Mediterranean material culture from prehistory to now

In this scene I examine a finger ring, reusing a late Roman agate seal, from southern Italy, late 7th century in the Museo Nazionale Archeologico di Napoli. In the next scene, the custodian of the stores tried it on and asked if it suited her (not pictured).

Back in March my chapter on material culture for the Wiley-Blackwell Companion to Mediterranean History came out. It was a challenging exercise to condense into 8000 words the essence of the study of material culture in a Mediterranean geo-historical context and also to represent all periods of human history at the same time. I have… Continue reading Mediterranean material culture from prehistory to now

A Companion to Mediterranean History out now

(credit: Wiley Blackwell)

A Companion to Mediterranean History, part of Wiley Blackwell’s acclaimed Companions to History series has just been published. The book project, led by editors Peregrine Horden and Sharon Kinoshita, is a culmination of at least three years’ work and a coming together of 29 contributors from across the world. Each contributor is a specialist in… Continue reading A Companion to Mediterranean History out now

Material worlds of the Mediterranean coming soon

I recently received the happy news that my article, ‘Material Worlds: The Shared Cultures of Southern Italy and its Mediterranean Neighbours in the Tenth to Twelfth Centuries’, will be published in the peer-reviewed journal Al-Masaq. Islam and the Medieval Mediterranean, published by Routledge. It will appear in the third issue of volume 23 later this… Continue reading Material worlds of the Mediterranean coming soon

Shared cultures in the medieval Mediterranean

I am currently writing up a paper based on two pieces of research which compares material culture from southern Italy with that of its central and eastern Mediterranean neighbours (e.g. Sicily, Greece, Egypt, North Africa). It is based on a conference paper I gave last July, at the Society for the Medieval Mediterranean conference at… Continue reading Shared cultures in the medieval Mediterranean

I like Creative Spaces

Creative Spaces does. No poking, no sheep throwing, no nonsense. The two posts below and the several comments are enough to set out the different views of Creative Spaces, or the National Museums Online Learning Project. I am not going to respond to the various criticisms leveled at the project as they do a good… Continue reading I like Creative Spaces