Once every four years, Quaternary researchers from all over the world meet at the INQUA Congress to exchange the latest research results and develop agendas for the years to come. In 2015 a WARP Session is planned lead by Tony Brown, University of Southampton, titled:  Wetland archaeology and environmental change (http://convention.jtbcom.co.jp/inqua2015/session/h04.html).   The Congress will take place in Nagoya, Japan. The Nagoya Congress Center (NCC), the venue, is the largest conference facility in central Japan. Nagoya is located between Tokyo and Osaka, connected to both cities by super-express trains (Shinkansen) departing every ten minutes. Kyoto and Nara, former capitals, Lake Biwa, and the Japan Alps are located within easy access of Nagoya.

The WARP Session is described as follows:

Archaeological sites in wetlands and lake environments have revealed remarkable aspects of the human past that are out of reach of typical dry-land archaeology. This includes the perishable components of material culture that were far more important in early prehistory prior to the use of metals or indeed today. Whilst the excavation of wetland sites started in NW Europe, especially on the famous lake villages of Switzerland, it has now expanded worldwide to southern Europe, North America, and even Africa. One of the geographical areas of greatest potential is SE Asia including Japan, where excavations of Jomon sites have revealed both remarkable, but also important, details of past human lives and their relationship to changing environmental conditions. Because of the exceptional importance of environmental data to wetland archaeology its study has always been closely related to Quaternary studies and this session will exploit this Quaternary-Archaeology synergy. In this session, jointly convened by European and Japanese environmental archaeologists we will address how studies of wetland sites (wetlands and lakes) can contribute to studies of Holocene hunter gatherer lifestyles including plant and animal husbandry, to the history of agriculture worldwide and the relative importance of environmental change at a variety of scales from the short-lived and local ‘events’ to global trends.

The Conveners are:

Tony Brown [University of Southampton]
Akira Matsui [Nara National Institute for Cultural Properties]
Fumio Ohe [Nara National Institute for Cultural Properties]
Masashi Maruyama [Nara National Institute for Cultural Properties]
Toshio Nakamura [Nagoya University]
Iwao Nishida [Saga city]
Nicki Whitehouse [University of Plymouth]

Hope to see you there.  Here’s the main INQUA web site:  http://inqua2015.jp/index.htm .  Here’s a picture of the Nagoya Conference Center and location in Japan.