ICAS-EMME 5, the archaeological sciences congress, returns to The Cyprus Institute in March 2027

ICAS-EMME 5, the fifth "International Congress on Archaeological Sciences in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East", will be held at The Cyprus Institute in Nicosia from 9 to 13 March 2027. STARC, the Institute's Science and Technology in Archaeology and Culture Research Center, shared the save-the-date poster on its Facebook page on 20 October, promising further announcements later.

According to the congress website, STARC organises the series with the Institute's A. G. Leventis Chair in Archaeological Sciences. It is meant for archaeologists and scientists who apply natural, material and computational methods to archaeology and cultural heritage across the region. The same page lists the Archaeological Research Unit of the University of Cyprus, the Cyprus American Archaeological Research Institute (CAARI) and the Institute for Archaeo-Metallurgical Studies as co-organisers. Registration, the organisers say, opens soon.

The 2024 congress and earlier editions

The organisers date the second and third editions to 2019 and 2022. The fourth met at the Institute from 15 to 18 May 2024, run by STARC and the Leventis Chair together with the Archaeological Research Unit and CAARI. The Institute's report on that meeting lists nine subjects, from immersive technologies and climate change to human osteoarchaeology, plasters and ceramics, and the fight against looting and the illicit trade in antiquities.

OneArchSci and the 2027 meeting

The 2027 congress also appears on the pages of OneArchSci, whose logo is on the poster beside that of the A. G. Leventis Foundation. OneArchSci is an ERA Chair at the Institute, funded by the European Union's Horizon Europe programme under Grant Agreement No. 101186503. Its stated purpose is to strengthen the Institute's archaeological science group and make it the leading team for the Balkans, the Eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East. Professor Patrick Degryse of KU Leuven is to work with the Cyprus team over five years.