BABAO 2013

Posted on 10 October 2013

The 15th annual British Association of Biological Anthropology and Osteoarchaeology conference was held from the 13th to the 15th September at York

The largest ever BABAO (British Association of Biological Anthropology and Osteoarchaeology) conference was held last month with 220 delegates from all over the world, including the United States, New Zealand and Korea, representing all aspects of bioarchaeology, ranging from primates, burial ritual and palaeopathology to isotopes and DNA analysis. The organising committee comprised Sophy Charlton, Emily Hellewell, Malin Holst, Michelle Mundee and Keri Rowsell with support from Alizon Holland, Ol Craig and Matthew Collins.

The sessions covered ‘Treatment of the Body’, ‘Ethnicity and Migration’, ‘Investigation of Lifeways’ and there was a wide ranging ‘Open Session’. A total of 51 podium presentations, were given, including those by Jessica Hendy and Camilla Speller from York, with four keynote lectures, including Paul O’Higgins from HYMS. There were 70 posters, with 5 departmental posters by Keri Rowsell, Sophy Charlton, Jessica Hendy, Fabio Serchisu and Anna Fotaki. There were two workshops, one on early career publishing and a practical workshop on age determination of adolescent skeletons. The traditional Saturday night dinner and conference quiz were held at the National Railway Museum.

Ten dedicated student helpers helped in making the conference a success (Hope Martin, Guro Rolandsen, Beth Fox, Alex Jamieson, Chloe Brown, Ashley Geisel, Brittany Williams, Harry Robson, Anna Fotaki andalso Ruby Wilson, who also designed the conference logo). If you would like to see more conference photos, visit us on Facebook or read the Twitter feed.