Dr. Laura Heath-Stout

Conference: April 29–May 3, 2026, San Francisco

Questions? DM me or email me at lheathst@stanford.edu

SAA submission deadline: September 4, 2025, 3:00 p.m. EDT
SAA second-round deadline for Meeting Access Grant applications: November 15, 2025
SAA deadline for nonmember participants to become members: November 15, 2025
SAA membership renewal deadline for current member participants: January 30, 2026

Call for Presenters: "Overcoming Access Barriers in Archaeology" Lightning Round, SAA 2026, San Francisco Title: Overcoming Access Barriers in Archaeology Participants: Moderators: Joshua Vallejos & Sarah Surface-Evans Chairs: Tara Larson, Jaimie Adams, Laura Heath-Stout (pending space) Up to 15 Panelist...

Timeline:
Potential discussants should express interest by filling out this form by August 10: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
We will confirm your participation during the week of August 11

...Each Lightning Round will be 2-hours long with the first hour consisting of 3-minute presentations (with 3 slides maximum). The second hour will be for discussion in groups with individual presenters or discussion with the group as a whole.”

Session Format:
From the SAA: “A Lightning Round is analogous to a forum format with a moderator(s) and discussants. Each Lightning Round will be organized around a topic or an area...

...In the second half of the session, we will have an open conversation in which discussants and audience members can brainstorm together about how to build accessibility in archaeology. This session is sponsored by the Disabled Archaeologists Network

...Yet, with a spirit of openness, creativity, and collaboration, we can make our archaeology projects, educational programs, and workplaces more accessible to all. In this lighting round, a diverse panel of archaeologists will share concrete examples of access barriers and how to overcome them...

... This structural ableism makes many disabled archaeologists uncomfortable disclosing their access needs, which makes those needs even more difficult to meet. ...

Session Abstract:
A recent survey showed that almost one in four archaeologists has at least one disability, yet archaeology workplaces, classrooms, field sites, and laboratories remain full of access barriers. ...

Participants:
Moderators: Joshua Vallejos & Sarah Surface-Evans
Chairs: Tara Larson, Jaimie Adams, Laura Heath-Stout (pending space)
Up to 15 Panelists

Call for Presenters: "Overcoming Access Barriers in Archaeology" Lightning Round, SAA 2026, San Francisco Title: Overcoming Access Barriers in Archaeology Participants: Moderators: Joshua Vallejos & Sarah Surface-Evans Chairs: Tara Larson, Jaimie Adams, Laura Heath-Stout (pending space) Up to 15 Panelist...

CALL FOR PRESENTERS 🏺♿🧵
Overcoming Access Barriers in Archaeology
A Lightning Round session at the 2026 Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology #saa2026
April 29–May 3, 2026
San Francisco, CA

Worth. Every. Penny.

WHO TRIES TO STEAL HORSES OFF A CAROUSEL??

a baby is sitting on a couch reading a newspaper with the word buffet on it ALT: a baby is sitting on a couch reading a newspaper with the word buffet on it

You can find me scouring masslive.newsbank.com for any hint of a certain carousel!

a baby is looking out of a window with the words take my money . ALT: a baby is looking out of a window with the words take my money .

TFW you can't find the historic newspaper you need for the decade you need it through your university library or public library, only online behind a paywall... and then you remember that you have RESEARCH FUNDING!

Read Like a Criminal Big Gay Read 2025 Keynote Speech

I got to deliver a talk on the history and legacy of the Hays Code and the Comics Code, contemporary censorship efforts, and the necessity of identifying with criminality. You can watch and read the whole thing here:

I'm so sad to hear that SAPIENS is stopping publishing; it's an amazing resource in so many ways. 🏺

Read this whole thread. We all need to be more aware of the structure of complicity with Israeli war crimes that exists within archaeology, and actively and vocally refuse cooperation and collaboration #archaeology #archaeology🏺 #🏺

There is no excuse for being bored in this life. There are too many things to be interested in, and communities you can find around any of those interests!

I've been reading books on carousel history and art, but none of them seem to mention this particular carousel. So, I joined several facebook groups related to carousel history and restoration to post some questions, and the author of several of the books immediately commented on my post!

It always amazes me to stumble on communities of people who are passionate about something I'd never deeply considered before. Today's example is carousel history: I'm doing research for an article on the carousel from Belchertown State School.

Circular diagrams of the co-evolution of related traits in humans.

The Placental Steroid Hypothesis of Human Brain Evolution 🏺🧪
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

The theory suggests female reproductive innovations, rather than male traits, were the key driver of human cognitive advancement

Super excited about this call for papers in @saa-aap.bsky.social on "Advances in Archaeological Labor Management"! 🏺

It doesn't matter if they are ever coming for you.

