African archaeology without frontiers: papers from the 2014 PanAfrican Archaeological Association Congress

Abstract

The 2014 PanAfrican Archaeological Association (PAA) Congress was held at the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) in Johannesburg in tandem with the 22nd biennial meeting of the Society for Africanist Archaeologists (SAfA). The National Lotteries Commission (NLC) of South Africa provided the lion's share of funds to make the event possible. Geoff Blundell and Bruce Rubidge made invaluable contributions to the funding proposal. The then vice chancellor of Wits Professor Loyiso Nongxa was a staunch supporter of PAA2014 and facilitated infrastructural and logistical support from the university. Deputy vice chancellors professors Yunus Ballim, Belinda Bozzolli, Patrick Fitzgerald, Derek Keats and Rob Moore provided generous assistance in one way or another. The dean of the Faculty of Science Professor Andrew Crouch and the faculty's financial director Mr Manfred Malomo also gave unstinting support. Ms Andrea Leenen of the Palaeontological Scientific Trust (PAST), as well as the Wenner-Gren Foundation provided funds to sponsor international students to attend the congress. The French Institute in South Africa (IFAS) kindly translated all documents to help make this a truly bilingual congress. The core of the congress was a five-day international conference that took place in mid-July 2014. A day of workshops for invited archaeology students from several countries preceded the main conference, and three days of excursions to visit important heritage sites in South Africa took place immediately after the main event. A mid-conference excursion took delegates to the world-famous Cradle of Humankind. About 450 delegates from Africa, Europe and North America registered to participate in PAA/SAfA 2014. These included academics and senior postgraduate students plus staff of museums and government agencies involved in heritage and archaeological matters. The day-today logistics were admirably handled by Ms Fiona Storie and her team from Scatterlings Inc. Wits postgraduate students