, only presenters identified by the organizer at the time the session abstract is submitted will present in that session.
2. IN-PERSON vs. PRE-RECORDED PRESENTATION. You will be asked to indicate whether you will be presenting your paper/session in person at the conference in Oakland or whether you wish to pre-record your paper/session and have it uploaded to a website platform for viewing by conference registrants. All forum and poster presentations must be in-person. It is at the discretion of a symposium organizer or general submission paper author as to whether their contribution is pre-recorded or in-person, but there will be no mixing and matching of formats within a session. This means that all papers in an in-person symposium must be presented by an individual in Oakland; no pre-recorded presentations will be permitted for in-person symposia (or vice versa). All pre-recorded papers and sessions will be uploaded to the virtual conference website (see https://shavirtual.org) and included in the conference program.

Submit your abstract at: www.conftool.com/sha2025

For questions on the Call for Papers, contact the 2025 Program Chairs at nolasha2025@gmail.com.

THE VENUE: THE NEW ORLEANS MARRIOTT

All conference sessions will be held at the New Orleans Marriott at 555 Canal Street. The 41-story conference hotel offers
rooms with spectacular Mississippi River and city views. Located in the French Quarter, the hotel is steps away from many
iconic dining and entertainment options and features two on-site restaurants: 5Fifty5 and 55 Fahrenheit. SHA has reserved
a limited number of rooms for the conference at a rate of US$179.00 per night (plus tax) for single or double occupancy.
Subject to the availability of rooms in the SHA block, this rate will be available from 2 January to 14 January 2025, and will
expire if not booked before 16 December 2024. Please note that any changes in departure date made after check-in may
result in an early departure fee.

Reserve your room at the New Orleans Marriott at https://book.passkey.com/event/50749798/owner/6139/home.