The Human Relations Area Files (HRAF) at Yale University recently became a partner in the Coalition for Archaeological Synthesis (CfAS), an organization focused on funding collaborative working groups in archaeology and related fields. The Coalition works closely with the Center for Collaborative Synthesis in Archaeology, which is based at the University of Colorado, Boulder. Matthew Peeples, Associate Professor at Arizona State University, Tempe and Director of the Center for Archaeology and Society, serves on the board for both HRAF and the Coalition. Arizona State University and the University of Colorado are both HRAF Sponsoring Members.

Interdisciplinary research is at the core of the Coalition’s mission. According to their website:

The programs of the Coalition for Archaeological Research foster collaborative research by connecting scholars and building research teams best positioned to ask and answer the pressing questions of the day and by breaking down institutional, disciplinary, and societal barriers. The synthesis efforts focus on questions for which archaeology’s long-term perspective is crucial and exploits the enormous amounts of archaeological data that we have collected over the last century.

In accomplishing these goals, CfAS has a partnership program for organizations which entitles them to vote for board members, suggest and weigh in on funding initiatives, and potentially collaborate on CfAS projects. The organization has already funded two groups, and one of those has developed into a larger successfully funded NSF project. HRAF is pleased to partner with an organization at the center of collaborative synthetic research projects.