SHA 2026 Conference on
Historical and Underwater Archaeology
Mobility
Detroit, Michigan | January 7-10, 2026
Conference Agenda
Overview and details of the sessions of this conference. Please select a date or location to show only sessions at that day or location. Please select a single session for detailed view (with abstracts and downloads if available).
Please note that all times are shown in the time zone of the conference. The current conference time is: 24th Apr 2026, 06:10:19am EDT
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Daily Overview |
Fri09Jan
Ambassador Foyer
Ambassador 1
Columbus
Renaissance Foyer
Richard A & B
Brule A & B
Cadillac A & B
Mackinac East
Mackinac West
Ontario East
Ontario West
Cabot
Cartier
LaSalle A & B
Nicolet A & B
Michelangelo
Ambassador 2 & 3
07:00
08:00
09:00
10:00
11:00
12:00
13:00
14:00
15:00
16:00
17:00
18:00
19:00
20:00
21:00
22:00
23:00
00:00
SPECIAL EVENT-4: Pre-Awards Banquet Cocktail Hour
6:30pm - 7:30pm
Ambassador Foyer
Location: Ambassador Foyer
Cost: No fee for conference registrants; cash bar.
BOOK 2: SHA Book Room
8:30am - 5:00pm
Ambassador 1
Location: Ambassador 1
Hours: Thursday, January 8, 2026 8:30 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.Friday, January 9, 2026 8:30 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.Saturday, January 10, 2026 ...
The SHA Book Room is a marketplace for exhibitors of products, services, and publications from a variety of companies, agencies, and organizations in the archaeological community.
SHA MTG: SHA Business Meeting
5:00pm - 6:00pm
Columbus
Location: Columbus
The SHA will hold its annual Business Meeting on Friday, January 9, 2026 from 5:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. Join the SHA Board and congratulate the winners of the Robert L. Schuyler Student Travel Awards, th...
The SHA will hold its annual Business Meeting on Friday, January 9, 2026 from 5:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. Join the SHA Board and congratulate the winners of the Robert L. Schuyler Student Travel Awards, the Ed and Judy Jelks Student Travel Award, the Harriet Tubman Student Travel Grant, the ACUA George F...
POS-03 (T): Forts and Foodways
9:00am - 11:45am
Renaissance Foyer
Location: Renaissance Foyer
Presentations: 10
POS-04 (T): Race, Indigeneity, and Chinatowns
1:30pm - 4:15pm
Renaissance Foyer
Location: Renaissance Foyer
Sponsored in part by the Society of Black Archaeologists
Presentations: 9
GEN 13 T: Early Mobility
9:00am - 10:30am
Richard A & B
Laura M. Bossio
Location: Richard A & B
Session Chair: Laura M. Bossio, Central Michigan University
Presentations: 6
GEN 14 T: The Archaeology of Gendered Spaces
10:45am - 11:45am
Richard A & B
Chelsea Rose
Location: Richard A & B
Session Chair: Chelsea Rose, Southern Oregon University
Presentations: 4
GEN 07 T: The Archaeology of Soldiers
1:30pm - 3:00pm
Richard A & B
Ericha E. Sappington
Location: Richard A & B
Session Chair: Ericha E. Sappington, The University of Idaho
Presentations: 5
GEN 02 T: New Lands, New People
3:15pm - 4:45pm
Richard A & B
Albert Dudley Gardner
Location: Richard A & B
Session Chair: Albert Dudley Gardner, Western Anthropological And Archaeological Researc
Presentations: 6
SYM-345T: The Hassanamesit Woods Project: The Next Generation
9:00am - 11:30am
Brule A & B
Stephen Mrozowski, Stephen Mrozowski
Location: Brule A & B
Session Chair: Stephen Mrozowski, University of Massachusetts Boston
Discussant: Stephen Mrozowski, University of Massachusetts Boston
The Hassanamesit Woods Project began in 2003 as a collaboration between The Fiske Center for Archaeological Research at the University of Massachusetts Boston and the Hassanamisco Nipmuc of the Kittiauck/Blackstone River Valley of Central Massachusetts. Excavations have been carried out on 4 Nipmuc ...
