93rd Annual Meeting, November 11-15, 2026, Norwalk, Connecticut

Location

Norwalk Inn & Conference Center
99 East Avenue
Norwalk, CT 06851

Hotel Rates

We have a block of rooms available at the Norwalk Inn & Conference Center. Room rates: $139 We/Th, $189/F/S + tax.

Call the hotel directly at (203) 838-2000. Reservations must be made by October 11, 2026, to qualify for these rates. Mention ESAF Annual Meeting to guarantee your rate or Group Code 2611EAS.

Deadlines

Abstract Submissions, Registration Fees, and Membership Dues for Presenters Due: AUGUST 31, 2026

Registration Deadline for Non-Presenters OCTOBER 14, 2026

Conference Registration (in US Dollars)

Registration: $50
Student Registration $5
Saturday Banquet (Dinner Buffet): $65 per person
Banquet Speaker: TBD

Tour

ESAF has arranged a private, archaeological focused tour of several archaeological sites in Western Connecticut, including a visit to the Institute for American Indian Studies Museum and Research Center on Thursday, November 12th. Space is limited.

Thursday, November 12th, 2026

Time: 9 am to 4 pm
Cost: $40 (does not include lunch)

Join ESAF for a series of private tours of local archaeological sites and museums in Western Connecticut, focusing on Revolutionary War history of the Constitution State, as well as indigenous archaeology. Tour locations included a private, archaeological focused tour of Putnam Park, led by Ellery Leary, Park Historian and member of the Friends and Neighbors of Putnam State Park group. Following the tour of Putnam Park, we will travel to Ridgefield to tour the Keeler Tavern Museum and History Center, which will include a tour and time to view the exhibits. Exhibits focus on the 1777 Battle of Ridgefield, and a cannon ball from the battle remains lodged within the wall of the tavern. After Keeler’s Tavern, we will stop for lunch in Ridgefield, at a place TBD by tour participants. Following lunch, we will end our day in Litchfield Hills (Washington), for a tour of the Institute for American Indian Studies Museum and Research Center. Space is limited to 10 individuals, so that we can all fit comfortably in a passenger van, however, if others wish to attend, this can be accommodated if they can drive to the various tour stops.

Workshops

Thursday, 12 pm to 4 pm

Join ESAF a day early to learn a new archaeological technique or brush up on your regulatory knowledge!
Cost: $15

Digital Photogrammetry Workshop

Led by David Leslie, PhD, TerraSearch Geophysical, LLC

Join us for a four-hour workshop centered on learning the basic principles of three-dimensional photogrammetric surveys of subjects of archaeological interest. Participants will be provided with a brief overview of the methods and theory that underly photogrammetric reconstructions, so that they better understand how to collect photographs in the field or laboratory to reconstruct the object in 3-D. Following this brief introduction, we will collect our own three-dimensional data from headstones in the nearby Town House Hill Cemetery, or from artifacts that will be provided during the workshop. Do you have an artifact you would like to scan in three-dimensions? Bring it to the workshop and we will see if we have time! Following field data collection, we will process data collected by participants, and look over many other datasets collected via terrestrial LiDAR, GoPro video and cameras, Uncrewed Aerial Vehicles, and cell phone and DSLR cameras. Participants will need to bring their own laptop, and software, as well a data sets, will be provided to participants prior to the workshop.

Section 106: Fundamentals and the Ever-Changing Landscape

A panel of Experts

Join ESAF members to learn the ins and outs of Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act. Our panel will provide overview perspectives of working within Section 106, from both regulatory and private sector viewpoints. The workshop will be guided by the makeup of participants, and may develop breakout sessions, where those unfamiliar with Section 106 can have fruitful discussions about the application and framework for 106 work as it applies to archaeology. If participants represent more seasoned professionals, breakout sessions may involve fuller discussions about the changing landscape of Section 106, what this means for historic preservation, and any insights participants or our panel of experts may have regarding the future of 106.

Format

The Annual Meeting will be in-person, remote presentations are allowed, although they must be pre-recorded. See the ESAF website for format and submission. In-person papers will be presented live.

Registration & Abstract Submission Forms

Paper/Poster Submission

Upload an abstract using Google Forms. Register by PayPal or by check with mail-in registration form.

Annual Banquet Keynote Speaker

Brenton Gromm, Executive Director, Webb Deane Steavens Museum

Things of This World: Material Culture and Social Intelligence in the Age of AI

Every age comes with its own anxieties. Many of ours have to do with the digital environment that dominates our lives. Attention spans across the developed world have shrunk, politics are increasingly polarized, and society from top to bottom is gripped with uncertainty about the relationship between human intelligence and artificial intelligence. This lecture is about how we, as modern keepers of an analog past, can help.

From archaeology to historic preservation to decorative arts connoisseurship, the study of material culture has long been thought of as a means to gaining knowledge of the past. But the means themselves are taking on newfound importance in an age where cognitive and social skills are shifting. Some of the skills in question happen to be foundational to these disciplines: looking closely, thinking critically, forming conclusions based on contextual evidence, and revising them when presented with new evidence. Above all, the study of material culture rewards patience and asks us to exercise historical imagination to understand the complexities of past lives.

For a general public, the past is a safe place to practice skills of curiosity and empathy that can later transfer to the present. It also disarms us, especially when the experience is physical and in-person. The neuroscience of spatial awe combines with the awe inspired by thinking across expanses of time. This lecture looks into case studies from three institutions that have engaged people in these ways: the Webb Deane Stevens Museum in Wethersfield, CT, where archaeology and architectural conservation converge around the story of the American Revolution; the George Read II House & Gardens in New Castle, DE, where landscape renovations are making sense of a deep archaeological record; and the Fine Objects Society, whose rapid growth is illustrating how people of all generations—and especially younger ones—crave a physical connection to the past.

Bio

Brenton Grom joined the Webb Deane Stevens Museum in 2023 as Executive Director. He served previously as Director of the George Read II House & Gardens in Delaware and Curator of Special Collections at the Delaware Historical Society, and founded its Harry N. Baetjer III Junior Fellows Program for exceptional high-school students. Mr. Grom is also board secretary at the Delaware Center for Horticulture and co-founder and treasurer of the Fine Objects Society, whose early impact was profiled in 2025 by The New York Times. He maintains a national presence as a speaker and discussion moderator in the museum field. He studied piano and musicology at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music and Case Western Reserve University, and American history and material culture at the University of Delaware, and has held research fellowships at numerous institutions including the American Antiquarian Society, Library of Congress, University of Michigan, and Historic Deerfield.