The Forum

Newsletter

Spring 2026, no. 1

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The Spring 2026 issue of the IASCE newsletter details the institute's commitment to transdisciplinary research and its recent archaeological breakthroughs across the globe. Executive Director Charles Stanish highlights the state-of-the-art Archaeobotanical and Paleoecological Laboratory at USF, which specializes in using paleobotanical methods to address complex environmental and historical questions. Key research featured includes the identification of the "Band of Holes" in Peru as a pre-Inca marketplace , biomolecular evidence of horse meat consumption in Bronze Age Sicily , and the detection of the plague bacterium in Byzantine-era burials. Additionally, the issue profiles the accomplishments of its diverse faculty and student researchers while announcing upcoming seminars on Ptolemaic Egyptian rituals and ancient Peruvian mysteries.