Cyprus

Over the last few days, I’m grinding out a bit of text based on an assemblage of frneware from Polis on Cyprus. This is in the service of a larger project that I’ve been describing over the last few weeks. It’s been slow going and quite frustrating, but words on the page count especially when… Read More →

I feel like I’m starting to find my groove here this summer and our manuscript is getting tighter and more polished. This gives week two of my summer research leave a bit momentum. There are a couple things going on these days that probably deserve a bit of text. Thing the First We had a… Read More →

Someone once recommended to me that as an academic, you should always have three projects going: one is a project that is almost done (or deep in the writing phase), one is a project that is just getting started, but has a clear outcome in mind and trajectory, and one project that is speculative and… Read More →

I’m tired for lots of reasons, but that fatigue has made it hard for me to focus on anything. I’d love to have the bandwidth to read more carefully and thoughtfully what’s coming across my desk right now and I wish I had a chance to process more thoughtfully the experiences that I’m having in… Read More →

It’s a long way out and I really need to stay focused on the month left in the semester, but that said, I’m thinking about the summer and I’m really happy to have two very cool projects to work on in the Mediterranean this year. Thing the First First and foremost is our work at… Read More →

This week has been not particularly productive in terms of reading or writing, but I did have a chance to read Michael Given’s recent article in T. Kiely, A. Reeve, and L. Crewe’s edited volume, Empire and Excavation. Critical Perspectives on Archaeology in British-Period Cyprus, 1878–1960 (Leiden: 2025): “Over the landscape, in the landscape? Knowledge… Read More →

At some point, someone told me that writing was like rolling a rock up a hill. Maybe the idea was to invoke the Sisyphus myth or, more optimistically, to suggest that at some point the rock crosses the top of the hill and starts to roll on its own momentum. Both seem apt, but the… Read More →

As readers of this blog know, I’ve been working on a paper about the kiln and production areas at Polis over my winter research leave. Most of the paper’s narrative and argument are done now and I’m working with my co-author, Scott Moore, on the lamp and ceramic catalogues. So far, I’ve shared a section… Read More →

I don’t really do New Year’s resolutions, but I do think that the end of a calendar year is a good time to reflect on what I can do better, more, or differently. Even if these musings only inspire a moment of reflection, then I think they’ve more or less served their purpose. My… Read More →

As readers of this blog know, I’ve been using my winter research leave to work on a paper writing up an article that documents the pottery productive installation at Polis (ancient Arsinoe). It’s been a nice project after the toil of finishing a book. So far, I’ve shared a section on a lamp deposit and… Read More →

As readers of this blog know, I’m leaning into this winter research leave by focusing on a short article describing the pottery manufacturing installation at the site of Polis (ancient Arsinoe) on Cyprus. Much of this is based on a 2024 ASOR paper which you can read here. Last week, I wrote about an assemblage… Read More →

Over the first week of my winter research leave, I’ve been pressing to prepare a draft of an article on our work at Polis. In particular, I’m looking to publish the results of our analysis of the area around a levigation pool, a kiln, and an assemblage of Roman period lamps. Much of this is… Read More →

Last week, I was able to send my book manuscript to my publisher for review. This means that my book now has a (tentative) title: Archaeology, Photography, Oil: Workforce Housing in the Bakken. This means that I now have some time to work on other projects. For example, yesterday, I did pre-production work on most… Read More →

I am trying to catch up on some reading as I lurch into the winter break. I’m starting by burrowing down through a stack of articles that I’ve saved over the last semester. These are mostly unrelated, but interesting to me none the less. Article the First I very much enjoyed Jordi A. Rivera Prince,… Read More →