Dear colleagues and friends, Hope you are doing well and enjoying the start of the holiday season. Please join me in welcoming a new member to the SSYCDS and listserv, Martijn Knapen. Below please find Martjin's self introduction. Welcome to our community! My name is Martijn Knapen and I am doctoral researcher in the Archaeolinguistic Research Group at the Max Planck Institute for Geoanthropology. I hold a BA in linguistics from Leiden University and an MA in Linguistic diversity and digital humanities from the University of Helsinki. My research focuses on the history of the Indigenous peoples of the Lower and Middle Amur and Sakhalin island, starting from prehistory to the early Soviet period. Belonging to the periphery of different states, this region generally only entered into the historical records through specific key events like the Yuan invasion of Sakhalin. Consequently, information on the peoples of this section of the Amur River Basin is generally vague or scarce. In my research, I use language and historical linguistic methods to elucidate how these peoples interacted with each other and the peoples around them and endeavour to clarify their place in the history of the Liao, Jin and subsequent dynasties, into whose territory the Amur River Basin was nominally or fully incorporated. I compliment my findings with insights from other fields such as history, anthropology, archaeology and genetics. Sincerely, Ya Zuo Secretary, Society for Song, Yuan, and Conquest Dynasties Studies