"university" blog posts

Barking Up the Right Tree - Updates from Deep Roots

Posted on: 16 June 2020 | Category: 2020 posts

Miombo woodland, northern Zambia

Professor Larry Barham provides a fantastic update from the 'Deep Roots' project, and the award of Endangered Material Knowledge Programme funding for research into the archaeological use of bark. Professor Barham and his team's four year project investigates the deep roots of increasingly complex human behaviour in Africa, with excavations at key sites in Zambia.


Conversations in Human Evolution

Posted on: 26 May 2020 | Category: 2020 posts

Conversations in Human Evolution student blog logo.

Archaeology PhD student Lucy Timbrell tells us about Conversations in Human Evolution - her new public engagement initiative aimed at highlighting and exploring the diversity of human evolution studies, through fun and educational interview-style blog posts.


Locked Out! - Updates from Deep Roots

Posted on: 19 May 2020 | Category: 2020 posts

Professor Larry Barham updates us on the Deep Roots project.

Professor Larry Barham provides an update from the 'Deep Roots' project under lock-down, from his lab in the garden. Professor Barham and his team's four year project investigates the deep roots of increasingly complex human behaviour in Africa, with excavations at key sites in Zambia.


After University: Graduate Pathways from ACE (Week 4)

Posted on: 8 May 2020 | Category: 2020 posts

Archaeology BSc and MSc graduate Edward Clark

In the fourth and final part of our series, we got in touch with Archaeology BSc and MSc graduate Edward Clark.


After University: Graduate Pathways from ACE (Week 3)

Posted on: 1 May 2020 | Category: 2020 posts

Palaeoanthropology MSc and Evolutionary Anthropology PhD graduate Dr Shelley Farrar Stoakes

In the third part of our series, we got in touch with Palaeoanthropology MSc and Evolutionary Anthropology PhD graduate, Dr Shelley Farrar Stoakes.


After University: Graduate Pathways from ACE (Week 2)

Posted on: 24 April 2020 | Category: 2020 posts

Egyptology MA graduate Edward Lewis

In the second part of our series, we got in touch with Egyptology MA graduate Edward Lewis, to hear about his career pathways from student at the University of Liverpool to Head of Programme at Jersey Overseas Aid.


Free online Egyptology lectures and podcasts to keep you busy

Posted on: 23 April 2020 | Category: 2020 posts

Sketch of an Egyptian wall carving

For those of you with an interest in ancient Egypt, Egyptology PhD student Megan Clark has put together a list of free online Egyptology lectures and podcasts to check out.


Stone Age memories

Posted on: 7 April 2020 | Category: 2020 posts

Professor Larry Barham visits Ormskirk West End Primary School to teach pupils about the Stone Age and the development of early tools.


Celebrating the research of Professor John Gowlett

Posted on: 2 April 2020 | Category: 2020 posts

John Gowlett in Olorgesailie, Kenya

When and why did human ancestors begin to master fire? How did we come to have such large brains, or to develop language? Why did handaxes – such a fundamental element of the prehistoric archaeological record – persist for more than a million years? Do they reflect social norms or ‘design rules’ passed on from one individual to another? These questions – and many more – have been central to the research of our very own Prof. John Gowlett during the course of his career. And through John’s research, they have become central issues for understanding human evolution.


Top Podcasts You Should Listen to Right Now

Posted on: 25 March 2020 | Category: 2020 posts

Sometimes throwing a podcast into the mix can be a really beneficial tool when studying.


The Ancestral Shape Hypothesis

Posted on: 17 March 2020 | Category: 2020 posts

Dr Kimberly Plomp, Marie Skłodowska-Curie Research Fellow in the Department of Archaeology, Classics and Egyptology, explores the ancestral source of a problem faced by many people today: back pain.


Amelia Edwards: An International Women's Day Special

Posted on: 6 March 2020 | Category: 2020 posts

Amelia Edwards was a prominent travel writer and Egyptologist. On her travels throughout Egypt she famously wrote the travel text 'A Thousand Miles up the Nile' which provided a vivid and detailed account of the environment, monuments and local customs seen all over Egypt. In particular, Edwards' illustrations in this text opened up to new audiences the wonders and splendours of this little known country.


Managing and interpreting Maori heritage: Pā today

Posted on: 18 February 2020 | Category: 2020 posts

Pā in the process of transition in management with overgrown earthwork defences

Professor Harold Mytum concludes the blog series from his visit to New Zealand by exploring the relationship between the hill forts and contemporary Maori culture.


