Session: #793

Content:

International research on lithic raw material provenance has led to the development of lithotheques or reference collections of rocks and minerals. Over time, a great diversity of institutions and studies has contributed to create these collections to document their own research and the specific regional lithological contexts. Its creation has allowed a better knowledge of possible supply areas, providing crucial data for a better understanding of mobility, exchanges and human behaviour throughout prehistory.
Today, these lithotheques should assist us in achieving new goals related to greater contextualization and representativeness of source areas exploited in the past. The management of collections and their associated data is a crucial element for these purposes. In this sense, the recording, contextualization, description and analyses of lithic raw materials must be carried out using standardized methods, going beyond the scope of each lithotheque and allowing the exchange of this information to potential users anywhere. However, consensual workflows, common protocols, digital and open-access platforms and infrastructures facilitating unrestricted and immediate shared data management, and therefore scientific inter-operability, are still globally scarce. Different initiatives are now working in this direction but international cross-border cooperation still remains a challenge.
The creation of open-access tools on lithic raw materials availability enables effective international collaboration based on FAIR principles. They represent a key tool to encourage the sharing of scientific results, optimizing researches carried out and offering long-term data preservation spaces. Understanding open access platforms as a crucial tool in the future of archaeological sciences, the aim of this session is to create an international forum that fosters the knowledge of different tools, methods, data, and approaches developed globally to promote free accessibility, collaboration and transparency as main pillars of the research community and a wider target audience interested on our research.
The organizers would like to acknowledge the dedication of Xavier Mangado (University of Barcelona) and Solène Denis (CNRS-UMR 8068) to the organization of this session, as well as their generosity in refusing to be included among the 5 organizers, in accordance with EAA standards.

Session: #793

Theme & Session Format

Title & Content

Organisers