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, 06:09:52am EDT
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Daily Overview |
Sat10Jan
Ambassador Foyer
Ambassador 1
Renaissance Foyer
Richard A & B
Brule A & B
Cadillac A & B
Mackinac East
Mackinac West
Ontario East
Ontario West
Cabot
Nicolet A & B
Wayne State University, G.L. Grosscup Museum of Anthropology
No specific location / location unknown
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
BOOK 3: SHA Book Room
8:30am - 2:00pm
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.
POS-05 (T): Sensing Place
9:00am - 11:45am
Renaissance Foyer
Location: Renaissance Foyer
Presentations: 7
GEN 17 T: Global Archaeology
9:00am - 11:00am
Richard A & B
Rachel J. Feit
Location: Richard A & B
Session Chair: Rachel J. Feit, Acacia Heritage Consulting
Presentations: 7
SYM-269T: Artifacts are Enough: Interpretative Approaches to Historic Material Culture
9:00am - 10:45am
Brule A & B
Richard Veit
Location: Brule A & B
Session Chair: Richard Veit, Monmouth University
Artifacts are basic building blocks of archaeological interpretations. This session celebrates the artifact, whether individually or as part of larger assemblages. Innovative approaches to artifact analysis are explored from high-tech analytical studies to humanistic contextual interpretations. Arch...
Presentations: 7
SYM-185T: Predicaments and Progress in Public Archaeology
1:30pm - 2:45pm
Brule A & B
Sara Ayers-Rigsby, Audrey B. Andrews
Location: Brule A & B
Session Chair: Sara Ayers-Rigsby, Florida Public Archaeology Network
Session Chair: Audrey B. Andrews, University of Nevada, Reno
This session explores dilemmas faced in public archaeology, as well as how public archaeologists find success in the face of obstacles. Today, public archaeologists face barriers ranging from practical to profound. What challenges are public archaeologists facing today? How are public archaeologists...
Presentations: 5
GEN 08 T: Oral History and Community Memory
3:00pm - 4:15pm
Brule A & B
Eleanor Breen
Location: Brule A & B
Session Chair: Eleanor Breen, Alexandria Archaeology
Presentations: 5
SYM-338T: Archaeology in the Public Realm: A Decade of Work at the Harlem African Burial Ground
9:00am - 11:30am
Cadillac A & B
Elizabeth D. Meade, A. Michael Pappalardo
Location: Cadillac A & B
Session Chair: Elizabeth D. Meade, AKRF
Session Chair: A. Michael Pappalardo, AKRF, Inc.
A grassroots community group formed in the early 2000s successfully lobbied the City of New York to decommission a bus depot built on the site of the Harlem African Burial Ground. In 2015, archaeologists were hired to complete exploratory testing that confirmed that human remains were present on the...
Presentations: 6
GEN 18 T: The Archaeology of Cemeteries
1:45pm - 2:45pm
Cadillac A & B
Melissa A. Timo
Location: Cadillac A & B
Session Chair: Melissa A. Timo, NC Office of State Archaeology
Presentations: 4
SYM-125U: Investigations of 15th-16th century Shipwrecks in the Americas
9:00am - 10:30am
Mackinac East
Charles Beeker
Location: Mackinac East
Session Chair: Charles Beeker, Indiana University
The 15th and 16th centuries marked transformative periods in maritime history, defined by European exploration and the development of transoceanic trade routes. The Americas became a focal point of these voyages, with numerous ships meeting their end along its coasts and waters. Despite archival evi...
Presentations: 5
GEN 19 U: Underwater Archaeology at Lake Champlain
10:45am - 11:45am
Mackinac East
Carolyn Kennedy
Location: Mackinac East
Session Chair: Carolyn Kennedy, Texas A&M University
Presentations: 4
SYM-145U: 250 Years of U.S. Navy History Through the Lens of Maritime Archaeology
1:30pm - 4:45pm
Mackinac East
Alexis Catsambis, George Schwarz
Location: Mackinac East
Session Chair: Alexis Catsambis, Naval History and Heritage Command
Session Chair: George Schwarz, Naval History and Heritage Command
The Continental Navy was established on October 13, 1775 marking this year as the U.S. Navy\'s semiquincentennial. Over the last 250 years, the Navy has transitioned from a small sailing force, through the age of steam and ironclads, to nuclear powered submarines and aircraft flown from aircraft car...
Presentations: 11
FOR-608U: Science in the Sanctuary: Protecting UCH in our Great Lakes National Marine Sanctuaries
9:00am - 11:00am
Mackinac West
Stephanie Gandulla
Location: Mackinac West
Session Chair: Stephanie Gandulla, NOAA Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary
The cold, freshwater of the Great Lakes provides an ideal environment for preserving underwater cultural heritage. Through state and federal protections, the freshwater national marine sanctuaries of the Great Lakes protect important prehistoric sites and a diverse collection of historically-signifi...
Presentations: 1
SYM-114T: Decoding the Washington Landscape: Recent Research at George Washington Birthplace National Monument.
1:30pm - 3:45pm
Mackinac West
Kerry S. Gonzalez, Philip Levy, Julia A. King
Location: Mackinac West
Session Chair: Kerry S. Gonzalez, National Park Service
Discussant: Philip Levy, University of South Florida
Discussant: Julia A. King, St. Mary\'s College of Maryland
For nearly 100 years, archaeological excavations and exhaustive research have been conducted at George Washington Birthplace National Monument in Colonial Beach, Virginia, largely in an effort to determine the location of George Washington’s birth home. This effort was revitalized in the early 2000s...