Vindaloo, Victorians, and Ancient Greek Colonisation Part 1: Hybridity

Posted on: 12 February 2020 | Category: 2020 posts

The Ancient Greek Colonisation and British Imperial Thought (ALGY336) module examines how academic understanding of ancient Greek overseas settlements was influenced by Victorian ideas of race, gender, and empire. This happened because British scholars made analogies between the ancient Greeks and the contemporary British Empire that they lived in, projecting their own imperialist values back onto history. Even the Victorian Prime Minister William Gladstone said in the House of Commons that the British Empire should treat its colonies like the Greeks had done theirs. We then applied Postcolonialism to critically consider relationships between ancient Greeks and the Celts, Sikels, and Egyptians that they encountered.


Exploring The Archaeology and Topography of Greece

Posted on: 10 February 2020 | Category: 2020 posts

Niamh Banner at the Sanctuary of Artemis

Niamh Banner (BA Classical Studies with Spanish) shares her experience at the British School at Athens on their Undergraduate Course: a three-week intensive course exploring ‘The Archaeology and Topography of Greece’ with lectures at dozens of sites, museums and even artefact handling sessions in the BSA fitch laboratory.


The Maori and Colonial contact: Pā in their landscape context

Posted on: 6 February 2020 | Category: 2020 posts

Rangihoua pā overlooking the Oihi mission site on the terrace in the foreground; the monument celebrates Marsden’s first Christian service on New Zealand soil.

The more pā sites Harold Mytum has visited as part of the Hill Fort Study Group (HFSG) visit, and we learn of the early relationships with the British, the more it is clear that the indigenous groups wielded considerable influence in the early decades of contact. The ways in which the Maori leaders of iwi (the largest kinship grouping) used interactions with foreigners for their own social advantage are clear.


Maori Pā: Hillforts from Prehistory to the Present

Posted on: 31 January 2020 | Category: 2020 posts

Kororipo pā, home of the Maori Ngāpuhi chief, Hongi Kika who allowed British settlement on the lower land under his control.

Harold Mytum has joined the Hill Fort Study Group (HFSG) study tour of sites in the North Island of New Zealand, home to the greatest concentration of Maori at the time of Captain Cook and indeed still so today.


SACE Digging Day at the Williamson Tunnels

Posted on: 17 October 2019 | Category: 2019 posts

Following their trip to the Williamson Tunnels Heritage Centre, Megan Clark discusses a successful day spent digging by the Society of Archaeology, Classics and Egyptology.


Meet the Lecturer: Dr Frederick Jones ARBSA

Posted on: 10 September 2019 | Category: 2019 posts

Dr Frederick Jones is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Archaeology, Classics and Egyptology at the University of Liverpool. A specialist in Classic languages, Dr Jones is also an accomplished artist and is an Associate of the Royal Birmingham Society of Artists (RBSA). Find out how his work in Classics is intertwined with his art.


Local school pupils explore the past at the Ancient Worlds Taster Day

Posted on: 9 August 2019 | Category: 2019 posts

The Department of Archaeology, Classics and Egyptology was delighted to welcome Key Stage 3 students from Weatherhead High School to an Ancient Worlds Taster Day on 15 July 2019. Organised by the Liverpool Schools Classics Project and hosted by Dr Ross Clare, the students enjoyed a series of sessions themed around the ancient past before getting the opportunity to ask the speakers any questions they wished about the University experience.


Hafting and the development of combinatorial technology

Posted on: 10 July 2019 | Category: 2019 posts

Professor Larry Barham of the University of Liverpool's Department of Archaeology, Classics and Egyptology explains how the use of experimental archaeology can be used to uncover the history of hafting, which gave rise to the combinatorial technology we rely on today.


Kindling the flames of knowledge

Posted on: 27 June 2019 | Category: 2019 posts

Cryptography 1

When I was a little girl, my mother used to take me to the local library every week after school to look at books and magazines, and pick up new reads for the weekend. It was in those early bookish explorations how I first became fascinated by the Ancient World, and particularly by Egypt and her mysterious hieroglyphic script. I remember specifically one special issue of National Geographic that was devoted entirely to Ancient Egypt, with a wealth of photographs and illustrations that transported me several millennia back into the past. This magazine kindled a spark that developed over the years into a burning passion for Egyptology, which would in the end become my chosen career path.


