We are pleased to announce Session 9: AI Applications in Cultural Heritage and Archaeological Protection, which will take place at the Computer Applications and Quantitative Methods in Archaeology (CAA) Conference 2026 in Vienna.
📅 Abstract submission deadline: 26 October 2025
🔗 Submit your abstract
📜 Full list of sessions (see S9)
About the Session
Illicit excavations and the trafficking of cultural property remain serious transnational threats, often linked to organised crime and conflict-related instability. Addressing this challenge requires interdisciplinary collaboration and the integration of innovative digital tools.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) are emerging as game changers in this domain, enabling the processing and analysis of vast datasets at unprecedented speed and accuracy. These technologies can support the rapid identification, classification, and monitoring of archaeological features and artefacts, enhancing early detection and response capabilities.
This session invites contributions from researchers, heritage professionals, law enforcement agencies, technologists, and policymakers working on AI- and ML-driven approaches to cultural heritage protection.
Suggested Topics
Submissions may address (but are not limited to):
- Remote sensing and site detection
- Artefact recognition and provenance analysis
- Predictive modelling of looting risk
- Integrated monitoring and early warning systems
Contributors are encouraged to provide details on validation methods, datasets, metrics, and limitations to ensure methodological transparency and comparability.
Why Participate?
This session offers a critical space to discuss how AI can help safeguard cultural heritage from looting, trafficking, and destruction, while ensuring technological innovation proceeds with ethical, legal, and cultural responsibility.
It also resonates with the goals of the MAIA COST Action, which emphasises transparent, reproducible, and culturally sensitive uses of AI. By participating, you will contribute to shaping a shared vision for responsible AI in archaeology.
Session Organisers
- Dante Abate (ERATOSTHENES Centre of Excellence)
- Fabio Remondino (Fondazione Bruno Kessler)
- Donna Yates (Maastricht University)
- Hector A. Orengo (Barcelona Supercomputing Centre)