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About the Carena Institute of Sustainable Archaeologies - Birkbeck, University of London

The appointee will work with us on teaching the BA Archaeology/BA Ancient History and Archaeology (including archaeological practice), as well as the MA Archaeology and Heritage. Research specialism is open, but we'd welcome someone who would contribute to our themes www.bbk.ac.uk/research/cen...

bbk.ac.uk

Read about what sustainable archaeology is, and the Carena Centre's thematic priorities.

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Ha! Didn't even notice, just invited the interesting people...

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Sneak peak of the rest of the series here!

Seminar series poster with titles and dates also available at http://bbk/ac/uk/events

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Jen Baird @jenbaird.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

Our Carena Institute of Sustainable Archaeologies Seminar this year is "Activating/Excavating Archives", and we're thrilled that @clmorgan.bsky.social will be kicking it off with Archives as Playworlds: The Avebury Papers and Digital Creativity All welcome! Abstract and sign-up linked below!

Archival illustration of people positioning a megalith

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Author copy week for OUP I guess, my postie is not impressed with the chonky volumes arriving.

Thanks Eleanor! That means a lot, especially from you!

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We were thrilled with the large number of people who attended and the warm reception from the community. We hope this is the first of many co-produced events!

Attendees for the evening reception of 'Faces of Dura-Europos'

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The events were organised and hosted by Professor Asaad Alsaleh, who is from the community.

Professor Asaad Alsaleh during the launch preparations at Salhiyeh

This will enable (e.g.) identifications made by descendants to be written back into the archive. Because the local community at Dura-Europos is at the centre of this work, the exhibit was launched there first, on Monday.

invitation to exhibit launch in Salhiyeh

faces.dura-europos.k2.services

Through 'Faces of Dura-Europos', Hiba Alkhalaf and I are pleased to be continuing our work with IDEA to curate archival photographs in a way that people can respond to, using LOD. faces.dura-europos.k2.services?locale=en

Faces of Dura-Europos

Faces of Dura-Europos Exhibit developed by the ScienceStories.io Team

Another facet of this work is a digital exhibit, launched this week by The Carena Institute of Sustainable Archaeologies: The Faces of Dura-Europos. www.facesofdura.org

facesofdura.org

Faces of Dura-Europos

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

In recent years, Adnan Almohamad and I have been trying to use oral history to think about and address these occlusions (and their consequences). www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

cambridge.org

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

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Lesley McFadyen @lesleymcf.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

For too long, the people who have done the real work of archaeology have not been recognised. At Dura-Europos in Syria, one of the ways this is evident is in the lack of credit given, or even names recorded, for the many workers there.

Archival photograph from the Yale Dura collection of archaeological workers

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Reposted by Jen Baird

Join @archscot.bsky.social and the Carena Institute of Sustainable Archaeologies for the Sustainable Archaeological Futures Symposium, 10th and 11th September. Get your in person and online tickets for Day 1 here: lnkd.in/eRSCXhCa

Blue poster signposting the upcoming Sustainable Archaeological Futures Symposium from Archaeology Scotland and CISA.

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Jen Baird @jenbaird.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

Next week, at the site, we will launch a project to support Syrian names and voices being more present in the archive. facesofdura.org

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Reposted by Jen Baird

Antiquity Journal @antiquity.ac.uk · 05/08/2026

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

Black-and-white photograph of several people in headscarves, some holding shovels, excavating next to a stone wall.

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Reposted by Jen Baird

Dr Sarah Irving @drtermagant.bsky.social · 21/07/2026

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

ffwg.org.uk

Funds for Women Graduates – Funds for Women Graduates

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Jen Baird @jenbaird.bsky.social · 21/07/2026

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!

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Jen Baird @jenbaird.bsky.social · 15/07/2026

Of course, will send along! x

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Jen Baird @jenbaird.bsky.social · 15/07/2026

No problem, please email/dm me your email address, j.baird@bbk.ac.uk

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Jen Baird @jenbaird.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

Thank you! And yes, agreed on those silences, which still shape the knowledge that emerges from archives.

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Jen Baird @jenbaird.bsky.social · 13/07/2026

Yes no problem—please just email me and I’ll send both along: j.baird@bbk.ac.uk

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Reposted by Jen Baird

Christopher W. Jones @cwjones.bsky.social · 13/07/2026

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.

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Jen Baird @jenbaird.bsky.social · 13/07/2026

Our article that draws on oral histories conducted during the recent conflict to explore the relationship between the major archaeological site of Dura-Europos and local communities and stakeholders.

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Jen Baird @jenbaird.bsky.social · 13/07/2026

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...

cambridge.org

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

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Indeed. But also, presumably, “personally made by Livia” might not quite mean what it says (and even if it did: who spun the fibers? Sheared the sheep? To me the strange thing is still *not* thinking of even these garments as products of enslaved labour.

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It's an issue I've been thinking about for a while (one day I will write the book....), also in this article about a "love gift" from Pompeii muse.jhu.edu/article/590346

Roman gold bracelet in form a snake, with a Latin inscription on the inside

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That quote is from 2013, by the way. This is not a long-forgotten position of the 19th century or something.

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In that class, we think a lot about why our "default" positions are the way they are: why do we need to "prove" an artefact is made, or used, by enslaved people? Why have scholars long presumed "the treatment of most slaves generally was tolerable" in the Roman world?

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My thinking about the topic is very much informed by conversations in my "Archaeology of Roman Slavery" MA module at Birkbeck, and grateful to my students in that class over the years, including @alisonfisk.bsky.social, @julietsamsonconlon.bsky.social, and many more not on Bluesky

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Online now global.oup.com/academic/pro... As ever, if you would like a copy and don't have access, please just get in touch

global.oup.com

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