Follow the live-blog from our visit to Changchun, China

Posted on: 25 June 2019 | Category: 2019 posts

Normal University campus in China

Members of the Department of Archaeology, Classics and Egyptology are currently in Changchun, China, to set up exchange links with the Northeast Normal University's Institute for the History of Ancient Civilizations (IHAC). Follow the live-blog from the trip, updated by student Elissa Day.


Final Year Employment contest

Posted on: 15 May 2019 | Category: 2019 posts

At the end of last term, three successful graduates, who all got their degrees from the ACE, returned to the department to judge a final year presentation competition. Posing as a ‘Dragon’s Den’ of potential employers, the panel of experts were asked to judge six group presentations by teams of students on the third year module Greek Colonisation and British Imperial Thought (ALGY 336).


Liverpool University archaeologist in Athens – Georgia not Greece

Posted on: 14 May 2019 | Category: 2019 posts

Professor Harold Mytum visited Athens as part of his collaboration with Dr. Jennifer Birch, Department of Anthropology, UGA, supported by a UGA- Liverpool faculty exchange initiative.


CLAH Seminars: Aspects of Reception

Posted on: 13 May 2019 | Category: 2019 posts

Liverpool’s Classics degree has a strong interest in reception – but what is ‘reception’? In this blogpost, I review four speakers in the Classics and Ancient History seminars who, in four very different ways, showcase some of the ways ‘reception’ can be understood.


From el-Amarna to the English National Opera

Posted on: 2 April 2019 | Category: 2019 posts

Student visit to London

Earlier this month, 10 Liverpool Egyptology students (both undergraduate and postgraduate), undertook a two-day visit to London – part-funded by a faculty prize for the quality of our Egyptology teaching. The trip was heavily oversubscribed, and students were selected by random ballot for the trip. We arranged the excursion around a visit to the English National Opera (ENO) to see Philip Glass' opera Akhnaten, based on the controversial pharaoh who abandoned Egypt's traditional gods, and instead devoted himself to the worship of the sun.


Guest speaker: Exploring evolution and entanglement

Posted on: 8 March 2019 | Category: 2019 posts

Ian Hodder and students

Two of our graduate students in Archaeology, Emily Prtak and Eleanor de Spretter Yates, reflect on our recent Archaeology, Classics and Egyptology (ACE) flagship seminar, on the theme of 'Evolution and Entanglement' featuring guest speaker Professor Ian Hodder (Stanford University):


Classics and Ancient History seminars this semester: Sicily and rhetoric

Posted on: 4 March 2019 | Category: 2019 posts

The Classics and Ancient History seminars this semester have got off to a great start, with the emergence of a surprise emphasis on Sicily in our first two seminars.


LGBT History Month - Homosexuality in Ancient Greece

Posted on: 27 February 2019 | Category: 2019 posts

Attic vase c. 500 B.C., attrib. to the Sosias-Painter, Antikensammlung Berlin F2278

This February in the department we have been reflecting about LGBT history, not least following the wonderful lecture by Prof Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones on Alexander the Great. In this post, Dr Ben Cartlidge dwells on a puzzling feature of the ancient Greek evidence for male homosexuality.


Alexander the Great or Alexander the Gay?

Posted on: 19 February 2019 | Category: 2019 posts

Montage of LGBT-themed Alexander the Great imagery

For LGBT history month, guest blogger Prof Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones (Chair of Ancient History, Cardiff University) asks: 'Alexander the Great or Alexander the Gay?' before his talk this week, exploring Alexander's sexuality and popular culture.


End of an era: ACE’s Penycloddiau field school comes to a natural close

Posted on: 25 October 2018 | Category: 2018 posts

Penycloddia Field School - Foundation Stone

With the ACE field school now moved to Norton Priory, a small but perfectly-formed team completed the former field school site at the Penycloddiau Hillfort between 15 July - 11 August. The excavations worked to train eight students, in partnership with the Institute for Field Research (IFR Global), alongside onward employability training for recent graduates.


Vandals and fragments: what to expect from our classics and ancient history seminars

Posted on: 19 October 2018 | Category: 2018 posts

Fragments of ancient writing

Research Fellow, Ben Cartlidge, gives us the inside track on the varied themes covered in our Classics and Ancient History seminars at Liverpool - from ancient religion to music and poetry.


