Time: 

• 4-6 August 2023

Place:

• Moesgaard Museum and Aarhus University, Denmark

From 4 – 6 August 2023, the 56th Seminar for Arabian Studies will take place at Moesgaard Museum and Aarhus University, Denmark. This year we celebrate the 70th jubilee of the pioneering Arabian Gulf expeditions (est. 1953-).  

The seminar has been jointly organized by the department of Archaeology at Aarhus University and the Orient Department at Moesgaard Museum and is under the patronage of the International Association for the Study of Arabia.  
The Seminar for Arabian Studies is the only annual international forum for the presentation of the latest academic research on the Arabian Peninsula. Topics covered include archaeology, history, epigraphy, languages, literature, art, culture, ethnography, and geography from the beginnings to the present or, in the case of political and social history, to the end of the Ottoman Empire (1922). Historically, the Seminar has had an exemplary track record of timely publication of its proceedings and also this year’s papers will after peer-review be eligible for publication in the 54th Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies (2024). Approximately 75 papers will be delivered during the conference ranging from the Paleo/Neo-lithic of the Arabian Peninsula to early Islamic times. On 5th August, 11 of these papers will be delivered in a special session, Bronze Age Arabia - 70 years on…  - What we have learned, and what we still don’t know?, in which invited international experts will treat the latest research on Bronze Age Arabia and explore new directions. There will also be approximately 20-30 thematically oriented posters. 
 

Keynote:
On 4th August, Adrian G. Parker Professor in Geography at Oxford Brookes University, will give the keynote Beatrice de Cardi Lecture of this year's Seminar (sponsored by the Society of Antiquaries, London). The title is Arabian Palaeoenvironments and climate change during the Arabian Bronze Age (3500-1000 BC). This year’ keynote is lecture will be held in the new main auditorium of Moesgaard Museum and is followed by a vine party also at Moesgaard Museum. The vine party will be a celebration of the 70th jubilee Moesgaard Museum and Aarhus University pioneering expeditions to Bahrain and will as something special be attended by a number of long retired senior pioneers of the first expeditions (1953-1978).  

Registration: 
We cordially invite you to participate in the conference, which will be held as a hybrid event in presence and virtually. Registration will be available shortly through a link you can book the entire event as well as individual days. As the interest in this year’s seminar has already been overwhelming and since a limited number can participate, we strongly encourage you to book hotel and register as soon as possible.    

Accommodation: 
Please note before you reserve accommodations in Aarhus that the Seminar will be held at Moesgaard Museum only on the first day (4th Aug.) and at Aarhus University on both the second and third day (5-6th Aug.). It is highly recommended that reservations are made in Aarhus Town in proximity to Aarhus University and not near Moesgaard Museum.  
 

Contact information:
Please direct any queries to Steffen Terp Laursen (stl@moesgaardmuseum.dk). 
 
On behalf of AU, MOMU and IASA and the Organizing Team