In the European Year of Cultural Heritage, the ICOMOS International Scientific Committee for Archaeological Heritage Management (ICAHM) is happy to announce that the 2018 ICAHM Annual Meeting, will take place in the spectacular Medieval castle of Montalbano Elicona (province of Messina, Sicily, Italy), in cooperation with the Municipality of Montalbano Elicona and under the patronage of ICOMOS Italy.

Call for Papers
Please submit your presentation abstract electronically with the electronic Submission Form on the conference website: icahm.icomos.org/2018-icahm-annual-meetingsicily/sicily-submit-an-abstract/. Your abstract must be 100-300 words in length and should be submitted before May 1st 2018. Please find more information about the conference themes below.

The language of this conference is English.

Conference Focus and Themes
In 6 themes we will discuss different approaches to archaeological heritage management:
Community Engagement
Climate Change
Tourism and heritage
Non-Invasive Technologies
Archaeoastronomy
Africa Initiative
During a pre-conference Fieldwork Day on 24 October you will have the unique opportunity to apply different techniques and theories to the virgin rock complex of Argimusco, on which very few study have been made. 

Community Engagement
Everybody speaks about the need for a participatory approach to archeological heritage management, but we have limited experience of practical examples that show the problems of implementation. We would like to know about specific cases which either illustrate the problems of doing this or show effective results that improve archaeological management beyond a simple description of specific actions (the need for participation is obvious, but, what more is required).

It is very important to show what else is needed as a part of the participatory processes e.g. how to:

• • change the narratives of the sites to contribute to multi-vocal or multifocal discourses;
• • improve aspects of conservation through collaborative or cooperative actions;
• • re-involve local communities with archaeological sites that have become tourist attractions;

• establish new channels of communications among all the stakeholders.
If you have any practical example of these or other actions (not general theory) please give demonstrable examples and describe the mechanisms and specific results in your papers.
In addition, we are also looking for papers that show a comparative analysis of the situation before and after community involvement (or a change in the way of approaching community engagement) over a reasonable time period (more than one year), that illustrates the advantages and disadvantages of new models of work. As a practical result of this session, we would like to develop a strong critique that can be used to instrumentalize and incorporate participatory actions as a new creed or model of archaeological heritage management.

Climate Change
The impacts of climate change on heritage sites and landscapes are already observable. Rising sea levels and storm surge impact coastal sites; increasing aridity degrade cultural and natural landscapes; warmer temperatures effect biotic communities and cause dislocation and migration. These are but a few of the impacts that are and will bear severely on heritage sites globally. This session invites case studies of places and sites as well as strategies for sustainability and promoting resilience in the face of climate change.

Tourism and heritage
The UN designated 2017 as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development during which the role of tourism was promoted in five key areas. The fourth area was related to cultural values, diversity and heritage aiming to: revive traditional activities and customs; empower communities and nurture pride within them; promote cultural diversity; and raise awareness of the value of heritage.
Although these are among the main issues currently debated in public and community archaeology arenas, the relationship between archaeology, sustainable tourism and development still needs to be examined in depth. In ICAHM’s session on Heritage and Tourism we shall look at practical examples that combine safeguarding heritage (more specifically archaeological) areas, with the demands of the tourism industry, while promoting a sustainable economic and social development for the local communities.
The following questions will be addressed:
• How can we contribute to promote a broad stakeholders’ engagement in the planning, development and management of sustainable tourism in heritage/ archaeological areas?
• What kind of policies, strategies, frameworks, techniques and tools are used to foster sustainable tourism in relation to heritage/archaeology? What are the outcomes?
• How can we, as archaeologists, provide stakeholders with the capacity and the tools to manage tourism efficiently, responsibly and sustainably, based on the local context and needs?
• How can we promote quality archaeological tourism?

Archaeoastronomy
Archaeoastronomy is a multidisciplinary science that deals with the study of the orientation of ancient monuments (temples, tombs, menhirs, etc.) as a function of celestial phenomena (for example the rising and setting of the Sun or the Moon), but also of the representations of celestial bodies and asterisms in paintings, sculptures and engravings in antiquity, and finally of the reconstruction of astronomical events using observational data from historical times. More recently we talk more about cultural astronomy. There are several groups of scholars who deal with archaeoastronomy, both from Humanities and Natural Sciences. The main international organizations that deal with cultural astronomy are: ISAAC (International Society for Archaeoastronomy and Astronomy in Culture), SEAC (European Society for Astronomy in Culture) and SIAC (Sociedad Interamericana de Astronomía en la Cultura).
In November 2017 ICOMOS-IAU published a book entitled “Heritage Sites of Astronomy and Archaeoastronomy in the Context of the World Heritage Convention”, which examines a number of key questions relating to astronomical heritage sites and their potential recognition as World Heritage.
In this session we will examine the techniques used for archaeoastronomy studies and we will take a closer look at how archaeoastronomical research at archaeological sites has increased our understanding and knowledge of the sky of our ancestors. Moreover in this session will present case studies of places and sites with archaeoastronomical values.