New texts from an old site: discoveries from the September 2018 season at the Hatnub alabaster quarries

Posted on: 9 October 2018 | Category: 2018 posts

Entrance to Hatnub Quarry P

Roland Enmarch is Senior Lecturer in Egyptology at the University of Liverpool and co-director of the Anglo-French Hatnub Survey / Mission de Hatnoub, along with Dr. Yannis Gourdon (IFAO). In this blog, Roland provides an overview of his visit to Hatnub, Egypt, examining the ancient inscriptions in the site's alabaster quarries.


Georgia's Archaeological Adventures in Alaska

Posted on: 24 September 2018 | Category: 2018 posts

Georgia Hetherington - Nunalleq

Georgia Hetherington, second-year BSc Archaeology student, recently had the trip of a lifetime during a three week excavation in Alaska. Read her blog and discover some of her amazing experiences.


Mary Beard comes to Liverpool!

Posted on: 17 August 2018 | Category: 2018 posts

This summer, Prof Mary Beard came to Liverpool to give two lectures on the Meroë head of Augustus from the British Museum - which was temporarily on display at the Victoria Gallery & Museum on campus.


University Archaeology Day and London Anthropology Day 2018

Posted on: 10 August 2018 | Category: 2018 posts

University Archaeology Day and London Anthropology Day 2018 - Lego

This year, the University of Liverpool's Department of Archaeology, Classics and Egyptology was represented at the British Museum as part of University Archaeology Day 2018 and London Anthropology Day 2018.


Five things to do in Merseyside for anyone interested in Archaeology, Classics and Egyptology this summer

Posted on: 7 June 2018 | Category: 2018 posts

ACE society

With summer now upon us, you might be looking for things to do in Merseyside before the start of the new term (trust us, this will come around very quickly!). While teaching may be over until September, there’s still plenty of things to do and see in the area that relate to Archaeology, Classics and Egyptology: from Neolithic monuments to Egyptian treasures…


Studying the past for success in the future: tips and tricks to get the most out of your degree

Posted on: 19 April 2018 | Category: 2018 posts

ACE staff and student group photo

Finishing university is daunting, especially when you’re not 100% sure which path you wish to take through life. For this reason, as a third year Evolutionary Anthropology student, I am always looking for new ways to improve my CV and ‘stand out from the crowd’. I have found plenty of opportunities through our Department, and so I have compiled some of the most crucial which have dramatically improved my applications.


Chasing Rainbows: The Search for Gay Material Culture

Posted on: 1 March 2018 | Category: 2018 posts

Illustration of explorer with rainbow flag

After thinking about LGBT+ History Month 2018 last month, I thought it would be interesting to take a look how much archaeology can contribute to our understanding of gay history.


From the Ancient World to the near future - skills that can help you stand out from the crowd!

Posted on: 29 January 2018 | Category: 2018 posts

Students in front of a museum

How has one of our archaeology MA students been using her skills outside of university studies? Chloé Agar tells us more about how the content of her degree is helping her explore different career ideas for the future, outside of academia


Our top tips to beat the Blue Monday blues this January

Posted on: 15 January 2018 | Category: 2018 posts

Head of a Chinese sculpture

January blues can be tough. But what should you do when Blue Monday comes around when you're trying to prepare for your exams?


ACE researcher in the spotlight: Dr. Shirley Curtis-Summers

Posted on: 11 December 2017 | Category: 2017 posts

Dr. Shirley Curtis Summers

I am currently an honorary research associate in ACE and since completing my PhD in 2015, I have held posts in ACE, History, Anatomy, Continuing Education and Public Health and Policy. I am also a consultant human osteologist, working with heritage companies and museums to provide human osteology assessments/reports and deliver public engagement events.


Early Village Societies research group seminar series

Posted on: 1 December 2017 | Category: 2017 posts

Early Village Society Seminar

The first seminar of the Early Village Societies research group for this academic year recently took place, where two of our PhD students presented on the first stages of their research.


Surreal Egyptology and Egyptian Surrealism at Tate Liverpool

Posted on: 30 November 2017 | Category: 2017 posts

Egyptian illustration of figure and cattle

One of the things I have always been keen to explain, as both an Egyptologist and curator is that despite the popular view of the Egyptians as a civilisation obsessed with death, this is not exactly the case. They were obsessed with life.


Spotlight: Professor Keith Dobney, Head of Department for ACE

Posted on: 29 November 2017 | Category: 2017 posts

Creating a 3D image of a dog skull using photogrammetry in Bern, 2015

As the (relatively) new Head of Department for ACE, I’m extremely happy to contribute another blog post here, to help celebrate and promote our great department. Make no mistake, we do have a lot to shout about; our long and colourful heritage of over 100 years, the distinctive combination of related disciplines, our newly refurbished facilities, a dynamic and world-class profile for teaching and research and, of course, a great staff and student body.


