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The X Nordic Meeting on Stratigraphy and the XI Nordic Conference on the Application of Scientific Methods in Archaeology, SMIA XI, will be jointly arranged October 20th–23rd 2015 at University of Helsinki, Finland.

The First Nordic Meeting on Stratigraphy (Stratigrafimöte) was held in Stockholm in 1996. Since then Nordic archaeologists have gathered together nine times to discuss stratigraphy, which forms the basis for all contextual methods in archaeology. Today, stratigraphy is one of the most important methods both in field archaeology and in interpreting the archaeological record. The aim of the meetings is to develop both the theoretical background and the practical applications of stratigraphy.

In the tenth Nordic Meeting on Stratigraphy in Helsinki in 2015, the most important dimension of the meeting is to discuss how we can combine stratigraphical and scientific methods effectively in order to strengthen the co-operation between archaeologists and scientists, to continue building solid foundations for future development of producing, analysing and interpreting the archaeological record.

The first Nordic Conference on the Application of Scientific Methods in Archaeology was arranged at the initiative of scientists in Stockholm in 1978, and a Nordic scientific committee for the conference was founded. The conference was arranged triennially in 1978–1996. After the dissolving of the Nordic committee, the conference has been arranged irregularly, in Umeå (2001), Trondheim (2007) and Esbjerg (2012). The name SMIA (Scientific Methods in Archaeology) was first used in 2007.

The purpose of the SMIA is to bring together archaeologists and scientists to discuss new methodologies, techniques and theories for scientific research in archaeology, to disseminate knowledge and to develop cooperation between researchers in different fields and from different countries. The previous conference arranged in Finland took place in Helsinki in 1996. The goal of the SMIA XI in Helsinki in 2015 is, in addition to aforesaid aims, to re-establish a Nordic committee for the SMIA and to restore the conference in its position as a major triennial meeting on scientific methods in archaeology.

For more information see: http://www.helsinki.fi/arkeologia/tapahtumat/SMIA_XI/SMIA_web.htm