From July 13 to 17, 2026, researchers, students, and heritage professionals will gather in the colonial city of Santo Domingo. For its 31st edition, the International Congress of Caribbean Archaeology is promoting a powerful idea: the sea that separates these territories is also the one that tells the story of their connections.
Santo Domingo, a meeting place for Caribbean researchers
In a few days, the INDOTEL Cultural Center will welcome experts who will come together to share their findings. Some are studying the archipelago’s earliest settlements. Others are researching agricultural societies, slavery, underwater archaeology, or the traces left by the colonial period. The International Congress of Caribbean Archaeology will be held in the heart of the Colonial City of Santo Domingo, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The choice of venue is no coincidence. In this part of the Dominican capital, the different layers of history remain visible in the streets, buildings, collections, and archaeological sites.
Organized by the Academy of Sciences of the Dominican Republic and the International Association of Caribbean Archaeology, the International Congress of Caribbean Archaeology will also bring together students, heritage managers, and members of the public interested in these disciplines. The main sessions are scheduled for July 13–17, 2026.
The Caribbean Sea as a passage
The theme of this edition, “Archaeology: Building Bridges Across the Caribbean Sea”, challenges a common perception of the region. The sea is no longer seen merely as a distance separating the islands. It becomes a space of movement, migration, exchange, and transformation. The research presented should cover periods ranging from prehistory to the colonial era. It will shed light on how populations moved between the continental coasts and the island territories, as well as between the islands themselves.
This is where the International Congress of Caribbean Archaeology goes beyond the scope of a mere scientific gathering. It invites us to reexamine Caribbean identities through material evidence: pottery shards, human remains, traces of dwellings, ritual objects, shipwrecks, and food traces. Each element has the potential to challenge a narrative that has long been accepted as fact.
International Archaeology Conference: Topics That Go Beyond Museum Display Cases
The announced focus areas demonstrate the breadth of the topics covered. In particular, the scientific program must incorporate the region’s earliest inhabitants, the archaeology of enslaved groups, rock art, underwater archaeology, DNA and isotope studies, as well as the links between the environment, climate change, and human occupation.
The International Congress of Caribbean Archaeology will also feature roundtable discussions, keynote lectures, and presentations in Spanish, English, or French, with simultaneous translation. This linguistic diversity is essential in a region where research is often scattered across various academic and publishing spheres. The organizers have announced visits to Dominican museums, exhibitions, and archaeological sites to connect the scientific discussions with the field.
A Regional History That Is Still Incomplete
After 31 editions, the International Congress of Caribbean Archaeology serves above all as a reminder that the region’s history is never fully written. New methods can shed new light on already known archaeological remains. New excavations can shift chronologies. New comparisons can reveal connections that contemporary borders have made less visible.
For Caribbean people, the issue goes beyond simply understanding the past. It also concerns how to protect sites, share discoveries, and make this knowledge accessible beyond specialized circles. In Santo Domingo, archaeology will therefore not only seek out what has disappeared. It will seek to understand what connected Caribbean societies even before their histories were told separately. What if the next great narratives of the Caribbean were still right beneath our feet, in a cave, or at the bottom of the sea?
The 31st International Congress of Caribbean Archaeology will be held July 13–17, 2026, in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. Researchers, students, and heritage professionals will present papers on the region’s history, settlements, and archaeological heritage.
The conference will take place in the colonial city of Santo Domingo, primarily at the INDOTEL Cultural Center. This choice places scientific exchanges at the heart of a region marked by several periods of Caribbean history and designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The theme of this 31st edition is “Archaeology: Building Bridges Across the Caribbean Sea.” It highlights the sea as a space for movement, exchange, and connections between the islands and the mainland, rather than simply as a border.