Presentations: 6
SYM-310T: Unburying Black Towns: Archaeologies of Black Freedom, Erasure, and Mobility Across North America
9:00am - 12:00pm
Ontario East
Nkem M. Ike, Alicia D. Odewale
Location: Ontario East
Session Chair: Nkem M. Ike, University of Toronto
Discussant: Alicia D. Odewale, Archaeology Rewritten
This symposium contributes to a growing body of archaeological research centering Black Towns as sites of freedom, mobility, refuge, and prosperity across North America. Before slavery ended in the U.S., Canada, and the Caribbean, Black people migrated vast distances to escape racial violence and bu...
Presentations: 10
GEN 16 T: The Archaeology of the Black American Experience
1:30pm - 4:30pm
Ontario East
Zoe I. Brown
Location: Ontario East
Session Chair: Zoe I. Brown, The University of Akron
Presentations: 11
FOR-208T: Section 106 and a City on the Move: Archaeological Methodology in Detroit
9:00am - 12:00pm
Ontario West
Samuel R. Burns
Location: Ontario West
Session Chair: Samuel R. Burns, City of Detroit
In the decade since emerging from the largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history, Detroit has seen billions of private and public dollars poured into affordable housing redevelopment projects, triggering a surge in archaeological reviews conducted under the National Historic Preservation Act. Over...
Presentations: 1
SYM-107T: Mobility in French America
1:30pm - 5:15pm
Ontario West
Erika Hartley, Andrew Beaupre, Michael S. Nassaney
Location: Ontario West
Session Chair: Erika Hartley, Western Michigan University
Session Chair: Andrew Beaupre, Maine State Museum
Discussant: Michael S. Nassaney, Western Michigan University
During the exploration and colonization of the New World, the theme of “mobility” can be recognized across the Americas. The French navigated vast territories and diverse social settings, where resourcefulness and adaptability contributed to their survival and success. Landscapes, material culture, ...
Presentations: 13
SYM-138T: Deep Mapping and Archaeological Knowledge: Current and Emergent Approaches
9:00am - 11:45am
Cabot
Dan Trepal, Don Lafreniere, Sarah F. Scarlett
Location: Cabot
Session Chair: Dan Trepal, Michigan Technological University
Session Chair: Don Lafreniere, Michigan Technological University
Discussant: Sarah F. Scarlett, Michigan Technological University
This symposium explores the current state-of-the-art in deep mapping and the role of archaeology within deep mapping projects. Deep maps integrate multi-dimensional information and representations about space, time, architecture, material culture, environment, and community knowledge. Most commonly ...
Presentations: 8
SYM-247T: Storied Landscapes: Co-Producing Meaningful Knowledge about Pasts, Presents, and Futures
9:00am - 11:45am
Nicolet A & B
Meredith S. Chesson, Ian Kuijt, Stephen Silliman, Maria Franklin
Location: Nicolet A & B
Session Chair: Meredith S. Chesson, University of Notre Dame
Session Chair: Ian Kuijt, Univ. of Notre Dame
Discussant: Stephen Silliman, University of Massachusetts Boston
Discussant: Maria Franklin, University of Texas
Humans are storytellers. The narratives and experiences, framed around memories, places and spaces, often nurture profoundly salient lessons. As archaeologists and heritage practitioners, we need to be listeners, learners, storytellers, and co-narrators, in the goal of documenting rich human lived e...
Presentations: 7
SYM-220T: Mobility, Borderlands, and the Commons: Archaeological Perspectives
1:30pm - 5:15pm
Nicolet A & B
Jodi A. Barnes, Kendy Altizer
Location: Nicolet A & B
Session Chair: Jodi A. Barnes, South Carolina Department of Natural Resources
Session Chair: Kendy Altizer, University of North Georgia
This session examines mobility, borderlands, and the commons from the peripheries of cities to the margins of plantation landscapes. From remote plantation settlements to the desire paths of 21st century metropolises, the authors build upon multiple layers of conceptual meanings and use multi-scalar...
Presentations: 13
SPECIAL EVENT-7: Public Archaeology Day
10:00am - 4:00pm
Wayne State University, G.L. Grosscup Museum of Anthropology
Location: Wayne State University, G.L. Grosscup Museum of Anthropology
Sponsored by the Michigan History Center and the Gordon L. Grosscup Museum of Anthropology
Date: Saturday, January 10, 2026 Time: 10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.Location: Wayne State University, G.L. Grosscup...
Date: Saturday, January 10, 2026 Time: 10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.Location: Wayne State University, G.L. Grosscup...
Have you ever wondered what it\'s like to be an archaeologist? Attend Public Archaeology Day on Saturday, January 10, 2026, for your chance to talk with archaeologists about investigations and artifacts, tour Wayne State University anthropology and mineral museums, and enjoy hands-on activities, lab...
T-5: Detroit "Bar"chaeology with Mickey Lyons
6:30pm - 9:30pm
Time: 6:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Maximum: 35 people Cost: $83 per person
From frontier saloons to verified Prohibition-era speakeasies, Detroit\'s bars and taverns tell the stories of the people and events that shaped life during the 19th and 20th centuries. Join Detroit cultural historian and “barchaeologist” Mickey Lyons on this evening tour for a deep dive into some a...