November 6–8
Penn State University Park
University Park, PA 16802
Founded in 1982 at Cornell University by Dan Sandweiss, the Northeast Conference of Andean Archaeology and Ethnohistory was intended to provide an accessible venue for sharing current research and works-in-progress, at a time when Andeanist meetings were located mainly on the West Coast (Institute of Andean Studies) and Midwest (MCAAAE). Since then, the now Northeast Conference of Andean and Amazonian Archaeology and Ethnohistory (NCAAAE) has grown into a vibrant intellectual community encompassing multiple research institutions and independent scholars in the Northeast and beyond. The NCAAAE is organized on an ad-hoc and volunteer basis, with the responsibility of hosting the conference rotating among different institutions, typically decided one to two years in advance at our Business Meeting, which occurs during the conference. The intimate scale of the conference provides ample opportunity for building professional connections and makes for a welcoming environment for junior scholars and graduate students to present their work and receive feedback. The forty-third NCAAAE will be hosted by the College of the Liberal Arts at Penn State University Park, and will take place between November 6–8, 2026.
There is no registration cost to participate in this event
We invite participants from any institution to submit abstracts for papers and posters on any topic relevant to the archaeology and history of the Andes, Amazonia, and neighboring regions.
In the interest of fostering interdisciplinary ties on campus, we also warmly invite submissions for poster presentations from any Penn State researchers with regional interests in South America.
More information on the history of the NCAAE, including a publication by Richard E. Daggett and a chronological listing of papers curated by Daggett and Monica Barnes, can be found in the archives of Andean Past.
Organization Committee by:
Dates to know
Abstract Submission: September 1
Program Announcement: October 20
Online Registration: November 2
9:00-9:15 AM Opening Remarks
Amy Greenberg (Penn State University)
Faisal Husain (Penn State University)
9:15-10:30 AM PANEL 1: Urban Animals
Chair: Amy Greenberg (Penn State University)
Mine Yıldırım (Kadir Has University), “The Rabies Conundrum: Compassionate Care and Public Health Concerns in Istanbul” (EN)
Jeanne Dubino (Appalachian State University), “Canine Worlds: Orhan Pamuk’s Past and Present Encounters with Street Dogs” (EN)
F. Nihan Ketrez (Istanbul Bilgi University), “What’s in a Dog’s Name? Dog- vs. Cat-Naming Practices in Modern Turkey” (EN)
M. Emir Küçük (Boğaziçi University), “Horses of the Constantinople Tramway Company” (TR)
10:30-11:00 AM Coffee Break
11:00 AM-12:15 PM PANEL 2: Curiosity, Science, and Technology
Chair: Selçuk Dursun (Middle East Technical University)
Gönenç Göçmengil (Istanbul University), “Possessing Nature in the Late Ottoman Period: Afterlife of Animals as Skeletons and Taxidermy Collections” (EN)
Süreyya İsfendiyaroğlu (Istanbul Bird Observatory Association & Istanbul-Cerrahpaşa University) & Ömral Ünsal Özkoç (Nature Research Association & Çankırı Karatekin University), “How Did Three Game Birds in Istanbul Become Regionally Extinct before the Foundation of the Republic?” (TR)
Meliha Nur Çerçinli (Directorate of State Archives), “Animals in Ottoman Narratives from the Perspective of Education and Curiosity” (TR)
İbrahim Can Usta (Boğaziçi University), “New Agricultural Instruments in Early-Twentieth-Century Anatolia: Did Steam Power Emancipate the Oxen?” (EN)
12:15-1:30 PM Lunch Break
1:30-2:45 PM KEYNOTE PANEL
Chair: Alan Mikhail (Yale University)
Yonca Köksal (Koç University), “Animals on the Move: Epizootics, Famines and Livestock in Late Ottoman Anatolia” (EN)
