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!

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

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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!

Hard to process everything that’s happening, or know what to say, but here’s my fridge. 💔

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...

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!

I have been called many things, but "Joseph Armstrong Jr" is a new one. Le sigh.

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).

And mostly I'm very grateful to Ammar, for writing his incredible book and reading a draft of my chapter which took his work in directions he probably never expected.

Anyway, I have a pdf if anyone would like a copy. I'm very grateful to Eivind Seland and Rubina Raja for inviting me (and having faith that I'd have something to say to the topic, even if I didn't realise it). Claire Taylor and @drdanstewart1.bsky.social talked through all my ideas (and worries)

This chapter is the result. Drawing on Ammar Azzouz's work on Domicide, I tried to use his frameworks to rethink the third century in Roman Syria using archaeological evidence.

The first Carena Institute of Sustainable Archaeologies Seminar series, on Collaborative Archaeologies in (Post)Conflict Contexts, kicks off next week with Hiba Alkhalaf. All welcome! Sign up via the link: www.bbk.ac.uk/events?tag=1...

Hiba Alkhalaf is an architect with experience in architectural conservation and heritage management. She is founder of Aswat Al-Turath, an initiative was born from a simple yet urgent truth: in places deeply affected by conflict, cultural heritage is more than monuments. www.voicesheritage.org

A year ago yesterday, everything changed for Syria. This January, Hiba Alkhalaf will speak at Birkbeck about "From Destruction to Recovery: Syrian Heritage, Fourteen Years On".

University Archaeology Day is at the @britishacademy.bsky.social this year! Here with @lesleymcf.bsky.social and lots of premium Birkbeck owl swag!

Massive congrats to Juliet, of @bbkhistorical.bsky.social, on her first publication, documenting the important corpus of bone dolls from Dura-Europos. Juliet's PhD is exploring the archaeology of childhood from the archives of the site. 🥳

Out today, my review of a recent two volume work on Sculptures from Roman Syria. TL; DR -- Important, but frustrating, work. The words that will stick with me are "current location unknown".

Such a wonderful day on the foreshore crashing @lesleymcf.bsky.social’s beautiful fieldschool with spectacular MOLA colleagues

Have just come from the opening of the wonderful ‘Cursed Objects in Museum Shops’ at the Peltz gallery in @bbkhistorical.bsky.social. Absolutely brilliant and with a programme of events too! www.bbk.ac.uk/research/cen...

Couldn’t be prouder of these brilliant archaeologists who graduated from our MA yesterday! I love Birkbeck grad so much. They’re already on to such wonderful things, and an honour to be there on the first day of ceremonies for our new President, Shami Chakrabarti (!)

My incredible colleague Esther Breithoff isn't on here, but you should still read her new article "From Bombs to Bracelets" looking at the tangible waste of war www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

And off to teach my class on the reception of Middle Eastern ruins @bbkhistorical.bsky.social this evening with my own props