We are delighted to announce Session 47: Artificial Intelligence – A Step into the Post-digital Era of Archaeology, 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 S47)
About the Session
Archaeology today exists firmly in the post-digital era, an environment where digital tools have become so embedded that their absence feels more disruptive than their presence. Techniques like GIS and 3D modelling, once considered innovations, are now routine. Into this context enters artificial intelligence (AI), raising new questions about how we generate, preserve, and interpret archaeological knowledge.
This session will explore how AI is being embraced in archaeology, not only as a technical tool but as a cultural and ethical force that reshapes research practices, interpretations, and collaborations. We invite case studies, reflections, and debates on the promises and pitfalls of AI in the post-digital landscape.
Suggested Topics
Submissions may address (but are not limited to):
- Critical perspectives on AI adoption in archaeology
- Case studies of AI applied to data analysis, classification, or interpretation
- The cultural narratives embedded in AI applications (e.g., colonial legacies, mythologies)
- Ethical implications of AI use, including bias, representation, and accessibility
- Collaboration between researchers with data and those with AI expertise
- Questions of reproducibility, transparency, and the future of archaeological knowledge production
Why Participate?
This session provides a space to reflect on what AI really means for archaeology in the post-digital era. By bringing together researchers, practitioners, and technologists, it aims to balance innovation with critical inquiry, ensuring AI serves archaeological knowledge responsibly and inclusively.
The conversation builds on themes central to the MAIA COST Action, which supports responsible, ethical, and community-oriented uses of AI across heritage.
Session Organisers
- Grégoire van Havre (Universidade Federal do Piauí)
- Kayeleigh Sharp (Northern Arizona University)
- Mathias Bellat (Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen)