Workers at the archaeological site of Dura-Europos, Syria, during 1920s-30s Yale-French Academy excavations. They were vital to the project, but were never named and local voices are largely absent from publications on the site. 🆓 doi.org/10.15184/aqy... #WaybackWednesday 🏺 #Archaeology

"Looted communities: the local contexts of illicit excavations at Dura-Europos in Syria" @jenbaird.bsky.social & Adnan Almohamad www.cambridge.org/core/journal... @antiquity.ac.uk #openaccess

Looted communities: the local contexts of illicit excavations at Dura-Europos in Syria | Antiquity | Cambridge Core

Looted communities: the local contexts of illicit excavations at Dura-Europos in Syria

cambridge.org

The Funds for Women Graduates Theodora Bosanquet Bursary is available to PG women studying History or English Lit to finance up to 4 weeks of basic accommodation in London in summer 2027. Email grants@ffwg.org.uk for an application form between 31 August and 31 October 2026. Details: www.ffwg.org.uk

With thanks to @sarahebond.bsky.social for the shout-out!

Sarah E. Bond@sarahebond.bsky.social · 3w ago

μοι ἔννεπε, μοῦσα, of this special Homer issue! Resident Homer sage @sentantiq.bsky.social weighs in, Yoandy Cabrera has a list of Hispanic reimaginings of The Odyssey, saving Chaco Canyon, Mayan ruins reveal an ancient astronomer, new ancient world journals via @yaleclassicslib.bsky.social & more 👁️‍🗨️

I’m very proud our amazing undergrad students have rated us so highly on the NSS: ranked first for archaeology teaching in the country. @lesleymcf.bsky.social’s leadership of our BAs combines incredible archaeology with real care for students, and it shows!

Lesley McFadyen@lesleymcf.bsky.social · 2w ago

What's in a national survey? The brilliance of Birkbeck's BA Archaeology and BA Ancient History & Archaeology students, the incredible archaeologists (@jenbaird.bsky.social, Esther Breithoff, Tim Reynolds) and partners (MOLA Archaeology) that teach them, and the archaeology itself!

An important article on local alienation from archaeological sites in Syria, in no small part due to the hidden but always present influence of the police and intelligence services and close ties cultivated between leading western archaeologists and the Assad regime.

Jen Baird@jenbaird.bsky.social · 3w ago

What is the long-term legacy of foreign excavations in places like Dura-Europos in Syria? Out today and open access in @antiquity.ac.uk with my colleague Adnan Almohamad: www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

What is the long-term legacy of foreign excavations in places like Dura-Europos in Syria? Out today and open access in @antiquity.ac.uk with my colleague Adnan Almohamad: www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

Looted communities: the local contexts of illicit excavations at Dura-Europos in Syria | Antiquity | Cambridge Core

Looted communities: the local contexts of illicit excavations at Dura-Europos in Syria

cambridge.org

Is it possible to tell if artefacts from Roman antiquity *were not* made by enslaved hands? In the Oxford Handbook of the Comparative Archaeology of Slavery, my co-authors and I think comparatively about objects made by the enslaved.

Why do we talk about the “history of collection” when whole sites were torn apart and dispersed across the globe? Is it a collection, or a breaking apart? Read about Palmyra’s dispersal, out now in AJA www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/...

Collecting Palmyra: The Global Dispersal of Palmyrene Funerary Reliefs | American Journal of Archaeology: Vol 130, No 3

Palmyra has been pivotal in archaeological and historical research due to the wealth of material and the long history of fascination with the site. Its material culture can be found on every continent...

journals.uchicago.edu

We’re moving offices so saying goodbye to my lovely little Russell Square library of many years. Among the excavated materials, these Rite in the rain Transit notebooks. Can’t even remember what project I imagined needing these for!

Our "World of Rome in the Museums of London" students were treated to a fantastic talk by @profyarrow.bsky.social this morning! She generously shared her slides here: livyarrow.org/2026/06/02/b.... Thanks again Liv!

Lovely to see "Pathways to Inclusive Digital Archaeological Archives" available now via firstview in Advances in Archaeological Practice (open access). www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

Thames through Time, the most important lesson? Work as a team! Teamwork in archaeology, it’s important - Birkbeck/MOLA!!

Our paper on archival approaches to large digital cultural resource databases is now out open access! 🏺🗃️: doi.org/10.15184/aqy... We describe a method derived from #archive science as a complement to #BigData approaches to #development-led datasets, applied to #SouthAfrica but relevant globally

Project biography: an archival approach to large digital cultural resource management datasets | Antiquity | Cambridge Core

Project biography: an archival approach to large digital cultural resource management datasets

doi.org

It is with deep sadness that Dr Marianne Moen and I resigned our positions as Editor-in-Chief and Deputy Editor-in-Chief of the European Journal of Archaeology this morning. What follows is the letter we sent to the EAA's executive board, outlining the reasons for our resignation 1/n

Zena Kamash@zenakamash.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Well... A reminder of Jan vote: Motion A: 67% (486 members) agreed to exclude Israeli institutions (not individuals) from participating in EAA AMs until the end of the genocide in Palestine ends [paraphrased] 1/2 www.e-a-a.org/EAA/News___P...

Today!

Lesley McFadyen@lesleymcf.bsky.social · 4mo ago

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!!!

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!!!

Lesley McFadyen@lesleymcf.bsky.social · 5mo ago

April news! Come join us for our next CISA seminar on April 29th to hear Dr Cristina Gameiro, Universidade de Lisboa, talk on 'Portuguese Archaeology After The Carnation Revolution: The 50Layers Project'. More information and link on the CISA website to sign up. www.bbk.ac.uk/events/event...

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! ✨💚

Lesley McFadyen@lesleymcf.bsky.social · 4mo ago

✨Spring News✨ Claire Harris and Sadie Watson - MOLA - have joined the Carena Institute of Sustainable Archaeologies at Birkbeck as Honorary Research Fellows! They will teach a new BA module Sustainable Futures for Archaeology and co-supervise PhD research on London-based community archaeology!!

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...

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/...

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!

3D Imaging and Modelling for Cultural Heritage

ics.sas.ac.uk

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...

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!

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...

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...

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'

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