A few months ago, there was a fairly silly social media dust up over the “Plague of Justinian.” One group of scholars following largely textual sources felt confident enough to assert that the plague killed millions. The other group of scholars, leaning on archaeological evidence, struggled to produce similar receipts and questioned whether it would… Read More →
I had a nice time at the 2025 ASOR annual meeting. It was a good chance to catch up with friends, scheme some schemes, and hear some papers. In hindsights, I’d have liked to spend more time in sessions and less time in meetings, but at least the meetings that I had were broadly productive. … Read More →
I’ve been in a bit of a funk lately. I’ve been too focused on writing and keeping ahead of a seemingly endless array of (possibly pointless) administrative tasks that I’ve struggled to slow down and just read. In fact, I’m excited about my impending travel not because I like travel (I hate it), but because… Read More →
I have many simmering anxieties as a scholar. Among them is my worry about having to publish the North Basilica at Polis on Cyprus by myself. This means immersing myself again in the literature of Early Christian architectural history. Among the most interesting features of the North Basilica is the presence of apsidal exedrae on… Read More →
I had a fitful week of reading last week, but I managed to read a bit on flights and between classes, talks, concerts, and brilliant architectural tours. Thing the First Glenn Peers’ relative new book Byzantine Media Subjects (2024) is really good and there is a lot to unpack in the potential of applying media… Read More →
In the fall, I was asked to write a little note for the CAARI Newsletter about the recent volume that I edited with Kostis Kourelis and Dar Brooks Hedstrom: Beyond Icons: Theories and Methods in Byzantine Archaeology in North America (2024). It’s always a bit tricky writing about your own book (even if it’s an… Read More →
A long cold weekend was a nice chance to get caught up on some reading. I enjoyed two articles on Byzantine archaeology that continued a trend toward considering how recent currents in the field have changed the questions, interests, and of Byzantine archaeology. As Kostis Kourelis, Dar Brooks, and I once quipped, the field has… Read More →
In a rare and exotic digression of my traditional alliterative practice, today is a three things TUESDAY. Oh yeah! This is mostly to celebrate that I’m somehow gotten back into the habit of reading again! Thing the First It’s always a chance to celebrate when there’s some survey archaeology in the American Journal of Archaeology… Read More →
It feels like a good time to offer a Three Things Thursday post as it’s not the Third Thursday of the Semester. Such alliteration will not occur again until the Thirteenth Thursday and who knows what’ll happen to me by then! Thing the First Here’s a little Writing Wednesday update. I had a good day… Read More →
I’ve been thinking and talking about walls a good bit lately — including an hour long conversation with David Pettegrew about the fortification of the eastern Corinthia. Last week I posted some scrappy notes on the Hexamilion Wall vaguely related to a paper that I’ll give in November at Michigan State. David and I discussed… Read More →
One of the challenges of a summer reading list is staying to true to it enough to get through at least some of it while also being flexible enough to read unexpected books that come my way. Catherine Keane’s More than a Church: Late Antique Ecclesiastical Complexes in Cyprus (2024) is just such a book.… Read More →
I was excited to see that the latest issue of Hesperia (93.1 for those of you keeping a scorecard) arrived just in time for the weekend. Since there was no Formula 1 this weekend, I was able to read an article during the time that I would have ordinarily been sitting and listlessly watching a… Read More →
We’ve almost over the midgame hump and end game is on the horizon (one way or another). So it seemed like a particularly good time for one, two, three things Thursday that spans teaching, research, and (in the name of symmetry) service. One Thing the First Next week, my Medieval History class discusses the Middle… Read More →
The last month or so has seen a little pair of recent articles on material from the region of Polis-Chrysochous in northwestern Cyprus. Both article take advantage of the remarkable continuity of settlement at the site and in the wider region which appears to have avoided the disruptions associated with the so-called “Arab Raids” in… Read More →
Next semester, alongside my new version of my historical methods class, I’m going to teach Medieval History. Instead of teaching a generic Medieval History class, though, I’ve decided to focus on the Byzantine World. This will allow me to build on a class that I’ve already partly developed and keep closer to my research interest… Read More →
This month is hectic, hence the disruption in my regular blog posting. Worse still, fragments of blog posts are beginning to collect in the queue, but between late semester meetings, conferences, and deadlines, I’m struggling to develop these fragments into something more substantial. In other words, it’s a good time for a three thing Thursday.… Read More →
