Reflections on the End of Western Antiquity: 3. The supposed ‘Rupture’ of the Ancient Mediterranean, Part 3
Historian on the Edge
by Historian on the Edge
4M ago
In the third part of these reflections we finally enter the territory of the Pirenne Thesis, and indeed of my project: the changes of the late sixth and early seventh centuries. Let’s recap. Around 530, in spite of all the developments discussed last time, in spite of the socio-cultural dislocation that had been going on since the third century, and in spite of the dramatic events of the fifth ..read more
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Reflections on the End of Western Antiquity: 4. The supposed ‘Rupture’ of the Ancient Mediterranean , Part 4
Historian on the Edge
by Historian on the Edge
4M ago
Several problems are raised by the economic/political paradigm. As indicated last time, my aim here is not to replace them but to add a new level more concerned with ideas, attitudes or culture. To this end it’s important to note that the broad outlines of economic development sketched in Part 3 match, in general, those of the shifts in culture mapped out in Part 2, of the gradual turning away ..read more
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Reflections on the End of Western Antiquity: 2. The supposed ‘Rupture’ of the Mediterranean World, Part 2.
Historian on the Edge
by Historian on the Edge
5M ago
In the previous post I was arguing, ultimately, that explaining ‘the end of Mediterranean unity’ is not a question of finding an ‘event’ that ruptured Mediterranean unity (the Arab conquests, Vandal Piracy, etc) as much as looking at why the features that had held it together earlier – and which had overcome those features that might militate against unity – came to an end. This post muses rather ..read more
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Reflections on the ‘End of Western Antiquity’. Part 1.
Historian on the Edge
by Historian on the Edge
5M ago
 Re-cap Readers of this blog will be all-too-wearily aware that I have been working on the changes that took place in western Europe between 550 and 650 for well over a decade, since I received a Leverhulme fellowship for a project called ‘The Transformations of the Year 600’ in 2009. What I thought the final outcome of that would be has been through many versions but I currently envisage it as ..read more
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Professor Grumpy's tips on how to write a lecture quickly (not counting PowerPoint)
Historian on the Edge
by Historian on the Edge
1y ago
 Don’t write a script that will take you 50 minutes to read out: this will be far too much information for the students to take in 1: Decide upon the four things you want your students to know about at the end of the lecture. Add Introduction and Conclusion 2. Make those your four main sections and assign ten minutes to each of them. Put those on the left indent of your page. (make a ..read more
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Archaeology, History and Bad Science: A critique of the analysis of DNA at Szólád (Hungary) and Collegno (Italy). Part 3 (Conclusions)
Historian on the Edge
by Historian on the Edge
1y ago
 ConclusionsThe aDNA analyses of Szólád and Collegno were combined with study of stable isotopes in the skeletons and then compared with the distribution of grave-goods. The essential overall conclusions were expressed – less than clearly – as follows:In both Szólád and Collegno this genetic structure mirrors the variation that emerges from their mortuary practices, i.e., how living members of ..read more
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Archaeology, History and Bad Science: A critique of the analysis of DNA at Szólád (Hungary) and Collegno (Italy). Part 2 (Method; Results).
Historian on the Edge
by Historian on the Edge
1y ago
Method Imagine a historical study that claimed that a general north-south division was visible in, for the sake of argument, the prologues of medieval charters and that this model had predictive value, such that the geographical origin of a charter could be accurately discerned from the sequence, appearance, or non-appearance of particular phrases. This would be quite an assertion, if not ..read more
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Archaeology, History and Bad Science: A critique of the analysis of DNA at Szólád (Hungary) and Collegno (Italy). Part 1 (Introduction; setting up the experiment).
Historian on the Edge
by Historian on the Edge
1y ago
 [This is a critique I wrote to form my part of an article I co-wrote with Prof Martial Staub (Sheffield) about genetics and archaeology. Later I cut it down, with the idea of publishing the more detailed elements as 'online supplementary materials'. It didn't get published, sadly. I think that there were two main problems: one was a significant jump in the scale and breadth of Martial's part and ..read more
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A Difficult Decade; An Apology
Historian on the Edge
by Historian on the Edge
2y ago
 Readers of this blog will know that I have long suffered with mental health issues, especially depression. I haven't made any secret of this, largely because I felt it was one small way of confronting the stigma which continues to be associated with mental illness.It's been a difficult decade or so for me, including a minor 'breakdown' (as it would have been called) in late 2015 and several ..read more
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Facts and Legends: Britannia after the Romans (until around 700)
Historian on the Edge
by Historian on the Edge
2y ago
 [This the English original of the short piece I wrote for the German history magazine Damals. My thanks to Mischa Meier and Steffen Patzold for the invitation to participate in that issue.]Historians nowadays very rarely use the phrase ‘The Dark Ages’ to describe the period after the disintegration of the western Roman Empire. It is now understood that it wholly misrepresents the early middle ..read more
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