It was always ever already too much that they were coming for anyone.

A) people recoil in horror when I tell them the amount of reviewing I do in a year

B) sometimes I do service because, if I didn't, a person with less power would be harmed (e.g., tenure)

C) women are treated very differently when we say no to these types of requests

a man in a purple suit is dancing on a stage with a caption that says you don t have the votes ALT: a man in a purple suit is dancing on a stage with a caption that says you don t have the votes

I gotta say, as terrifying as this bill is, I am getting some real enjoyment from watching the Republicans in Congress be a mess.

Hmm if it's about *4* women and they're all white ladies with white lady problems, that is such a missed opportunity! I hope the book and show are actually good, but even if they aren't, they will make good fodder for my course...

Hoping this is out in time to be analyzed by my students in my "Archaeology and the Public" course next spring!

Alright #academicsky #feministsky, what are your favorite pieces of feminist theorizing about mothering and parenting, published in the 21st century?

ACTION! HIJACK #WAC10 NO BUSINESS AS USUAL UNDER GENOCIDE! BEFORE FRIDAY’S PLENARY SESSION AND VOTE, LET’S FLOOD WAC’S HASHTAG #WAC10, SO NOBODY AT THE CONGRESS CAN SAY THEY DIDN’T KNOW.

DO BETTER THE WORLD ARCHAEOLOGICAL CONGRESS JUST AVOIDED ALLOWING AN ISRAELI WAR CRIMINAL ATTEND THE WAC-10 DARWIN CONGRESS. THE ILLEGAL SETTLTEMENT-BASED ARCHAEOLOGIST WAS ACCEPTED TO CHAIR A SESSION, AND HAD HIS NAME PRINTED IN THE PROGRAM, WITH HIS AFFILIATION FALSELY LISTED AS “ARIEL UNIVERSITY, ISRAEL.” WHILE THIS OVERSIGHT WAS A FAILURE ON WAC’S BEHALF (TO ENSURE COMPLIANCE WITH INTERNATIONAL LAW, ITS OWN PRINCIPLES AND ITS DUTY TO ITS MEMBERSHIP), THE TIMELY REMOVAL OF THIS PARTICIPANT FROM THE CONGRESS WAS A WIN FOR THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL COMMUNITY, WHICH HOLDS EACH OTHER ACCOUNTABLE AND AIMS TO DO BETTER. WE CONTINUE TO HOLD WAC ACCOUNTABLE, AS WE CALL ON THEM TO DO BETTER, BY PALESTINIANS AND THEIR HERITAGE, AND BY OUR PALESTINIAN COLLEAGUES.

7 DEMANDS WE HAVE 7 DEMANDS WHICH WE DELIVERED TO WAC ON MARCH 31ST OF THIS YEAR. THEY ARE: 1. Respond to calls from our Palestinian colleagues and representative Palestinian civil society and academic organisations to join and support the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, by pledging no ties with Israel or with its complicit institutions, and barring official representatives of said institutions in all WAC councils, committees and meetings 2. Publish a new statement condemning the deliberate destruction by the Israeli Occupation Forces of Palestinian cultural heritage and educational institutes in the Gaza Strip.

7 DEMANDS WE HAVE 7 DEMANDS WHICH WE DELIVERED TO WAC ON MARCH 31ST OF THIS YEAR. THEY ARE: 3. Actively engage in establishing a taskforce of non-complicit archaeologists to a) investigate the war crimes of deliberate destruction, looting, illegal excavation, and appropriation of Palestinian cultural heritage, by the Israeli Occupation Forces, Israeli cultural and educational institutions, and armed Israeli settlers (the findings of said investigation should be shared urgently with all WAC members, as well as publicly and with the press), and b) provide assistance and support for the restoration of damaged cultural heritage. 4. Do due diligence in not collaborating with, platforming, or accepting participation of complicit individuals (i.e. suspected war criminals) in all WAC councils, committees and meetings.

We welcomed @worldarch.bsky.social 's recent decision to exclude from the Darwin congress an archaeologist at a university based in an illegal Israeli settlement on Palestinian land. But we were also alarmed by the oversight which almost led to #wac10 attendees sharing the space with a war criminal.

World Archaeological Congress Excludes Scholar Affiliated With Illegal Israeli Settlement University From Congress Following outrage from archaeologists, WAC announced it would excludes a scholar from illegal Israeli settlement-based Ariel University from its WAC 10 congress. Palestinians call on WAC to institute ...

#wac10 #wacwithoutapartheid #worldarchaeologicalcongress #archaeology #🏺