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World Archaeological Congress

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Lab · Class 6–12Archaeology & Discovery

Established in 1986, WAC holds an international Congress every four years to promote the exchange of results from archaeological research; professional training and public education for disadvantaged nations, groups and communities; the empowerment and betterment of Indigenous groups and First Nations peoples; and the conservation of archaeological sites.

History

The World Archaeological Congress was established in 1986, after a controversy concerning the planned attendance of South African and Namibian scholars at the 11th Congress of the International Union of Prehistoric and Protohistoric Sciences in Southampton, United Kingdom. In the run-up to the congress, Southampton City Council and other organizations funding the meeting demanded that scholars from South Africa and Namibia were banned from participation in view of Apartheid in South Africa. The British organizers complied with this demand, but the Executive Committee of UISPP ultimately ruled that it was against the organization's constitution to exclude any international bona fide scholars, and withdrew its endorsement of the conference. The National Secretary of the Congress, Peter Ucko, moved forward with the meeting under a new name, the World Archaeological Congress. The resulting meeting drew in 1000 people from 100 countries, with the special attempt to include people from new nations and minority groups to participate in the congress. Since that time, WAC has "constituted itself as a uniquely representative non-profit organization of worldwide archaeology that recognizes the historical and social role, and the political context, of archaeology, and the need to make archaeological studies relevant to the wider community. It especially seeks to debate and refute institutionalized views that serve the interests of a privileged few to the detriment of disenfranchised others. WAC explicitly values diversity against institutionalized mechanisms that marginalize the cultural heritage of indigenous peoples, minorities and the poor".

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