Can Nacar (Koç University), “Sheep as a Cash Crop in the Late Otttoman Empire” (EN)
2:45-3:15 Coffee Break
3:15-4:30 PM PANEL 3: Law & Regulation
Chair: Nina Safran (Penn State University)
Deniz Dölek-Sever (Zonguldak Bülent Ecevit University), “Biopolitics of Interspecies Relations: Animals and Humans in the Late Ottoman Legal Regulations” (TR)
Onat Ozan Ata (New York University), “Transformations in Nomadic Livestock Practices: The Impact of Fırka-i Islahiye in Ottoman Çukurova” (EN)
Theodoros Tzanatos (University of Crete) & Elias Kolovos (University of Crete), “‘Hayvanata eza etmeden’: A Decree on Animal Slaughter in Istanbul” (EN)
Ufuk Adak (Altınbaş University), “The Governance of Horse Breeding in the Late Ottoman Empire” (EN)
4:30-4:45 PM Coffee Break
4:45-6:00 PM PANEL 4: Anatolia Through the Ages
Chair: Mevlüde Bakır (Independent Scholar)
Yasemin Yılmaz (Düzce University & Koç University Research Center for Anatolian Civilizations), “In Death Too: The Role of Animals in Burial Practices in Anatolian Prehistoric Societies” (TR)
Ahmet Göksu (Fatih Sultan Mehmet Vakıf University) & Fatma Afyoncu (Fatih Sultan Mehmet Vakıf University), “From Martikor to Healing Lion Skin: Hayâtü’l-Hayevân in the Ottoman Empire” (TR)
Sinan Akıllı (Cappadocia University) & Buket Köremezli (Cappadocia University), “An Enchanting Pestilence: Discourses on Starlings before and after the Turkish Republican Era” (EN)
Ebru Gizem Ayten (Middle East Technical University), “Dichotomy of Pigs in Hittites: Dirty but Necessary? An Assessment on Zooarchaeological Evidence of Hittite Cities” (EN)
9:00-10:30 AM PANEL 5: Fish
Chair: Derin Ertaş (Harvard University)
Irmak Ertör (Boğaziçi University), “Fish and Fisher People as Part of Anatolian and Turkish History” (EN)
Büşra Arabacı (Hacettepe University), “Big Fish Eat the Little One: Extinction of Species of Cimcim during the Integration of Beyşehir Region to the World Economy” (EN)
Fatma Esen (Georgetown University), “Anchovy in Trabzon: From a Livelihood for the Coastal Poor to Canned Fish for Foreign Countries” (EN)
Elisa Palomino (Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center), “Mesopotamian Magic: Fish Skin Rituals as Technologies of the Past” (EN)
10:30-11:00 AM Coffee Break
11:00 AM-12:30 PM PANEL 6: Insects
Chair: Martha Few (Penn State University)
Zeynep Akçakaya (Independent Scholar), “Locusts, Science, Ottoman State and Humans: Unraveling the Dynamics of an Interdependent Relationship” (EN)
Elanur Ocaktan (Istanbul Medeniyet University), “Exploring Bees in Anatolia from the Ottoman Empire to the Republic” (TR)
Ayşenur Mulla (University of Silesia in Katowice), “Locusts in Late Antique and Byzantine Religious Writings” (EN)
Efe Erünal (Koç University), “Interwoven Existence: The Interplay of People, Worms, and Mulberry Trees in Bursa’s Silk Industry in the Mid-Nineteenth Century” (EN)
12:30-2:00 PM Lunch Break
2:00-3:30 PM PANEL 7: Sheep
Chair: Dan Beaver (Penn State University)
Dilara Avcı (Kırşehir Ahi Evran University), “Sheep and Their Importance in Early Modern Ottoman Plovdiv” (TR)
Stefan Stojadinović (Istanbul University), “Sheep Farming in the Ottoman Balkans: A Case Study of the Niš Valley in the 16th Century” (EN)
Deniz İnce (Boğaziçi University), “The Turkish State’s Sheep Policy Between 1930 and 1939: Merino Sheep as ‘National Assets’” (EN)
3:30-4:00 PM Coffee Break
4:00-5:30 PM PANEL 8: The Past, Present, and Future of Animal History
Chair: Faisal Husain (Penn State University)
Donna Landry (University of Kent), “The Gift Horse Who Refuses to Be Gifted: Ottoman Multispecies Storytelling?” (EN)
Alan Mikhail (Yale University), “Thinking with Ottoman Animals” (EN)
Nancy J. Jacobs (Brown University), “Reflections on the Conference Proceedings from an Africanist Perspective” (EN)
The conference will be held at:
Penn State University Park
University Park, PA, 16802