Presentations: 8
SYM-420T: Twenty Years and Counting: Michigan State University's Campus Archaeology Program
1:30pm - 2:45pm
Brule A & B
Stacey L. Camp, Stacey L. Camp
Location: Brule A & B
Session Chair: Stacey L. Camp, Michigan State University
Discussant: Stacey L. Camp, Michigan State University
This session will feature papers on Michigan State University\'s Campus Archaeology Program (CAP), one of the longest-running (and possibly first) campus archaeology programs in the world. Started by Professor Emeritus Dr. Lynne Goldstein in 2005, the MSU Campus Archaeology Program protects and miti...
Presentations: 3
SYM-318T: Revisiting the Old Socorro Mission State Historic Site, Socorro, Texas
3:00pm - 4:30pm
Brule A & B
Bradford M. Jones, Rick Quezada
Location: Brule A & B
Session Chair: Bradford M. Jones, Texas Historical Commission
Discussant: Rick Quezada, Ysleta del Sur Pueblo
The Old Socorro Mission State Historic Site is one of the oldest mission sites archeologically identified in Texas. Founded in the 1680s for the Piro as one of three missions for Puebloan peoples forcibly relocated to the region by the Spanish in the wake of the Pueblo Revolt, the site was rebuilt m...
Presentations: 4
GEN 03 T: The Archaeology of Infrastructure
9:00am - 10:30am
Cadillac A & B
Kathryn A. Cross
Location: Cadillac A & B
Session Chair: Kathryn A. Cross, AR Consultants, Inc.
Presentations: 6
GEN 06 T: The Wonderful World of Ceramics
1:30pm - 3:00pm
Cadillac A & B
Rebekah L. Planto
Location: Cadillac A & B
Session Chair: Rebekah L. Planto, William & Mary
Presentations: 6
GEN 04 T: Life in an Industrial Setting
3:15pm - 4:30pm
Cadillac A & B
Christopher G. LaMack
Location: Cadillac A & B
Session Chair: Christopher G. LaMack, University of Pennsylvania
Presentations: 5
SYM-123U: Spotlight on Graduate Student Research: Symposium Sponsored by the ACUA
9:00am - 10:00am
Mackinac East
River A. Rivera, Christina M. Giudici
Location: Mackinac East
Session Chair: River A. Rivera, Advisory Council on Underwater Archaeology
Session Chair: Christina M. Giudici, The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
In lieu of a panel, this year, the ACUA Graduate Student Associates have decided to chair an open symposium focusing on Graduate Student research. This offers the opportunity for students to have a spotlight on their research without having to fit within the confines of a specific session. These bod...
Presentations: 4
SYM-200U: Archaeology of the Brunswick Town Waterfront
10:45am - 11:45am
Mackinac East
Jeremy R. Borrelli
Location: Mackinac East
Session Chair: Jeremy R. Borrelli, East Carolina University
The Brunswick Town/Fort Anderson State Historic Site in North Carolina has a long and storied history. Archaeological investigations of the colonial port town and American Civil War fortification by Stanley South and others paved the way for modern analytical methodologies in historical archaeology....
Presentations: 4
SYM-166T: Doomed to Repeat?: Excavating Contemporary Issues in 20th Century Contexts
1:30pm - 4:30pm
Mackinac East
Katrina C. L. Eichner
Location: Mackinac East
Session Chair: Katrina C. L. Eichner, University of Idaho
The historian’s burden is knowing that “history doesn’t repeat itself, but it often rhymes.” A battleground for competing visions of justice, identity, and belonging in the United States, the 20th century remains an understudied period within historical archaeology. As we are confronted with social,...
