A short history of the International Union of Prehistoric and Protohistoric Sciences
Jacques Nenquin and Jean Bourgeois, emeritus General Secretaries of the UISPP (updated by L. Oosterbeek and D. Brandherm)
The International Palethnological Congress (IPC) was created at the La Sapienza University in September 1865, during a meeting held by the Italian Society of Natural Sciences (Società Italiana di Scienze Naturali). A few years later, in 1867, the IPC adopted the name ‘International Congress of Prehistoric Anthropology and Archaeology’ (ICPAA), and this organization can be considered as being the direct forerunner of the Union.
The origins of our organization therefore date back some 150 years. The initiators of this international project were Giovanni Capellini (President of the Italian Society of Natural Sciences (Società Italiana di Scienze Naturali) and Gabriel de Mortillet. Between 1866 and 1912, no fewer than fourteen congresses were organized. The permanent council was founded on the occasion of the ICPAA session held in Lisbon. World War I stopped this series of successful and constructive meetings.
The International Institute of Anthropology (IIA), which had been founded in 1921 and which – to a certain extent – attempted to group together archaeologists and anthropologists during the post-war period, however, originated from a fully French initiative, because the five members of its executive committee were all French. This organization was completely different from the CIAAP with regard to two essential points: the emphasis strongly shifted towards anthropology in a broader sense (study of living human societies, comparative religion, folklore, etc.) and prehistoric archaeology only formed a minor section within this organization. On the other hand, scholars belonging to the ‘defeated nations’ of World War I were excluded from the activities of the IIA.
For these reasons, a large number of prehistorians and anthropologists chose not to join the IIA, and several amongst them, such as M. Boule, R. Verneau, H. Obermaier and P. Bosch-Gimpera, attempted to continue the actual international tradition of the ICPAA. Subsequent to great collaboration efforts between the members of the permanent council of the ICPAA and of the executive committee of the IIA, the decision was taken to organize simultaneously the 15th session of the ICPAA and the 4th session of the IIA in 1930 in Portugal, under the name ‘International Congress of Prehistoric Anthropology and Archaeology’. Only a few prehistorians took part in the work of this session, because many of them found that only a minor role was attributed to prehistory.
Several months later, still in 1930, the ‘Committee of the Five’ (Comité des Cinq), comprising G. Bersu, R. Lantier, H. Obermaier, W. Unverzagt and P. Bosch-Gimpera (as Secretary), met in Berlin to discuss the organization of international congresses exclusively devoted to prehistoric archaeology. The plan was to hold these congresses on a truly international basis and without any exclusions. Thus, a new organization was created between 27th and 29th May 1931 in Bern, bearing the name ‘International Congress of Prehistoric and Protohistoric Sciences (ICPPS)’. Some 500 scholars met during the ICPPS in London in August 1932 under the presidency of Sir Charles Peers. A.W. Brögger and J.L. Myres were the first secretaries of the ICPPS and V. G. Childe, C.F.C. Hawkes, H.S. Kingsford and C.A. Raleigh Radford were the secretaries of the organizing committee. Archaeologists from 35 different nations formed the Permanent Council.
The second congress, under the presidency of A.W. Brögger was held in 1936 in Oslo. Again, nearly 500 scholars attended this conference, but the political context at that time gave rise to some unpleasant situations, notably concerning certain colleagues from Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy. The proposal to hold a third congress in Budapest in 1940, under the presidency of F. Tompa, was accepted, but World War II prevented this meeting from taking place.
After the failed attempt to organize the congress in Budapest in 1949, the third congress finally took place in Zurich in 1950, under the presidency of E. Vogt. The Secretary of the national committee was W. Guyan. The absence of scholars from Eastern European countries clearly explains the fact that fewer than 250 prehistorians attended this congress. On this occasion the Executive Committee was launched and E. Vogt was designated as Secretary on a provisional basis. He was replaced in 1952 by S. De Laet, as General Secretary of the Executive Committee.
The fourth congress was organized in Madrid in 1954, and its President was L. Péricot, replacing the designated President B. Taracena Aguirre, who died a short time after the Zurich congress. Our colleague A. Beltrán Martínez was the Secretary of the national committee. Five hundred prehistorians attended, and prehistorians from 51 countries were elected to the Permanent Council. After long discussions that dated back to the meeting of the Permanent Council in Copenhagen in 1948, a decision was finally taken to join the International Council for Philosophy and Human Sciences (ICPHS), which made it possible to obtain financial support from UNESCO for the scientific initiatives taken by the Congress. This affiliation to the ICPHS in September 1955 made it necessary to change the title of our organisation to ‘International Union of Prehistoric and Protohistoric Sciences’ (Union Internationale des Sciences Préhistoriques et Protohistoriques – UISPP), the name it still bears today.
The following congresses all witnessed a constant increase of the number of participants, with a first peak reached in 1976 during the congress in Nice, where 3,500 scholars were registered. In addition, an increasing number of members were elected to the Permanent Council, then counting nearly 250 scholars from over 100 countries. The subsequent congresses were the following: the 5th congress in Hamburg, 1958 (President G. Bersu, Secretary W. Dehn); the 6th congress in Rome, 1962 (Presidents A.C. Blanc and M. Pallottino); the 7th congress in Prague, 1966 (Presidents J. Böhm and J. Filip), on the occasion of which O. Klindt-Jensen was elected as a General Secretary; the 8th congress in Belgrade, 1971 (President G. Novak), this congress being the first one organized after a five-year interval, in order to respect the rule introduced by UNESCO of having five-year intervals between major congresses; the 9th congress in Nice, 1976 (President L. Balout, Secretary H. de Lumley); the 10th congress in Mexico City, 1981 (President J. Garcia-Barcena, Secretary J. Lorenzo); during which J. Nenquin who had temporarily assumed this role after the death of O. Klindt-Jensen in 1980 was elected as General Secretary.
