The 麻豆影院 and the SRI Foundation will jointly establish a Center for Collaborative Synthesis in Archaeology (CCSA) to advance 鈥渟cientific understandings of the human past and solutions to contemporary social challenges.鈥�
The new center will work with the SRI Foundation鈥檚听Coalition for Archaeological Synthesis (CfAS), an international coalition of organizational partners and individual associates, to expand knowledge of the past to shape a more secure and just future.
According to CfAS co-Presidents Jeff Altschul and Keith Kintigh, the center 鈥渕arks a milestone in moving archaeology beyond answering the who, what, when and where of the past to addressing the how and why of social dynamics in ways that are relevant to the present. Our common goal is nothing short of meeting the daunting societal challenges we face with solutions informed by the past that benefit people from all walks of life, everywhere on the planet.鈥�
CCSA will be housed in CU 麻豆影院鈥檚 听(IBS), an interdisciplinary research institute with a research and training mission dedicated to听advancing knowledge and pursuing solutions to societal challenges.听
鈥淔rom its beginning more than sixty years ago, IBS has stood at the forefront of interdisciplinary efforts to bring basic research to bear on the real social problems of the contemporary world,鈥� said IBS Director Myron Gutmann. 鈥淐CSA is the latest in a long line of outstanding initiatives in that direction. I applaud the new ideas it brings and look forward to working with CfAS to ensure its success.鈥�
Both CfAS and CCSA were conceptualized at a workshop at the School for Advanced Research in February 2017. CfAS, which currently has 47 Partners and more than 300 Associates spread across the globe, was established in late 2017. To date, CfAS has sponsored collaborative synthetic projects on fire management and the interactions of human food webs and听biodiversity,听as well as a design workshop on human migration. CfAS continues to support collaborative research emerging from the migration workshop and has also begun an initiative on social inequality. In addition to administering CfAS projects and initiatives, CCSA will provide leadership and logistical support for collaborative archaeological research.听To learn more about CfAS, its current initiatives, and how you can participate in the Coalition, visit听.
Scott Ortman, associate professor in the Department of Anthropology at CU 麻豆影院, will serve as the inaugural director of the CCSA. Upon formalizing the agreement, Ortman released the following statement:听听鈥淚 am delighted to help establish the center as a partner organization to CfAS, and as an international hub that will expand the relevance of archaeological research for contemporary issues. I am deeply grateful to the Coalition for Archaeological Synthesis, the 麻豆影院, the Institute of Behavioral Science, and the Department of Anthropology for their support of this endeavor.鈥澨