Conferences

The Sheraton Boston is located at 39 Dalton St. in Boston’s Back Bay neighborhood adjacent to the Prudential Tower.  The venue is just four miles from Logan Airport and accessible by train, subway, and car.

Airport

Logan Airport is located four miles from the Sheraton Boston.  Transportation options from the airport to the conference include Boston’s subway (the “T”), cab, App Ride/Ride Share (Uber, Lyft), and pre-booked airport shuttle. 

Boston is also serviced by these regional airports:
Manchester-Boston Regional Airport (Manchester, NH)
T.F. Green Airport (Providence, RI)
Worcester Regional Airport (Worcester, MA)

Train

Boston is serviced by three Amtrak stations (South Station, North Station, and Back Bay). The closest station to the conference venue is Back Bay.  

AMTRAK
Amtrak is a passenger rail service that connects Boston, New York, Washington,D.C., Philadelphia, Baltimore, Portland (ME) and other points nationwide. Amtrak trains depart from South Station (Red Line), Back Bay Station (Orange Line) and North Station (Green and/or Orange Line).

Amtrak Acela
Created with business travelers in mind, Amtrak’s high-speed train Acela provides fast service along the Northeast Corridor High-Speed Rail between Washington, New York and Boston.
Traveling at speeds up to 150 miles per hour, each Acela is fully equipped with power outlets and audio entertainment in-seat, bistro cars, elegant first-class cars, wide seats, conference and meeting areas and other amenities.

Phone: 800-872-7245
Toll-free: 800-USA-RAIL
Amtrak.com

MBTA Commuter Rail
Operated by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, Boston’s Commuter Rail services the outlying Boston suburbs. Service is available from several “T” stations, but most departures take place at North Station, South Station and Back Bay Station.

Phone: 617-722-3200
mbta.com

Car Rental

Most major car rental companies are available at Boston Logan Airport and throughout the city.. Parking at the Sheraton is $42/day.

Local Transportation

There is extensive public transportations surrounding the venue with multiple subway or “T” stations located within a very short walk, and several accessible options for conference attendees with limited mobility. The Prudential Center stop on the MBTA’s ‘E’ train along the Green Line has elevator and full up and down escalator access, as well as a portable boarding lift available on request. The Massachusetts Avenue stop on the MBTA’s Orange Line has elevator access, an “up’ escalator, and a long ramp available for use. For more comprehensive accessibility information, including trip planning guides, access maps, and information on the MBTA’s paratransit service, the RIDE, please see the Accessibility on the MBTA webpage  

The hotel and conference venue is part of the larger Prudential Center, a 23-acre bright and modern development of shops, restaurants, and office towers connected by multiple arcades allowing for access to much of the area’s food and retail options without going outside. Several taxicab services are available as are rideshare services such as Uber and Lyft.

Conference Co-Chair(s): Joseph Bagley (City of Boston Archaeology), Jennifer Poulsen (Harvard Peabody Museum)

Program Chair: Diana Loren (Harvard Peabody Museum)

Underwater Co-Chairs: Vic Mastone (MABUAR), Calvin Mires (Bridgewater State University)

Terrestrial Co-Chairs: Steve Dasovich (Lindenwood University), Kate Ness, Tânia Manuel Casimiro (Universidade NOVA de Lisboa)

Popular Program Co-Director(s): Ellen Berkland (MA Department of Conservation and Recreation), Lindsay Randall (RS Peabody Museum, Andover)

Local Arrangements Chair/Tour and Events Director: Kathleen von Jena (City of Boston), Jade Luiz (Boston University), Alix Martin (Strawbery Banke)

Bookroom Coordinator: Annie Greco (Harvard Peabody Museum)

Social Media Liaison: Liz Quinlan (UMass Boston)

Volunteer Directors: Drew Webster (University of Maryland); Lauren Christian (East Carolina University)

Fundraising/Partnership Liaison: Bill Farley (Southern Connecticut State University), Sarah Johnson (Harvard Peabody Museum)

Workshops Director: Jade Luiz (Boston University)

Awards:  Paul Mullins (Indiana University-Purdue University)

Accessibility and Inclusion:  Liz Quinlan (UMass Boston)

The Sheraton Boston hotel and convention center is located at 39 Dalton St. in Boston’s Back Bay neighborhood. This venue will host all attendees, conference sessions, and meetings.  Attendees will be staying in the hotel’s two towers in the heart of Boston with direct access to conference venue on the building’s lower floors. 

Group room rates and dates coming soon.

The hotel foyer has an extensive seating area, Starbucks, Sidebar bar and lounge, and Apropos restaurant.  Also available to guests is a full service spa, fitness center, and pool.  The Sheraton Boston is smoke-free and pet-friendly with one dog allowed per room.

The Sheraton Boston is part of a 23-acre Prudential Center retail and commercial space of interconnected avenues and office towers.  The 75+ shops and restaurants of the Prudential Center are accessible via climate controlled, covered walkways allowing for coat-free access no matter the weather. The Prudential Center even includes a grocery store. Its location within the heart of the city means there are a multitude of additional restaurants,  bars, and shopping options nearby.

Within immediate walking distance of the venue is historic Copley Square, which includes the iconic 1872 Richardson Romanesque Trinity Church and Boston Public Library.  Other nearby highlights include the upscale Newbury Street shopping district, the Historic Landmark-designated brick rowhouses of Back Bay, and the 10-acre Christian Science Center with its I. M. Pei and Associates designed colonnade, tower, and reflection pool.

The archaeological, architectural, and historical highlights of Boston Common, Fenway Park, Faneuil Hall, Paul Revere House, Old North Church, and historic Freedom Trail are all within 2 miles of the venue and directly accessible via public transportation.

Coming later in 2020

 Student volunteers are essential to the smooth operation of every SHA Conference. Opportunities and announcements coming soon.

For five decades the SHA has been at the forefront in the dissemination of scholarly research on historical archaeology in North America and beyond.  Our annual conference is our major opportunity to share with others our most recent research findings, advances in theories and methods, strategies for improving public archaeology, etc.  We invite you to be a sponsor of the conference!

The 2020 Conference Committee welcomes innovative ideas for sponsorship. If you have such an idea, please contact SHA headquarters (hq@sha.org) to start the discussions.

Download the SHA 2020 Conference Sponsorship Form here.

Information on applying for all of the awards and prizes for the SHA 2020 Conference on Historical and Underwater Archaeology can be found at: https://sha.org/about-us/awards-and-prizes/.

The SHA 2020 Conference will host a Book Room that will include exhibits of products, services, and publications from companies and other organizations in the archaeological community. The SHA welcomes exhibitors who share its mission and agree with its Ethics Principles (https://sha.org/about-us/ethics-statement/) at the 2020 Conference on Historical and Underwater Archaeology, January 8-11, 2020 in Boston, Massachusetts.

Exhibitor Prospectus coming soon

Accessibility & Inclusion at the SHAs

Our Conference Committee acknowledges that attending an academic conference can be difficult for attendees with special accessibility requirements and for those belonging to marginalized communities. As past president Paul R. Mullins stated in a 2012 President’s Corner Blog Post,“Historical archaeologists have long embraced an archaeology of peoples who have been structurally  silenced and ignored as their experiences are effaced from dominant narratives.  SHA is committed to supporting such work because it is simply good scholarship that is true to our collective heritage, and working to mirror the same diversity in our membership is simply true to contemporary social life.”

Our Diversity and Inclusion Committee Chair, Liz Quinlan, and other Conference Committee Members will be reachable at sha2020boston@gmail.com, to discuss specific requests, and more information regarding venue and conference accessibility and inclusivity procedures is forthcoming.