Workshop 2: Groningen
Tuesday 23rd - Friday 26th March 2021
The 2nd SeaChanges Workshop took place online from Tuesday 23rd March - Friday 26th March 2021.
Delays
The workshop was originally scheduled to take place in Groningen, The Netherlands, in March 2020, but due to the Covid-19 pandemic it was postponed, first to October 2020, and then again to March 2021. Due to the practical nature of the workshop, the workshop was delayed twice in the hopes that it could eventually take place face to face.
The decision was taken in January 2021, that we could delay the workshop no further and it was moved to an online setting.
Attendees
Canan Çakırlar, the PI from the University of Groningen, curated and hosted the workshop; David Orton was present for all sessions as the SeaChanges Project Coordinator, along with Nell Booker, the SeaChanges Project Manager, both from the University of York.
All 15 ESRs were present for the full workshop. Across the 4 days, there were 33 people in attendance at the main workshop. The other attendees were all session presenters or discussants.
We ran two ‘formal’ social functions outside of the core workshop time, which were attended by some of the extended SeaChanges network of Supervisors (all were invited) and representatives from selected Partner organisations.
Content
The original remit of the workshop was as follows:
“Workshop 2: Sourcing, identifying, and sampling archaeological specimens: field sampling techniques & their implications; storing, transporting, and archiving samples; sourcing samples from local and national collections; fish bone identification; choosing appropriate samples; practical, legal, and ethical issues in sampling natural and cultural heritage material.“
Despite running the workshop virtually, most of the original planned content was still able to run in the online workshop - albeit a lot less hands-on. Planned field trips were turned into virtual walkthroughs, bone identification was turned into online video tutorials and all other content was delivered via a mixture of formal and informal discussions and presentations.
Pre-work was set for nearly every session - which was allocated by the presenters and circulated to the ESRs two weeks before the workshop. The pre-work included readings, exercises and videos of lectures and tours. The aim was to encourage the ESRs to come to the sessions ready to engage in discussion on these topics, rather than asking them to sit through lots of long presentations on the day.
Mindful of ‘zoom fatigue’ we kept the days shorter than normal and held regular breaks.
Two social functions were organised to allow for networking and to encourage casual conversations that would have taken place during workshop breaks at a face to face event.
Timetable
Day 1: Tuesday 23rd March
Most of Day 1 was spent covering Excavation & Stratigraphy, and Sampling Strategies.
Presentations were provided by the academic team at the University of Groningen, to showcase their knowledge and experience of utilising these techniques in various locations.
The group was then split into smaller breakout rooms, to have more detailed discussions and Q&As on these topics; each room had 1+ ‘specialist’ joining them to facilitate the discussions.
Evening Social Event - after a break at the end of the day, we joined together for a social event, which took the form of a quiz. The wider SeaChanges Network was invited to join us, and on the night we had 15 additional attendees.
Day 2: Wednesday 24th March
During the morning session we had two presentations on Bone Identification - Fish and Cetaceans were the main focus.
In the afternoon we had a presentation from a previous Horizon 2020 MSCA fellow, Jack Dury, who shared his experience with OxCal with the group.
Day 3: Thursday 25th March
Day 3 started with a session which had been requested by the ESRs previously, Quantification & Meta Analysis, and finished with a session on Sampling for Destructive Analysis.
Most of the day was spent in whole group discussions, with some breakout sessions used in the afternoon for more focused conversations.
Day 4: Friday 26th March
Following a session on CITES (CITES is a multilateral treaty to protect endangered plants and animals), the ESRs watched a virtual walkthrough of a visit to a couple of sites and repositories in the Netherlands (which they should have visited in person), as part of the Governmental Organisations, Heritage Law and Bioarchaeological Samples session.
The workshop finished with a session on Data Management, which covered some basic themes that will be explored further at the Oslo workshop in October.
Evening Social/Networking Session - after a short break, the ESRs returned to a new platform, called Wonder. A platform which allows free flowing movement of individuals, to form conversations with others in the ‘room’ - either 1-2-1 or in groups of up to 15.
Again, the wider SeaChanges Network was invited to join us, and on the night we had 12 additional attendees.
Wonder provided a really effective tool for allowing individuals to have more ‘natural’ exchanges and set their own pace and direction - the session worked really well as a substitute for informal in-person networking.
