Last week, Godefroy Devevey presented “HEIRS – Developing a Hub for Collaborative Synthesis in Human Evolution” at the European Association of Archaeologists (EAA) conference, during the session titled “Synthesis, Facilitator or Hindrance: Should Synthesis Be Part of Commercial Archaeology or Left to the Academics?”
The presentation highlighted the unique advantages of synthesis in archaeology, emphasizing how integrating data from multiple sources can uncover patterns not evident in individual studies. It also emphasized the potential of synthesis to strengthen theoretical debates and promote Open Science, noting that despite these benefits, collaborative synthesis remains underutilized in human evolution and prehistoric archaeology. ICArEHB, based at the University of Algarve, is spearheading efforts to change this by creating a hub for Collaborative Synthesis in Human Evolution, where scholars can share data and perspectives to develop comprehensive archaeological narratives.
The talk outlined ICArEHB’s current models, successes, challenges, and future plans for fostering collaboration in human evolution studies.
