On October 23^rd, organized by the USTB Institute for Cultural Heritage and History of Science and Technology, the 7^th Symposium on Archaeomaterials Study, entitled “Methods and Applications of Ancient Metal Materials Traceability,” was held in Beijing. Many scholars and researchers from universities, research institutions, cultural and museum units, and enterprises, including Peking University (PKU), University of Science and Technology of China (USTC), University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (UCAS), Sichuan University (SCU), University of Science and Technology Beijing (USTB), Anhui University (AHU), University of Reading (UK), the British Museum, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (France), Curt-Engelhorn-Centre of Archaeometry (Germany), Silpakorn University (Thailand), etc., participated in the presentation and discussion of the symposium through online and offline formats.

At the beginning of the Conference, Prof. QIAN Wei, Dean of the USTB Institute for Cultural Heritage and History of Science and Technology, extended a warm welcome to the participants. He said that the series of international conferences on ancient materials has become an essential academic brand of the Institute and that the research team is committed to promoting the development of ancient materials research in China, promoting the cross-fertilization of disciplines, and gradually building and improving the academic stage of ancient materials research at home and abroad through the holding of the series of conferences. At the same time, he hoped that the scholars attending the Conference would continue to pay attention to the development of the History of Science and Technology in USTB and help its research to go international.

Prof. JIN Zhengyao from USTC gave a themed report

Prof. Mark Pollard from Oxford University gave a themed report

Prof. CUI Jianfeng from PKU participated in the discussion

Prof. CHEN Kunlong from USTB participated in the discussion

Scholars participated online (partially)

Focusing on the theme of this conference, the participating scholars gave ten excellent academic presentations on the influence of alloying elements on traceability research, the inter-regional resource interaction between local and central Plains, and the diachronic change of material. They thoroughly discussed many academic frontier issues and innovative research on methods and theories. The conference reports were informative, forward-looking, and inspiring, providing new ideas and directions for future research related to metal traceability.

Prof. MEI Jianjun gave the welcoming speech

The first International Symposium on Archaeomaterials Study-Postgraduate Forum was held the day before the conference. On behalf of the organizers, Prof. MEI Jianjun, Professor of the Institute for Cultural Heritage and History of Science and Technology of USTB and Director of the Needham Research Institute of the University of Cambridge, welcomed and encouraged the participating postgraduates, saying that the first-ever Postgraduate Forum provided an excellent platform for the younger generation, including postgraduates, to present their research results.

Seven postgraduates from USTC, UCAS, USTB, SCU, and AHU gave excellent academic presentations and discussed the conference's topics. After discussion and evaluation by the experts, the “Outstanding Paper Award” was presented to the seven students, and the “Best Presentation Award” was given to SUN Zhenfei, a student from USTB.

Prof. CHEN Jianli from PKU gave the concluding remark

Group photo

At the end of the Conference, all participants expressed their expectations for the next International Symposium.

Draft: JI Shuang

Revision: CHENG Mingyuan