UPCOMING MEETINGS

American Association for State and Local History

The American Association for State and Local History (AASLH) will hold their annual meeting September 21-24, 2005, in Pittsburgh, Pa. The theme for this year�fs meeting is History�fs Mysteries. For more information, check the web site at www.aaslh.org/anmeeting.htm.

Midwest Archaeological Conference

The Midwest Archaeological Conference (MAC) will be held October 20-23, 2005, in Dayton, Ohio. Included in the activities will be a special showing of three new films from the Ohio Archaeology series by Voyageur Media Group Inc. on Thursday evening and a reception at SunWatch Indian Village/Archaeological Park on Friday evening. Keynote speaker at the Saturday evening banquet will be Dr. Lawrence Keely, of the University of Illinois, Chicago. The exhibit Quest for Immortality: Treasures of Ancient Egypt will be on display at the Dayton Art Institute during the conference. Send paper proposals to Robert Riordan at robert.riordan@wright.edu. For more information, check the web site at www.midwestarchaeology.org/.

Southeastern Archaeological Conference

The Southeastern Archaeological Conference (SEAC) will be held November 2-5, 2005, in Columbia, S.C. For more information, check the web site at www.southeasternarchaeology.org/.

National Interpreters�f Workshop

The National Association for Interpretation (NAI) will hold their annual Interpreters�f Workshop November 8-12, 2005, in Mobile, Al. The theme for the workshop is Full Speed Ahead. The NAI is also planning their 1st annual international workshop, Interpreting World Heritage, to be held May 2006. For information on either of these meetings, check the web site at www.interpnet.com/home.htm.

REPORTS OF PAST MEETINGS

Argentine Archeology National Conference

The 15th Argentine Archaeology National Conference was held at the university campus at Ri�Lo Cuarto, Cordoba Province, Argentina, from September, 20-25, 2004. The Universidad Nacional de Ri�Lo Cuarto received more than 1,200 registered participants, 640 of them contributing papers whose abstracts were published in a comprehensive volume, 470 pages long, as well as in a compact disk format. Scholars from several countries took part in the conference, notably Brazil, Uruguay, Chile, and Peru, even though most participants were Argentines.

The 15th Argentine Conference sessions enabled participants to note the growing interest for the social understanding of the archaeological past, beyond mere description and empirical reporting. If in previous conferences the main interest was related to such themes as environmental adaptation, evolution, classification and typology, now those traditional subjects were complemented by the study of the social consequences of the archaeological work, but also by the discussion of such issues as social inequalities, material culture and modern societies, social theory, among several other subjects related to the social and political aspects of the discipline.

In the wake of World Archaeological Congress introduction of indigenous participation in archaeological conferences since the mid 1980s, at the 15th Argentine Conference the participation of native peoples was a novelty and says much about the growing awareness of the social consequences and responsibilities of archaeological practices.The conference has shown the variety of theoretical and political stands in archaeology in Argentina and the whole region. We look forward to the next conferences for a broadening of those debates, for the benefit of archaeology and society at large. For further information, contact Pedro Paulo Funari at ppfunari@uol.com.br.