The next Integrated Microscopy Approaches in Archaeobotany workshop will take place on February 16th – 17th 2019 in the School of Archaeology, Geography and Environmental Sciences, University of Reading, UK. More details including the themes and call for abstracts will follow soon!

The presentation and poster abstracts from the 2018 IMAA workshop can be found here

Registration for the IMAA 2018 (24th-25th February) is now open. Please register using the following link: http://www.store.reading.ac.uk/conferences-and-events/faculty-of-science/school-of-archaeology-geography-environmental-science/integrated-microscopy-approaches-in-archaeobotany

Please note that members of the University of Reading do not need to formally register. Please email imaaworkshop@gmail.com for further details.

Details of the provisional timetable can be found here: https://blogs.reading.ac.uk/integrated-microscopy-approaches-in-archaeobotany/imaa-2018-provisional-timetable/

Thank you for all your abstract submissions, which include a great range of research from sites around the globe. If you submitted an abstract you should have received the registration link. Registration details will be advertised more widely w/c 15th January 2017, with places allocated on a first-come, first-served basis as spaces are limited. There is no participation fee to attend the workshop.

We are delighted to confirm that there will be no participation fee for the IMAA 2018 Workshop.

Abstract submission for posters and oral presentations is still open until December 4th 2017.

Thank you to everyone who has submitted their presentation and poster abstracts. Apologies to everyone who found the initial call in their spam folder.

The deadline for abstracts has been extended until 4th December 2017

Please send your abstracts for oral and poster presentations on the following themes to imaaworkshop@gmail.com:

• Woodland exploitation
• Subsistence networks and diet
• Plant use in funerary, religious and ritual contexts
• Beyond the microscope: method development and microanalysis
• Wetland archaeobotany
• Wild plants in the archaeological record

Abstracts should be no more than 200 words. When submitting your abstract, please write ‘IMAA 2018 Paper’ or ‘IMAA 2018 Poster’ as the subject of the email.

**CALL FOR ABSTRACTS**

Please send your abstracts for oral and poster presentations on the following themes to imaaworkshop@gmail.com:

• Woodland exploitation
• Subsistence networks and diet
• Plant use in funerary, religious and ritual contexts
• Beyond the microscope: method development and microanalysis
• Wetland archaeobotany
• Wild plants in the archaeological record

Abstracts should be no more than 200 words. When submitting your abstract, please write ‘IMAA 2018 Paper’ or ‘IMAA 2018 Poster’ as the subject of the email.

Deadline for abstracts 24th November 2017 

Please follow the link for the IMAA 2018 workshop for further updates about the workshop, including registration details and an additional microscopy session on ‘The microscopic features of dung’: https://blogs.reading.ac.uk/integrated-microscopy-approaches-in-archaeobotany/imaa-2018/

Follow us on Twitter #IMAA2018

1st Circular

The next IMAA Workshop will be held in the School of Archaeology, Geography and Environment Science, University of Reading on 24th- 25th February 2018.

The aim of the workshop is to bring together specialists in geoarchaeology, NPPs, palynology, plant macroremains, and phytoliths who are working in universities, major heritage organisations, and commercial archaeology companies in order to share research and skills. The 2 day workshop will include presentations, poster sessions and microscope sessions.

We invite participants to bring samples, slides, and to present a short talk, or poster within these themes:

• Woodland exploitation
• Subsistence networks and diet
• Plant use in funerary, religious and ritual contexts
• Beyond the microscope: method development and microanalysis
• Wetland archaeobotany
• Wild plants in the archaeological record

We have arranged break-out microscopy sessions on:

• Micro and macro charcoal
• Plant macroremains and wetland management (with discussion)
• Phytoliths

There will be an opportunity to visit the Ure Museum of Greek Archaeology on campus, and Professor Amy Smith, Curator, will give a botanical themed talk on the collection.

Details about registration and abstract submission will follow soon.

To express your interest in attending please email imaaworkshop@gmail.com

Follow us on Twitter at #IMAA2018

We are pleased to announced that there will be no participation fee for the 2017 IMAA workshop, which includes lunch on both days and the drinks reception on Saturday 25^th February. We will arrange a meal on the Saturday evening. Should you wish to attend, this will be at the participants’ own expense. We will ask for numbers to make a booking in due course.

Hopefully, you have now had time to consider your abstracts for oral presentations and posters, as well as to decide what samples and slides you would like to bring to the workshop. Please send any remaining abstracts (250 words) to us by email (imaaworkshop@gmail.com) by 17^th January 2017 and specify if this is for an oral presentation or a poster. Please also let us know if you intend to bring any samples or slides to the workshop, and what they will be.

The themes are:

• The taphonomy of plant remains in urban contexts
• Palaeobotanical approaches in landscape archaeology
• Fired up: composition and preservation of organic remains in burnt contexts
• Morphometric approaches to macro and micro- scopic plant remains
• Animal management strategies

Please note that due to the number of microscopes we have 40 places at the workshop. If there is high demand to attend we will, unfortunately, have to prioritise giving places to those people presenting research and/or bringing samples and slides. We are currently setting up the link to register to attend the workshop. We will email this around shortly when we confirm your place.

Each day of the workshop will have oral presentations in the morning and microscopy time in the afternoon. During each afternoon there will be an ongoing integrated microscopy session with a range of microscopes. There will also be a number of more specialist ‘break-out’ microscopy sessions (1-2 hours in length), which include:

• Phytoliths
• Charcoal identification
• Tropical pollen
• Non pollen palynomorphs
• The micro-contextual analysis of ash, dung, and plant remains in thin-section

The workshop is supported by SAGES and the Vice-Chancellor’s Office, University of Reading, and the Association for Environmental Archaeology.