World Archaeology Congress 4
Cape Town: 10 - 14 January 1999
Theme: Global Archaeology at the Turn of the Millennium

WAC, the World Archaeology Congress, was inaugurated at its first congress
in Southampton in 1986, and last met in New Delhi in 1994. Its conferences
and inter-congresses have continued to develop the global dimension of
archaeology and the social role that archaeologists play as interpreters of
the past. We expect more than a thousand delegates in Cape Town, and we are
planning an exciting and stimulating programme that will do justice to the
turn of the millennium.

It is appropriate that WAC4 should be held in South Africa. The World
Archaeology Congress was formed in opposition to apartheid, highlighting
the relationship between the study of the past and the politics of the
present. South Africa's first democratic elections in 1994 ended a long,
bitter era and archaeologists here are now free to be part of a world
community of scholarship.

The academic programme of the Congress will be organised around symposia.
These will be half-day, full-day or running themes, each organised by a
Symposium Convenor. Papers will be available electronically to registered
delegates prior to the Congress, and full details of the programme will be
posted on our website as they become available.

The Congress will be structured around three broad themes: time;
archaeology in a global context, and the future. This will provide a rich
vein of intellectual stimulation, offering a truly global perspective on a
discipline that has stimulated and satisfied many for well over a century.

If you would like to attend the Congress, please visit our website (URL
below) and register electronically, or complete the registration form in
the Second Announcement which will be mailed shortly.

Should you wish to deliver a paper, organise a symposium or workshop,
present a poster or screen a film on an archaeological topic, demonstrate
an archaeology-related computer program or multimedia product, or rent
exhibition space at the Congress, please contact the Congress Secretariat :

        Contact:        Carolyn Ackermann
                        WAC4 Congress Secretariat
        Address:        PO Box 44503
                        Claremont 7735 South Africa
        Telephone:      +27 (21) 762 8600
        Fax:            +27 (21) 762 8606
        e-mail:         [log in to unmask]
        Website:        http://www.uct.ac.za/depts/age/wac

Important dates:

30 April 1998: Closing date for submission of abstracts and symposium
convenor's packages with deposits where appropriate.

31 July 1998: Preliminary programme to be mailed. Applicants to be notified
of acceptance of abstracts/symposia.

15 November 1998: Papers to be made available on the congress website.