Come join us in London! There are still spaces for our next CISA seminar on the 29th April with The 50 Layers Project and the amazing Cristina Gameiro!! Vir!!!

I heart Lebanon fridge magnet

Hard to process everything that’s happening, or know what to say, but here’s my fridge. 💔

I’m thrilled to join the Carena Institute @bbkhistorical.bsky.social team, which will develop my teaching, build on my research, and also means @drclaireharris.bsky.social and I get to work with @lesleymcf.bsky.social @jenbaird.bsky.social and Esther Breithoff! ✨💚

We’re so happy to have you as part of the team, Sadie! Welcome!

Jen Baird and Esther Breithoff standing on either side of a pink-and-white exhibit banner

We've set up a small exhibit on 'Sustainable Archaeologies in Times of Change' in our library as part of Birkbeck's Annual Climate Festival. If you're in Bloomsbury, please stop by!
www.bbk.ac.uk/events/event...

Case studies by Miriam Saqqa-Carazo and Lucía Expósito-Cívico (visiting scholars at the CISA) will explore Palestinian and Spanish contexts, and will be of interest to those in memory studies, forensic and contemporary archaeology, material culture, and history of science. All welcome!

Archival document documenting human remains, with caption in Spanish

Working with sensitive archives or difficult histories? Join us next week for a workshop on “Methodological Approaches to the Margins of Violence.”

Book via the link here: www.bbk.ac.uk/events/event...

Come join me and the @uclarchaeology.bsky.social team! Teaching replacement post in Museum Studies, 1 year contract: www.ucl.ac.uk/work-at-ucl/...

3D Imaging and Modelling for Cultural Heritage

I'm told that one or two spaces have just become available on the ICS Summer School in 3D Imaging and Modelling for Cultural Heritage: ics.sas.ac.uk/news-events/...

If you're interested in learning photogrammetry, RTI, 3D design, 3D printing, paradata and heritage ethics, join us!

Birkbeck, University of London, is seeking a Lecturer in Ancient History and Classics to join our dynamic team within the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in Autumn 2026. As Lecturer in Ancient History and Classics, you will contribute to the teaching of ancient Greco-Roman history and Classics in the School of Historical Studies - this includes our BA Ancient History and Archaeology, BA Classics, BA Classical Studies, as well as MA Classical Civilisation and MA Classics. This post is offered on a permanent contract at Birkbeck, full time, 35 hours per week, with a salary of £44,247 rising to £60,858 per year. Teaching hours will vary from 6-9pm Monday to Friday. To be successful, you will bring research expertise in ancient Greek history, broadly understood (this could include the history of Greek-speaking lands under the Roman empire), as well as ancient Greek literature, and demonstrate a capacity to contribute to interdisciplinary research and teaching, participate actively in curriculum development, supervise doctoral students, and help shape the intellectual life of our vibrant academic community. We would also welcome applicants who could contribute to collaborative teaching programmes or research in the Faculty, in areas such as identity, race/ethnicity, or gender - experience of collaboration with cultural institutions, whether through research or teaching, is also welcome. The postholder could potentially take advantage of Birkbeck’s new Immersive Learning Centre for teaching or research. As Lecturer, your core responsibilities will initially include programme/module administration, teaching, supervision, assessment, student support and pastoral care. You will also be equipped to supervise doctoral students. With a PhD in any area of Ancient History/Classics relating to the ancient Greek world,...

We're hiring at Birkbeck!

Lecturer in Ancient History and Classics, full-time and open-ended. Closing date March 18th.

Details here: cis7.bbk.ac.uk/vacancy/lect...

Details and booking via the link below

www.bbk.ac.uk/events/event...

Can heritage contribute to recovery after conflict? We're holding a roundtable in March at the Carena Institute of Sustainable Archaeologies on the role of heritage in recovery and transitional justice in Syria. All welcome!

The importance of a river's life.

March news! Come join us for our next CISA seminar on March 4th to hear Dr Muna Dajani, Fellow in Environment at LSE, talk on 'Wadi Gaza: a river valley recalcitrant to erasure'. More information and link on the CISA website to sign up.
www.bbk.ac.uk/events/event...

Yeah sure but we’re voting with our money for the kind of world we want

I haven’t (knowingly) bought from Amazon in about 15 years and honestly live a perfectly fine life, I don’t know why this is so hard for people

Dissapointed the webinar seems not to work, but hope the event went well for those that braved the weather!

The given names might be AI (?) but I, and my article, are not:
traj.openlibhums.org/article/id/4...

I have been called many things, but "Joseph Armstrong Jr" is a new one. Le sigh.

Wonderful news from Birkbeck's School of Historical Studies. We're hiring not one but TWO open-ended, full-time roles: Medieval Studies, and History of Art! cis7.bbk.ac.uk/home.html#fi...

All welcome, further details and booking here: www.bbk.ac.uk/events/event...

Statue memorial on stone plinth with French flag in background

Next week at the Carena Institute of Sustainable Archaeologies (Birkbeck), we'll hear from Layla Renshaw about 'The Recovery and Identification of WWI Soldiers on the Western Front: Citizen Science, Nationalism, and Memorial Diplomacy'

Julia Domna Headpot Handcrafted Replica Roman Head Pot – Inspired by the York Collection Details This stunning head pot replica is based on one of the 50 head pots or face urns discovered in York, a city founded by the R...

@pottedhistory.bsky.social makes replicas! They are stunning! potted-history.co.uk/products/jul...

Vessel (head pot / face urn) in the shape of a woman's head.

Working on a thing, distracted by a headpot. Please behold this incredible likeness of Syrian empress Julia Domna from York (York Museums H2132).

Absolutely this. Carney (and Canada) are not perfect but such a relief to hear from someone who sounds like a grown-up for a change.

Book cover of "Domicide" by Ammar Azzouz

And mostly I'm very grateful to Ammar, for writing his incredible book and reading a draft of my chapter which took his work in directions he probably never expected.

Book cover of 'Palmyra, the Roman Empire, and the Third Century Crisis' with black and white image of Roman ruins below the title

Anyway, I have a pdf if anyone would like a copy. I'm very grateful to Eivind Seland and Rubina Raja for inviting me (and having faith that I'd have something to say to the topic, even if I didn't realise it). Claire Taylor and @drdanstewart1.bsky.social talked through all my ideas (and worries)

What if we used that same evidence to think about lived experiences in the third century rather than grand narratives? I tried to do this using the evidence of houses and small finds in urban settings, looking at dispossession and displacement.

Ancient tragedies such as plagues, earthquakes, & invasions tend to be something ancient historians and archaeologists write about blithely, as useful chronological horizons and recognisable strata in our deposits. We've tended to centre the spectacular over the mundane.

This chapter is the result. Drawing on Ammar Azzouz's work on Domicide, I tried to use his frameworks to rethink the third century in Roman Syria using archaeological evidence.

In mid-2023 I was invited to speak about the 3rd Century Crisis at a conference in Copenhagen. By the time I was writing the paper later that year, the irony of writing about ancient crises from a position of safety in a world full of real violence (in the very same places) was almost too much.