The Archaeozoology of Southwest Asia and Adjacent Areas (ASWA[AA]) Working Group was formed during the 1990 ICAZ International Conference in Washington D.C. Its purpose is to promote communication between scientists working on faunal remains from sites in western Asia and adjacent areas (e.g., northeast Africa, eastern Europe, central Asia, and south Asia). It carries out its mandate by sponsoring biennial international conferences.

ASWA 2025 will be held in the beautiful and well-situated Carl Friedrich von Siemens Stiftung conference centre  (Carl Friedrich von Siemens Stiftung, Südliches Schlossrondell 23, 80638 München, Germany). The lion of Ischl is the logo for the 16th ASWA conference, as the lion is the heraldic animal of Bavaria. It is a lion-shaped shield fitting from an early medieval, 7th century CE warrior’s grave, found between 1880 and 1890 in a gravel quarry near Ischl an der Alz, district Traunstein, Bavaria. The finds from this grave are on display in the Archäologische Staatssammlung München.