Presentations: 9
SYM-129U: Lake Huron Red Tails: Archaeological Investigation of a Tuskegee Aircraft Wreck in Michigan
9:00am - 10:30am
Mackinac West
Wayne R. Lusardi, Wayne R. Lusardi
Location: Mackinac West
Session Chair: Wayne R. Lusardi, Michigan Department of Natural Resources
Discussant: Wayne R. Lusardi, Michigan Department of Natural Resources
The first African American pilots trained to fly United States military aircraft during World War II earned their wings at Tuskegee Army Airfield in Alabama. Referred to as Tuskegee Airmen, or Red Tails, many of these pilots also trained in Michigan in 1943 and 1944. Aircraft accidents unfortunately...
Presentations: 5
GEN 12 U: More Archaeology of WWII in the Pacific
10:45am - 11:45am
Mackinac West
Matthew Carter
Location: Mackinac West
Session Chair: Matthew Carter, Inkfish
Presentations: 4
SYM-207T: Understanding the Overseer
1:30pm - 3:45pm
Mackinac West
Terry P. Brock, Alison Bell
Location: Mackinac West
Session Chair: Terry P. Brock, Wake Forest University
Discussant: Alison Bell, Washington and Lee University
For many decades, archaeologists have conducted extensive archaeological research at plantation sites throughout the Americas. This work has explored the lives of enslavers and the people they enslaved, ranging from excavations of manor houses, outbuildings, formal gardens, dwellings of enslaved peo...
Presentations: 7
SYM-141AT: Archaeologies of Black and Indigenous Sovereignty Part 1
9:00am - 12:00pm
Ontario East
Matthew Reilly, Madison Aubey, Wade Campbell
Location: Ontario East
Session Chair: Matthew Reilly, City College of New York
Session Chair: Madison Aubey, UCLA
Discussant: Wade Campbell, Boston University
Black and Indigenous movements toward economic, geopolitical, environmental, food, and energy sovereignty, as well as other collective goals, speak to the multiple pathways through which the term sovereignty has been pushed beyond theorizations of modern state power. Archaeologists therefore have th...
Presentations: 9
SYM-141BT: Archaeologies of Black and Indigenous Sovereignty Part 2
1:30pm - 4:30pm
Ontario East
Matthew Reilly, Madison Aubey, François G. Richard
Location: Ontario East
Session Chair: Matthew Reilly, City College of New York
Session Chair: Madison Aubey, UCLA
Discussant: François G. Richard, University of Chicago
Black and Indigenous movements toward economic, geopolitical, environmental, food, and energy sovereignty, as well as other collective goals, speak to the multiple pathways through which the term sovereignty has been pushed beyond theorizations of modern state power. Archaeologists therefore have th...
Presentations: 9
SYM-121T: Revisiting the Archaeology of Borders
8:45am - 12:00pm
Ontario West
Misty M. Jackson, Mark L. Howe, Russell K. Skowronek
Location: Ontario West
Session Chair: Misty M. Jackson, Arbre Croche Cultural Resources LLC
Session Chair: Mark L. Howe, International Boundary and Water Commission
Discussant: Russell K. Skowronek, University of Texas Rio Grande Valley
In 2009 the SHA’s conference in Toronto explored the theme “The Ties that Divide: Trade, Conflict, and Borders.” Given Detroit’s geographical position, this symposium seeks to revisit the theme of borders while also exploring the 2026 conference theme of mobility across them. Theory on borders has b...
Presentations: 11
FOR-493T: In the Trenches Beyond the Shoreline - Confronting Climate Change and Heritage Preservation
1:30pm - 3:30pm
Ontario West
Andrew J. Robinson, Steven J. Filoromo
Location: Ontario West
Session Chair: Andrew J. Robinson, State Historical Society of North Dakota
Session Chair: Steven J. Filoromo, TRC Environmental Corporation
In an era when climate discussions can be politically sensitive and operationally complex, this panel tackles the urgent and controversial topic of climate change impacts on archaeological and cultural resources—both along vulnerable shorelines and far beyond them. While coastal erosion and sea-leve...