The 11th congress was held in Mainz in 1987 (President K. Böhner, Secretary K. Weidemann); this congress, initially planned to be held in Southampton and London in 1986 under the presidency of J. Evans, was moved to Mainz following a vote of the Permanent Council in 1986. This decision was taken because the executive body of the British organizing committee in late 1985 decided to ban scholars based in South Africa or Namibia from attending the congress. That decision was unacceptable, because it directly contravened one of the founding principles and traditions of the Union, namely to enable all bona fide scholars to participate in its congresses, regardless of their nationality, their religious convictions, etc.
Also, this decision was taken without any prior consultation with the Permanent Council of the Union, the Executive Committee or its General Secretary. The congress organized in Southampton took the name ‘World Archaeological Congress’ – this name change likewise made without any prior consultation with the UISPP bodies – and repeated the error made by the International Institute of Anthropology, which in 1921 had refused, for purely political reasons, to exclude scholars from Germany, Austria, etc. The decision taken by the Permanent Council and by the Executive Committee not to recognize the congress of Southampton was communicated to the International Council for Philosophy and Human Sciences. It was confirmed by the General Assembly of the ICPHS and by the UNESCO representative present at that General Assembly. It was also reiterated that the UISPP is the only scientific organization active in the field of prehistory and protohistory officially recognized by these institutions.
A further political problem hindered the organization of the 12th congress in Bratislava in 1991 (President B. Chropovsky, Secretary J. Vadàr), namely the political and structural changes taking place in Czechoslovakia at that time. Fortunately, and thanks to the collaboration of our Czechoslovakian colleagues, all these difficulties could be overcome in time.
During the congress of Bratislava a decision was taken to organize the 13th congress in Forlì in 1996 (President A. Radmilli, Secretary C. Peretto). This congress will be remembered as being one of the largest World Congresses. Over 3,000 participants attended the congress and participated in the numerous parallel activities (film festival, exhibitions, etc.). At the end of this congress, Jacques Nenquin resigned from his functions. He was replaced by Jean Bourgeois.
Given the size of the congress in Forlì, it was not easy to find candidates who would take up the challenge of organizing the 14th congress in 2001. During the meeting of the Permanent Council in Liège and Ghent in December 1998, a decision was taken to entrust the organization of this event to Liège (Belgium). On this occasion, Pierre P. Bonenfant was elected President and Marcel Otte Secretary of the national committee. The congress was held in September 2001 and was a great success. The publication of the proceedings of the sessions, colloquia, etc. was successfully ensured (over 30 volumes). During the meetings in Liège the candidature of Lisbon (Portugal) was presented with regard to organizing the 15th World Congress in 2006. The professors Vitor Oliveira Jorge and Luiz Oosterbeek were elected President and Secretary of the organisation committee respectively. Jean Bourgeois was re-elected as General Secretary.
The 15th congress in Lisbon in 2006 brought together some 2,500 scholars for about one hundred sessions and workshops and enabled the publication of 40 proceedings volumes. The congress approved the organization of the following congress in Brazil (by electing Rossano Lopes Bastos as Secretary and Pedro Shmitz as President) and at the same time opened a discussion on changes of the statutes. At the end of this congress, Jean Bourgeois resigned from his functions as General Secretary. He was replaced by Luiz Oosterbeek.
The 16th congress was held in Florianópolis, Brazil, in 2011, with over 1,000 scholars present, most of these from South America. On this occasion, the Executive Committee stated the need to continue organizing congresses outside Europe, but also to avoid too large an interval between two congresses in Europe, given the large number of scholars on this continent. On the same occasion, new statutes were approved, with a reduction to three years of the interval between world congresses and a separation between the roles of President of the UISPP and President of the national organizing committee for a UISPP congress. A new Board was also elected: Jean Bourgeois (President), Luiz Oosterbeek (General Secretary) and François Djindjian (Treasurer).
Subsequently, the 17th congress took place in Burgos in 2014 (President Emiliano Aguirre, Secretary Eudald Carbonell), and the 18th congress was scheduled to be held in Melbourne in 2017. However, due to organizational difficulties, the 18th congress eventually was organized in Paris in 2018 (President François Djindjian, Secretary François Giligny). In 2017, during the meeting of the Executive Committee, a new President of the Union was elected (Janusz Krzysztof Kozłowski) and Vice-Presidents were elected for different continents (Africa: Abdulaye Camara – Asia: Ya-Mei Hou – North America: Robert Whallon). The remainder of the Board was confirmed. A new Board was then elected on the occasion of the Paris congress: François Djindjian (President), Marta Arzarello (General Secretary) and Apostolos Sarris (Treasurer), with Erika Robrahn González as Vice-President for Latin America and the Carribean.
In the wake of the successful Paris congress, in 2019 the UISPP became the first international scholarly body accepted as a member of the International Union of Academies, otherwise comprising only national academies.
The 19th congress was originally planned to take place in Meknes (Morocco) in 2020, but due to the outbreak of the worldwide Covid19 pandemic was first postponed to 2021 and then held as a virtual event, because of ongoing pandemic-related travel restrictions (President Abdeljalil Bouzouggar, Secretary Larbi Boudad). The 20th world congress took place in Timișoara (Romania) in 2023 (President Mădălin Octavian Bunoiu, Secretary Valeriu Sîrbu).
This (too) short history of the UISPP outlines the evolution of our organization since its beginnings, some 150 years ago (if we may be so bold to make this claim). The principle that has guided the UISPP during all these years is clearly the strong desire of the prehistorians of numerous countries to meet, to discuss on as many occasions as is necessary and useful and to collaborate as much as possible in a wide range of international projects.