med.la.b

M e d•L A•B
MatthewEarly Medieval, Late Antique & Byzantine Research Forum

MedLAB at is an interdisciplinary forum based in the School of Historical Studies at Newcastle University. Its aims are to provide a focus for researchers in the field by reviewing and discussing recent work, hosting research seminars and symposia, providing feedback on its members’ developing papers and proposals, and stimulating new projects. MedLAB is open to all interested researchers at Newcastle University including staff and postgraduate students.

Around twenty academic staff and PhD students at Newcastle take part, plus about ten MA students each year.

People

Our interests range from Iceland to Armenia via Britain, western Europe, Scandinavia and Byzantium. MedLAB events are currently coordinated by Sam Turner and Sophie Moore.

 

2012-13

Thursday 22nd November 2012, 4pm. Armstrong Building, Classroom 2
Reading group - Oren Falk 2010, ‘A Dark Age Peter Principle: Beowulf's incompetence threshold’

Wednesday 12th December 2012, 4pm. Armstrong Building, Room 2.98
Andy Agate, Newcastle University ‘Suburban development in later Anglo-Saxon and Norman England’

Monday 21st January 2013, 4pm. Armstrong Building, Room 2.09
Danielle Donaldson, Radboud University, Nijmegen. 'Byzantium and the western Mediterranean, 550-700'

Wednesday 13th February 2013, 4pm. Percy Building, Room G.05
Richard North, University College London.‘Ēostre the “goddess” and the free-standing posts of Yeavering’

Friday 15th February 2013, 5pm. Armstrong Building, Room 2.16
Emanuele Vaccaro, University of Cambridge 'Philosophiana in central Sicily from the Roman period to the Arab conquest: settlement and economy'

Wednesday 27th February 2013, 4pm. Reading Group (paper tbc)

Wednesday 13th March 2013, 4pm. Percy Building, Room G.05
John-Henry Clay, Durham University. 'Wilderness and the Sacred in Late Antique Gaul'

Thursday 2nd May 2013, 4pm. Percy Building, Room G.13
Sue Oosthuizen, University of Cambridge.‘Common or separate origins? Nucleated settlement and open fields in Anglo-Saxon England’

 

2011-12

Thursday 24th November 2011, 4pm (Interdisciplinary Research Seminar/MedLAB)
Victoria Thompson, Newcastle University. Myredah Me Worhte: Some Irish Aspects of Viking-Age Sculpture in Northern England

Saturday 3rd December 2011, 10am-5.30pm (MedLAB)
Heartland to Frontier: the Tees-Forth Region in the Middle Ages
MSRG Winter Seminar. Venue: Great North Museum

Tuesday 28th February 2012, 4pm (MedLAB)
Reading group: A. Cameron, 2011. ‘Thinking through Byzantium’ Trans. Royal Historical Soc 6th Ser., 21, 39-57

Thursday 1st March 2012, 4pm (Archaeology Research Seminar)
Stephanie Wynne-Jones, University of York. House power and hospitality on the Swahili coast.

Tuesday 20th March 2012, 10am-4.30pm (MedLAB)
MedLAB symposium: Arthur’s Britain - 41 Years Later
Venue: Research Beehive. Contact: scott.ashley@ncl.ac.uk

Thursday 3rd May 2012, 4pm (MedLAB)
Letty Ten Harkel, University of Oxford. Urbanisation and material culture: the case of Viking Age Lincoln

Thursday 7th June 2012, 10am-4.30pm
Day conference: Roman Pottery in the Fifth Century
http://www.ncl.ac.uk/historical/research/conferences/romanpottery.htm
Venue: Research Beehive. Pre-registration essential. Contact: james.gerrard@ncl.ac.uk

 

Recent Events (2010-11)

Tuesday 19th October, 5.30pm
Dr Scott Ashley, Newcastle University. Through Mirkwood’s dim paths: from the Roman world to Scandinavia in Late Antiquity

Thursday 4th November, 4pm
Dr Susanne Hakenbeck, University of Southampton. Local, regional and ethnic identities in early medieval cemeteries in Bavaria

Tuesday 16th November, 5.30pm
Dr Ros Faith, Kellogg College, Oxford. Livestock, the hundred and the hundred court

Thursday 2nd December, 4pm
Reading Group: E. James, 2008. The Rise and Function of the Concept ‘Late Antiquity’. Journal of Late Antiquity 1.1 (Spring): 20-30

Tuesday 15th February, 5.30pm
Prof. Andrew Poulter, University of Nottingham. On the divide between Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages: recent fieldwork in two late Roman fortresses in Northern Bulgaria

Thursday 17th March, 3pm
Discussion group: Mark Jackson, Newcastle University. Performing pilgrimage

8th-10th April 2011
Experiencing Byzantium: the 44th Spring Symposium of Byzantine Studies
For registration details see http://www.byzantium.ac.uk/frameset_symp44.htm

Thursday 19th May, 4pm (MedLAB)
Søren Sindbaek, University of York. Viking Age Settlement and kingship: revisiting the fortress of Aggersborg

Thursday 16th June, 4pm
Reading Group: Price, N., 2010. ‘Passing into poetry: Viking-Age mortuary drama and the origins of Norse mythology’, Medieval Archaeology 54, 123-156.

Research Projects

Members of MedLAB take part in diverse research projects: a selection with links appears below