January 15, 2025
At the 2025 AIA Annual Meeting (Philadelphia), we saw a variety of posters featuring work from around the world. Annual Meeting participants were treated to an incredible array of diverse research presented in a visual format.
Three Poster Awards are given out during the Poster Award Sessions: the Best Poster Award, First Runner-Up, and the Student Poster Award.
We asked the winner of this year’s Best Poster Award a few questions about herself and her project:
Best Poster Award Recipient: Danielle Riebe, et al.
“Tell What? The Role of Preservation, Conservation, and Exhibitions in Archaeology”
Archaeologists are uniquely skilled at conducting research that is destructive in nature but are less knowledgeable at preserving and conserving the past. For the past three years, the Vésztő-Mágor Conservation and Exhibition Program (VMCEP) has carried out intensive archaeological and conservation efforts at the prehistoric tell site of Vésztő-Mágor in southeastern Hungary. The 19×4.5m trench was quickly excavated in 1986 with a shelter erected to protect it from the elements and to provide an in-situ exhibition for visitors to the national park in which the tell is located. Over the subsequent almost 40 years, the conditions of the trench have degraded resulting in indiscernible and crumbling profiles that threaten the integrity of the trench and the longevity of the exhibition. To that end, the VMCEP program has set about to transform and rejuvenate the exhibit through the implementation of conservation efforts, including environmental monitoring, profile erosion mitigation strategies, and shelter alterations. An essential aspect of this project is the visual interpretation of the site. This involves both the preservation of existing visual information and the enhancement of the exhibit’s educational and aesthetic value, ensuring that the trench remains an engaging and informative feature of the national park. The project completion date is still years away, but the strides that have been made thus far illustrate the necessary unique blend of science, art, and technology in the preservation and presentation of the past, while also setting a precedent for best practices in archaeological conservation and exhibition.
Danielle J. Riebe, University of Georgia; Ashley Lingle, University of York; William P. Ridge, University of North Georgia; Attila Gyucha, University of Georgia; Jerrod Seifert, University of Oslo; Paul R. Duffy, Christian-Albrecht University of Kiel; William A. Parkinson, The Field Museum of Natural History.
How long have you been a member of the AIA?
DR: I have been attending the AIAs since 2012, first as a graduate student, then a postdoc, and now as a tenure-track faculty member at UGA.
How many Annual Meetings have you attended (in-person or virtually).
DR: I have attended and presented at the meetings almost every year since 2012 – I was even invited to present in the plenary session in 2021. I have also previously received funding from the AIA’s Ellen and Charles Steinmetz Endowment Fund for Archaeology.
How did you first come to this project/topic?
DR: Many of my colleagues and myself have in some way shape or form worked at the site of Vésztő-Mágor or incorporated previous research from the site into our own regional projects. When the site director of the archaeological park informed us that more intervention was necessary to conserve and preserve the in-situ excavation trench on the tell that acts as an exhibition for the park’s museum, we knew that we had to help. The site is part of an archaeological park in southeastern Hungary that attracts over 12,000 visitors a year. With the nearby town of Vésztő totaling around 6,000 people, this large number of visitors greatly impacts and feeds into the local economy. Dr. Attila Gyucha spearheaded the Vésztő-Mágor Conservation and Exhibition Program and rallied other archaeologists in the region (Duffy, Parkinson, Ridge, and Riebe) and archaeological conservators (Lingle and Seifert) to work together to help preserve the in-situ excavation trench for future visitors to the park.
What is one cool fact or interesting result from this project that didn’t make it onto the final poster?
DR: Not only are we using this project as a way to train students and promote traditional craft techniques, we are also transforming how projects are run. The Vésztő-Mágor Conservation and Exhibition Program is not reliant on a top-down hierarchical approach with a single director, rather all senior personnel (Gyucha, Duffy, Parkinson, Ridge, Lingle, Seifert, and Riebe) co-direct the project together – managing different aspects of the project, applying for funding from various entities, and leading authorship on different manuscripts. This equal contribution and directorship approach is something that we don’t often get the chance to talk about, but it is something that we are incredibly proud of as we believe it has the potential to set a precedent for how future projects can be operated.
What is your advice to students/new authors who are preparing posters for upcoming conferences?
DR: Less is more. Focus on the major points, the visuals that draw people in, and the flow of the poster. Beyond the poster itself, have an engaging quick spiel to present to visitors. Again, less is more. Finally, don’t be afraid to engage with people. If someone is slowly passing by your poster, pull them in with a “Hey would you like to hear more about this site in x, y, or z?!”