Presentations: 1
SYM-106T: Detroit Historical Archaeology Hustles Harder! Seven Decades of Archaeology in and of the Motor City
9:00am - 11:45am
Cabot
Samantha M. Ellens
Location: Cabot
Session Chair: Samantha M. Ellens, Michigan State University
The spirit of Detroit is defined by its residents’ grit, ingenuity, hustle, and resilience. This same energy is reflected by generations of archaeologists and their work over the past 70 years. This symposium builds upon the contributions by the local archaeologists who led the establishment of the ...
Presentations: 10
FOR-477T: Challenging the Dismantling of Preservation Laws Through Collective Action: A Participatory Forum
1:30pm - 3:30pm
Cabot
Ellen L. Chapman, Marion F. Werkheiser
Location: Cabot
Session Chair: Ellen L. Chapman, Cultural Heritage Partners
Session Chair: Marion F. Werkheiser, Cultural Heritage Partners
In today’s disrupted regulatory landscape, borders—of states, agency jurisdiction, and legal applicability—shape where historic preservation review happens, how substantive it is, and whether Tribes and consulting parties have meaningful opportunities to weigh in. This interactive forum explores how...
Presentations: 1
FOR-184T: Non-Invasive Methods for Identifying Subsurface Resources: Culturally Sensitive & Collaborative Approaches
9:00am - 12:00pm
Cartier
Sarah L. Surface-Evans, E.W. Duane Quates
Location: Cartier
Session Chair: Sarah L. Surface-Evans, Michigan State Historic Preservation Office
Session Chair: E.W. Duane Quates, Q8s Geo Arc, LLC
Traditional methods for identifying archaeological sites or subsurface cultural resources are often invasive and require excavation. However, there are often situations and cultural contexts where excavation is inappropriate or not the preferred course of action. Increasingly, alternatives such as g...
Presentations: 1
SYM-198T: Animal Stories: Multispecies Narratives in Zooarchaeology
1:30pm - 4:15pm
Cartier
Haylee M. Backs, Valerie MJ Hall
Location: Cartier
Session Chair: Haylee M. Backs, Boston University
Session Chair: Valerie MJ Hall, University of Maryland College Park
The historic period was marked by global change through colonization, cultural interaction, and technological advancement. Human/animal relationships were also redefined. Rather than observe how animals were useful to people, papers in this session examine the ways in which animals influenced humans...
Presentations: 9
FOR-546T: Taking a Byte Out of the Apple: Understanding Challenges and Approaches for Digital Data Stewardship
9:00am - 11:00am
LaSalle A & B
Lisa E. Fischer
Location: LaSalle A & B
Session Chair: Lisa E. Fischer, Historic St. Mary\'s City
Archaeologists have long recognized the need to preserve their data. The shift to digital over the past nearly half-century should offer many advantages, especially when adhering to FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) principles. However, many organizations and projects still face c...
Presentations: 1
SYM-117T: Digital Historical Archaeological Data
1:30pm - 3:45pm
LaSalle A & B
Paulina F. Przystupa, James A. Davenport
Location: LaSalle A & B
Session Chair: Paulina F. Przystupa, The Alexandria Archive Institute / Open Context
Discussant: James A. Davenport, University of Missouri
This session will explore the diverse digital data literacies of historical archaeological research. Digital data increasingly inform how people understand the stories, histories, and lived experience of the past. In recent years, historical archaeologists have developed a wide variety of technologi...
Presentations: 7
SBA MTG: Society of Black Archaeologists (SBA) Meeting
6:00pm - 8:00pm
LaSalle A & B
Location: LaSalle A & B
GEN 15 U: Methodology, Monitoring and Management
9:00am - 11:00am
Nicolet A & B
Denise Jaffke
Location: Nicolet A & B
Session Chair: Denise Jaffke, Far Western Anthropological Research Group, Inc.
