International Conference “Humans and Communities I: Archaeology and Prehistory” to Take Place at the Latvian National Museum of History

On 29–30 October, the Latvian National Museum of History, in collaboration with Interdisciplinary research incubator “The Beginnings of Latvia” (University of Latvia) will host the international conference “Humans and Communities I: Archaeology and Prehistory” at Riga Castle, home of the Latvian National Museum of History (LNMH).

“This is a high-level international conference that will bring together researchers from several European countries in Riga to explore questions about how human communities emerged, how they changed over time, and how human connections, mobility, language and culture have shaped the history of our region. It is important for the Museum to host this dialogue at Riga Castle. This conference enables the Museum to be not only a place where historical evidence is preserved and interpreted, but also a place where new knowledge about the past is generated and the latest research is discussed,” says Dr. Toms Ķikuts, Director of the LNMH.

The conference program will feature presentations by internationally renowned researchers. Its interdisciplinary approach will bring together insights from archaeology, history, linguistics, genetics and other fields, offering perspectives on the formation, development and transformation of human communities from prehistory to the present day, with particular emphasis on the history of Latvia and the wider Baltic Sea region. Another key focus will be the use of the latest methods and the opportunities they offer for researching the past.

This year’s conference will feature presentations by 28 researchers representing research institutions in eight European countries: Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Finland, Sweden, Poland, Germany and Hungary. The participation of three internationally renowned keynote speakers will be a particular highlight. Dr. Volker Hilberg (Germany) will explore Scandinavian influence on the societies of the eastern Baltic in the Late Iron Age; Professor Tivadar Vida (Hungary) will present the latest insights from archaeogenetics into the formation of communities; and Professor Valter Lang (Estonia) will examine the ethnolinguistic landscape of the eastern Baltic and the formation of Finnic and Baltic communities. Their participation in the conference in Riga underscores its international scope and significance for research into the past of the Baltic Sea region.

A distinctive feature of the conference is its thematic structure, with each of the two days focusing on a different aspect of the subject. The first day will explore contacts and interactions between people and communities. Topics will include connections between different communities, evidence from material culture, population origins and mobility, as well as the circulation of ideas, technologies and cultural traditions throughout the Baltic Sea region. The day will conclude with a special discussion entitled “The Future of the Past: New Questions, New Methods, New Communities”, in which researchers will consider how the latest research methods and interdisciplinary approaches enable new questions to be asked and established perspectives on prehistory and the formation of human communities to be reconsidered.

The second day of the conference will focus on the processes through which communities formed and developed, including their social structures, everyday lives, crafts, and tangible and intangible culture. The program will also examine relations between Baltic and Baltic-Finnic communities, as well as the role of rituals, traditions, knowledge, folklore and language in shaping community identity.

The conference will launch an international conference series that, over four years, will explore community as a phenomenon that is both enduring and subject to change throughout history. Four conferences are planned for the period from 2026 to 2029. The first will focus on archaeology and prehistory; the second on the Middle Ages and the Early Modern Period (13th–18th centuries); the third on modernization and the formation of the Latvian state (19th century–1939); and the fourth on the period of occupation and the restoration of independence (1940 to the present day).

The conference series is closely linked to the LNMH new permanent exhibition, “Straumējot laiku” (“Streaming Time”), which presents the history of people and communities within a broad historical perspective. The exhibition and the conference series will complement one another: the exhibition will make these themes accessible to a wide public, while the conferences will provide a forum for discussing them at an international and academic level.

Working language – English. Attendance requires advance registration by emailing info@lnvm.gov.lv no later than 26 October.