Continuing the Africa Initiative
ICAHM began the African initiative under the coPresidency of Willem J.H. Willems and Douglas C. Comer in 2010. This was at the suggestion of Gustavo Araoz, then the President of ICOMOS, who urged ICAHM to assist in identifying archaeological sites in Africa During that year, ICAHM attended the Pan African conference in the Dakar, Senegal, and presented a major symposium in which a panel of archaeologists active in Africa participated.
They plenary address was provided by Webber Ndoro who was director of the African World Heritage fund. In the intervening years ICAHM has published two books in its series with Springer Press on heritage management and world heritage in Africa.
In 2017 ICAHM held its annual conference in Bagamoyo, Tanzania. At this conference, Webber Ndoro also gave the plenary address and African archaeological colleagues were invited to participate in a meeting that set the stage for mobilizing the African initiative. In December 2017 at the ICOMOS triennial General assembly in New Delhi, US/ICOMOS, the ICOMOS national committee for the United States, arranged a meeting with representation from approximately 20 national committees and persons who had attended the Africa Regional Meeting On New Delhi. National committees are now forming a coalition to move this effort forward, with some differences. Among them are that since 2010, a number of archaeological sites in Africa have been inscribed on the World Heritage List. There is now the sense that other types of sites in Africa should be inscribed. This session will explore possible ways that ICAHM can remain closely engaged with the African Initiative. Among the possibilities are working with African States Parties and national committees, as well as the Africa World Heritage Fund to identify archaeological landscapes and to work with already established archaeological sites to utilize the Salalah Guidelines for the Management of Public Archaeological Sites. This document was accepted by vote on the December 2017 New Delhi Triennial General Assembly as a doctrinal text.

Non-Invasive Technologies
Non-Invasive Technologies will be approached as a crosscutting theme. Papers will be assessed by a dedicated scientific panel and then assigned to themes accordingly. It must be an overriding principle that the gathering of information about the archaeological heritage should not destroy any more archaeological evidence than is necessary for the protection or scientific objectives of the investigation. Nondestructive techniques, aerial and ground survey, and sampling should therefore be encouraged wherever possible, in preference to total excavation. (ICAHM Lausanne Charter, 1990: Article 5)
In line with Article 5 of the World Heritage Convention and the ICOMOS- Lausanne Charter, non-invasive technologies have revolutionized the way we survey, investigate, maintain and conserve archaeological heritage. While traditional techniques remain of central importance, in many cases lowcost platforms, increasing availability of data, and applicability of specialist software, have changed the relationship between technology and heritage practitioners.
This session will explore the application of remote and noninvasive technologies to cultural heritage sites and landscapes including (but not limited to) geophysical prospection, terrestrial and airborne laser scanning, imagery captured by unmanned aerial vehicles and its derivative models, airborne photography and imagery and data captured by satellite platforms. We are particularly interested in how non-invasive technologies can be used as decision support tools in heritage management, and how technologies can be used to address global challenges including climate and rapid landscape change, the damage or destruction of heritage due to conflict, and heritage monitoring in isolated parts of the world.

Fieldwork day
On October 24th, before the official start of the conference, there will be an optional Fieldwork Day at the Argimusco site near Montalbano Elicona. During this day we will have the unique opportunity to apply different techniques and theories to the rock complex site of Argimusco, on which very few study have been made.
During this day experts will gather at Argimusco to demonstrate and test a range of non-invasive remote sensing techniques used in archaeological investigations or assessments. The data that will be collected on that day and in the preceding few days for demonstration on the Fieldwork Day will be extremely valuable for mapping Argimusco and further research and development of the site. The number of participants for this day is limited to 30 and and the fee to participate is 55 $. For more information please visit the conference website: icahm.icomos.org/2018-icahm-annual-meetingsicily/sicily-fieldwork-day/