Themed “Water, Society and Civilization”, the Third Shanghai Archaeology Forum was opened at Shanghai University on December 8. It’s jointly sponsored by CASS and Shanghai Municipal People’s Government, and undertaken by the Institute of Archaeology of CASS, Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Cultural Heritage Administration, Shanghai Academy and Shanghai University.

At the opening ceremony, the forum granted the “Shanghai Archaeology Forum Award” to excellent individuals or organizations for their important field archaeological findings or innovative, creative, and scientific research results over the past three years. The Forum Appraisal Committee shortlisted 40 projects out of 91 validly nominated ones, and finally chose two for the “Distinguished Service Award”, ten for “Important Field Archeological Findings Award” and nine for “Important Archeological Research Results Award”. The forum also conferred the “Lifetime Achievement Award”.

Winner of the “Lifetime Achievement Award”

Professor Brian M. Fagan from University of California, Santa Barbara won the “Lifetime Achievement Award”, and was presented the medal and certificate by Weng Tiehui, Vice Mayor of Shanghai.

Winners of the “Distinguished Service Award” (two winners)

Wen Xueguo, Executive Vice President of Shanghai Academy and Vice President of Shanghai University, and Wang Wei, member of the Academic Division of CASS and Chairman of the Archaeological Society of China, presented the “Distinguished Service Award” to Christopher Scarre from Durham University and Professor Maamoun Abdulkarim from Damascus University.

Winners of the “Important Field Archeological Findings Award” (10 winners)

Jin Donghan, President of Shanghai University, and Ma Yuan, Director of the Bureau of Scientific Research Management of CASS, presented the medals and certificates to the ten winners of the “Important Field Archeological Findings Award”. The awarded projects include:

1. Graeme Barker (University of Cambridge)

Rainforest Foraging and Farming in Island Southeast Asia: 50 Millennia of Prehistory at the Niah Caves, Borneo

2. Eszter Bánffy (German Archaeological Institute)

The Neolithic at Alsónyék in southern Hungary: a Persistent Place for 1300 years in the 6-5 Millennia BC

3. Guy D. Stiebel (Tel Aviv University, Israel)

Aqua Regis – King Herod the Great's Usage of Water at Masada

4. Thomas Sutikna (University of Wollongong, Australia), Mathew Tocheri (Lakehead University, Canada)

Revised Stratigraphy and Chronology for Homo floresiensis at Liang Bua in Indonesia

5. James C. Chatters (National Institute of Anthropology and History, Mexico), Pilar Luna Erreguerena (National Institute of Anthropology and History, Mexico)

Archeological Project, Hoyo Negro, Quintana Roo, Mexico

6. Patricia L. Crown (University of New Mexico), W.H. Will (University of New Mexico)

Investigating Water Control, Exchange, and Ritual through Excavations of Pueblo Bonito, Chaco Canyon, New Mexico

7. Jaime J. Awe (Northern Arizona University)

The Discovery and Political Significance of the A9 Tomb and Hieroglyphic Panels 3 and 4 at Xunantunich, Belize

8. Meng Huaping (Hubei Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology)

New Discoveries at Shijiahe - a Central Prehistoric Settlement in the Middle Yangzi Region

9. Chris Clarkson (University of Queensland, Australia)

65,000 Years of Human Occupation in Australia

10. Jacques Jaubert (Université de Bordeaux, France)

The Oldest Appropriation of a Deep Cave Environment in the World: Bruniquel (France) and the Early Neanderthals

Winners of the “Important Archeological Research Results Award” (9 winners)

Wang Weiguang, President of CASS, Ying Yong, Mayor of Shanghai, and Guan Qiang, Vice Director of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, presented medals and certificates to the nine winners of the “Important Archeological Research Results Award”. The awarded projects include:

1. Amber VanDerwarker (University of California, Santa Barbara), Gregory Wilson (University of California, Santa Barbara)

Warfare, Drought, and Agriculture: Coping with Conflict and Food Insecurity

2. Neal Spencer (British Museum)

Amara West Research Project: Exploring Lived Experience in Pharaonic Egypt’s Nubian Colony (1300-800 BC)

3. Karin Margarita Frei (National Museum of Denmark)

The Tale of the Skrydstrup Woman

4. Richard Evershed (University of Bristol)

The Milking Revolution in Temperate Neolithic Europe

5. Barbara W. Fash (Harvard University), William L. Fash (Harvard University)

Interdisciplinary Approaches to Investigating and Preserving Copán's Cultural Heritage

6. Giorgio Buccellati (University of California, Los Angeles), Marilyn Kelly Buccellati (University of California, Los Angeles)

Archaeology for a Young Future: the New Syrian Life of the Ancient City of Urkesh

7. Liu Li (Stanford University), Chen Xingcan (Institute of Archaeology at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences)

The Archaeology of China: From the First Villages to the First States

8. Hizri Amirkhanov (Institute of Archaeology, Russian Academy of Sciences)

Early Humans at the Eastern Gate of Europe: The Discovery and Investigation of Oldowan Sites in Northern Caucasus

9. He Nu, Gao Jiangtao (Institute of Archaeology at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences), Wang Xiaoyi (Shanxi Institute of Archaeology)

Taosi: the Beginning of "China" and "Central Plain"

(Article by Xiang Jinmei, photos by

Zha Jianguo and Xie Nini)