ICAZ Working Group „Archaeozoology of Southwest Asia and Adjacent Areas“
ASWA XVIth International meeting
25-28 May Munich (Germany)
The Archaeozoology of Southwest Asia and Adjacent Areas (ASWA[AA]) Working Group was formed during the 1990 ICAZ International Conference in Washington D.C. Its purpose is to promote communication between scientists working on faunal remains from sites in western Asia and adjacent areas (e.g., northeast Africa, eastern Europe, central Asia, and south Asia). It carries out its mandate by sponsoring biennial international conferences.
The XVIth ASWA conference took place from 25th May until 28th May 2025 and was hosted by the Bavarian State Collection for Palaeoanatomy. On 25th May the participants met for the pre-conference excursion to the Przewalski horses in the forest enclosure on the Königsbrunn heathland. After lunch in a typical Bavarian inn we continued to the Pestenacker Neolithic site, part of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites „Prehistoric Pile Dwellings around the Alps“, where the director of the museum gave us a tour to the museum and the reconstructed buildings and the stoneage garden. The Welcome Reception was held in the Museum Mensch und Natur where the director of the museum, Michael Apel, offered tours to the exhibitions.
From Monday, 26th May, until Wednesday, 28th May, the participants met in the beautiful and well-situated Carl Friedrich von Siemens Stiftung conference centre for the presentations and discussions.
We have chosen the lion of Ischl as the logo for the 16th ASWA conference, as the lion is the heraldic animal of Bavaria. It is a lion-shaped shield fitting from an early medieval, 7th century CE warrior’s grave, found between 1880 and 1890 in a gravel quarry near Ischl an der Alz, district Traunstein, Bavaria. The finds from this grave are on display in the Archäologische Staatssammlung München.
Group photo of the participants at the 16th ASWA 2025 in Munich; photographer: Kathrin Glaw, SNSB-MMN