The 2026 Conference

January 28–30, 2026, at the University of Geneva (Grand Auditoire de Physique – École de Physique, 24 quai Ernest-Ansermet)

Theme 1: Routes of the Past – Interdisciplinary Approaches to the Mobility of Ancient Populations

Guest Speaker: Marco Milella, Department of Biology, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy

“Mobility and Social Dynamics Across the Alps during the Late Iron Age”

Population mobility is a key theme in the study of human societies. It takes various forms: individual or collective, voluntary or forced, regular or occasional, short or long distance, temporary or permanent, occurring over a lifetime or across several generations. To understand these dynamics, it is often essential to establish a dialogue between various disciplines.

The objective of this session is to highlight the importance of interdisciplinary approaches in exploring the different forms of mobility in ancient societies.

This session aims to bring together research that has employed an interdisciplinary discourse, through the mobilization and interaction of data from different approaches (bioanthropology, archaeology, paleogenomics, isotope geochemistry, etc.) in order to refine, nuance, and complete our knowledge of the settlement dynamics of past societies.

Keywords: population dynamics, migration, paleogenomics, isotopes, cultural exchanges, networks, social interactions

Scientific Committee: Camille de Becdelièvre, Jocelyne Desideri, Caroline Polet, Maïté Rivollat, Déborah Rosselet-Christ

Theme 2: Wounded Bodies, Violent Societies – Cross-perspectives on Interpersonal Violence in Past Societies

Guest Speaker: Linda Fibiger, School of History, Classics and Archaeology, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom

“Exploring the emergence of warfare and gendered violence in prehistoric Europe”

The study of interpersonal violence provides a particularly interesting lens through which to approach the socio-cultural, economic, and political dynamics of ancient societies. Individuals with trauma are regularly identified in archaeological contexts, but is it truly violence or simple accidents? While it is not always easy to decide, especially for the earliest periods, some contexts, however, leave no room for doubt.

This session aims to bring together research that has employed an interdisciplinary discourse to identify not only the concrete manifestations of interpersonal violence (trauma, weapons, iconography, etc.) within past human communities but also the social constructions related to this violence.

Keywords: trauma, paleopathology, warfare, conflicts, social violence

Scientific Committee: Anouk Bystritzsky, Bérénice Chamel, Antony Colombo, Julie Debard, Christopher Knusel

Theme 3: Current Research

This theme will bring together recent findings in the discipline, whether they are new discoveries or methodological advances.