Presentations: 7
FOR-315T: Archaeology with and of Music—A Forum
1:30pm - 4:30pm
Nicolet A & B
Krysta Ryzewski
Location: Nicolet A & B
Session Chair: Krysta Ryzewski, Wayne State University
Music weaves its way through historical archaeology, whether through intriguing musical artifacts, sites of music-making and memorialization, songs about our work or our subject matter, the creative practices of its practitioners, and even the SHA “archaeology prom.” Music is also highly mobile acro...
Presentations: 1
RL-4: Reforming an Urban Archaeology Network #1
12:00pm - 1:15pm
Michelangelo
Location: Michelangelo
Hosts: Urban Archaeology Working Group: Kelly Britt, CUNY - Brooklyn College; Eleanor Breen, City Archaeologist at City of Alexandria, Virginia; Sarah Platt, College of Charleston; and Krysta Ryzewski...
In the 1980s, a working group of urban archaeologists organized within the Society for Historical Archaeology to survey the state of the field, compile enabling legislation and program information, highlight important research emerging from cities, and discuss the challenges posed by working in this...
RL-5: Reforming an Urban Archaeology Network #2
12:00pm - 1:15pm
Michelangelo
Location: Michelangelo
Hosts: Urban Archaeology Working Group: Kelly Britt, CUNY - Brooklyn College; Eleanor Breen, City Archaeologist at City of Alexandria, Virginia; Sarah Platt, College of Charleston; and Krysta Ryzewski...
In the 1980s, a working group of urban archaeologists organized within the Society for Historical Archaeology to survey the state of the field, compile enabling legislation and program information, highlight important research emerging from cities, and discuss the challenges posed by working in this...
RL-6: Funding on Fire: Finding Support for Marginalized Archaeologies Under Threat
12:00pm - 1:15pm
Michelangelo
Location: Michelangelo
Host: Alicia Odewale, Archaeology Rewritten, 2026 Wenner-Gren Hunt Fellow, National Geographic Explorer
In a moment when marginalized communities and the archaeological sites connected to them are increasingly under threat, from environmental disasters to political upheaval and massive anti-diversity defunding campaigns to modern development and gentrification, the need for sustainable, private, and v...
RL-7: Collections and Curation
12:00pm - 1:15pm
Michelangelo
Location: Michelangelo
Host: Elizabeth Bollwerk, Thomas Jefferson Foundation, Inc./DAACS
Sponsor: SHA Collections and Curation Committee
Sponsor: SHA Collections and Curation Committee
The SHA Collections and Curation Committee offers this roundtable as a forum for discussing current and ongoing issues surrounding the long-term care of collections, data generated by the work that we do, and how to encourage/facilitate Collections-Based Research. The discussion will be driven by p...
SPECIAL EVENT-5: SHA Awards Banquet
7:30pm - 8:30pm
Ambassador 2 & 3
Location: Ambassador 2 & 3
Cost: $70.00 per person
Choice of entrée: Chicken or Braised Beef Short Ribs or Better Made Crusted Cauliflower Steak (vegan/gluten-free)
Choice of entrée: Chicken or Braised Beef Short Ribs or Better Made Crusted Cauliflower Steak (vegan/gluten-free)
Enjoy a three-course dinner with the 2026 recipients of the John L. Cotter Award, the Daniel G. Roberts Award for Excellence in Public Historical Archaeology, the Carol V. Ruppé Distinguished Service Award, and the J.C. Harrington Medal in Historical Archaeology.
SPECIAL EVENT-6: SHA Awards Ceremony and Dance
8:30pm - 11:59pm
Ambassador 2 & 3
Location: Ambassador 2 & 3
Cost: No fee for conference registrants; cash bar.
Join us for the presentation of the SHA’s John L. Cotter Award, the Daniel G. Roberts Award for Excellence in Public Historical Archaeology, the Carol V. Ruppé Distinguished Service Award, and the J.C. Harrington Medal in Historical Archaeology. Following the awards ceremony, plan to dance the nigh...