We cordially invite you to the inaugural lecture to be given by Dr Benjamin Štular upon his appointment as a full professor in the field of archaeology:
Archaeology 2030: Research Fields, Relationships and Trends
The lecture will present the results of a bibliographic and bibliometric analysis of 2,529 highly cited archaeological publications.
We will trace shifts in research emphasis from 1970 to 2025, examining which fields have maintained a central position over time, how new research directions have emerged alongside them, and where scholarly attention has increased most markedly in recent years. Particular attention will be given to the relationship between established fields and rapidly growing areas such as digital archaeology, archaeogenomics, archaeometry and archaeological chemistry.
Drawing on these findings, we will discuss the possibilities and limitations of forecasting future trends, as well as how individual researchers and research institutions can situate their work within a broader international context.
The analysis rests on an extensive expert review involving the reading, critical assessment and classification of publications. We supplemented this review with machine learning and generative artificial intelligence to create a semantic atlas of the publications, showing research fields, their thematic connections, overlaps and relationships. This allows us to examine the structure of contemporary archaeology beyond conventional chronological, geographical and methodological divisions.
The lecture will take place on Monday, 2 November 2026 at 2.30 pm in the Gosposka Hall of the GIAM ZRC SAZU Geography Museum, Gosposka 16, Ljubljana. The lecture will also be accessible online via Zoom.
Zoom meeting link:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88932721022?pwd=1CGLyfXFvTXFtPaOv10tazNIbMdIxd.1
Meeting ID: 889 3272 1022
Passcode: 624263
Prof. Dr Benjamin Štular is Head of the Institute of Archaeology at ZRC SAZU, a leading expert in airborne LiDAR and GIS analysis of archaeological landscapes, and a recognised researcher in early medieval archaeology. He specialises in working with cultural heritage data, using generative artificial intelligence to develop innovative, data-driven solutions for documenting, analysing, and presenting heritage. He has extensive experience in leading national and international research projects, developing open-source tools for processing LiDAR data, and leading interdisciplinary teams at the intersection of archaeology, geoinformatics, artificial intelligence, and digital humanities, with an emphasis on open science and the reproducibility of research procedures.
Prof. Dr Benjamin Štular has been teaching at the ZRC SAZU Postgraduate School since 2016. He is responsible for the Landscape Archaeology and Early Medieval Archaeology courses and served as coordinator of the Archaeology between the Adriatic and the Danube module in 2024 and 2025.
You are most welcome!
Figure: semantic atlas of archaeological publications (https://atlas.nomic.ai/data/bstular/archaeological-research-atlas/map/7f050529-5ee3-4884-b7be-79331447972a#fm4b).