Tiina / Melanie Manne / Fillios

The major theme of the 14th International Council for Archaeozoology Conference is ‘Oceans and Coastlines ‘ Past, Present and Future’. This theme provides our discipline with an opportunity to consider the ecological dynamism in which ancient cultures are embedded, and how they shape and are shaped by place. The rising and falling of sea levels, the transformations of coastlines through time, and the shifting array of available resources are issues that resonate around the globe. This not only provides a context in which to frame our understanding of the past, it speaks directly to contemporary discussions of climate change so clearly highlighted to the world by the recent COP27. The long-term perspective provided by archaeology permits the interactions between environmental change and human culture to be viewed over an extended timeframe, giving archaeology the unique ability to feed into current models and inform future projections. This conference and its thematic structure speak to archaeology finding our voice in this arena and demonstrating that zooarchaeology has a very real role to play in the future of our species.