Spotlight: Covering Neolithic botany to human skeletal anatomy - meet four of our researchers

Posted on: 13 November 2017 | Category: 2017 posts

Dr Kimberly Plomp

This year we had a number of researchers land prestigious grants for their interesting and important work at ACE. Among these researchers, we have a few new postdocs who have written a brief introduction to the research they will be undertaking at ACE!


Archaeology as public spectacle: the 1st Archaeology Convention in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Posted on: 10 November 2017 | Category: 2017 posts

The session with the ministers of Antiquities of Palestine, Egypt, Zawi Hawass – the Chair, the Yemen minister, and Jordan minister, looking from left to right.

The 1st Archaeology Convention took place in November at the National Museum of Antiquities in Riyadh, the capitol of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.


Pets, Pests, & People: an evening of science and wine, discovering what animals have done for us

Posted on: 12 October 2017 | Category: 2017 posts

The panel – Ian Barnes, Camilla Speller, David Ashmore, Jacqui Mulville, and Mark Thomas.

Thank you to everyone who attended the public event, Pets, Pests, and People held at the VG&M on Friday, October 13. We had over 80 people present for the talks and the drinks reception. I’d call that a success!


Excavations, new skills and adventures in Halkidiki

Posted on: 9 October 2017 | Category: 2017 posts

Archaeological site in Greece

In its time, Olynthos was an ancient classical Greek city in the Halkidiki region of modern-day Greece. The city sprawled across the two massive hills that dominate the surrounding landscape until its destruction in 348 BC by Philip II (Alexander the Great’s dad).


A tale of two universities

Posted on: 4 October 2017 | Category: 2017 posts

Harris Manchester College, which I have always described as ‘chocolate box’. It’s one of the smaller colleges. Author’s own photograph, 04/05/2016.

Hey there, I’m Chloé. I’m studying Archaeology here in Liverpool this year. It’s been wonderful to get to know the department and the society over the last couple of weeks, after being so nervous about coming to a new university. As a thank you, I’m sharing my experiences about the transition between universities, and how postgraduate study compares to undergraduate study so far.


Digging it: learning skills in the trenches at ACE’s 2017 field school

Posted on: 25 September 2017 | Category: 2017 posts

Penycloddiau Hillfort

Liverpool’s field school took place at the Penycloddiau Hillfort excavations from 16 July-11 August this year – our final year at this site. The field school provides practical skills training for our 1st year undergraduates and international students from the Institute of Field Research (IFR Global), as well as onward employability training for recent graduates and postgraduate students.


Putting the ace in SACE: join the Society of Archaeology, Classics and Egyptology

Posted on: 6 September 2017 | Category: 2017 posts

SACE outing at the Manchester Museum

As a 1st year undergraduate at the University of Liverpool, both the Department of Archaeology, Classics and Egyptology, and the Society of Archaeology, Classics and Egyptology (SACE) have played an instrumental role in my life at the university so far.


Deep Roots: Day four of seven. Time to head out into the field

Posted on: 26 June 2017 | Category: 2017 posts

Two men in Zambia, rhinos behind

My first blog about preparing for the 'Deep Roots' research project looked at our initial work examining museum collections and locating key sites for excavation. This time, I'll be giving an insight into the ups and downs we encountered as we went out into the field...


Deep Roots: An old jigsaw puzzle...with some key pieces missing

Posted on: 16 June 2017 | Category: 2017 posts

hand holding stone artefacts

The ‘Deep Roots’ research project will begin in earnest in July 2017 with the first of four seasons of excavation. In the first of two blogs, I'll be giving you a behind the scenes look at the work we've been doing in preparation.


Lost in the sand - investigating early humans and their tools in Zambia

Posted on: 4 May 2017 | Category: 2017 posts

Archaeologist digging at a river

Prof Larry Barham gives us a taste of what it's like to excavate in Zambia, as he heads off to begin new research into early humans and how they made tools.


Student experience - discovering ancient and modern Greece

Posted on: 20 April 2017 | Category: 2017 posts

Photo collage of Greek trip

Archaeology student Jake Morley-Stone gives us the lowdown on his research in Greece and how The Chris Mee Mediterranean Travel Award enabled him to make the trip. Find out how this experience has transformed his research on Ancient Greece.


A new way of exploring the past

Posted on: 17 March 2017 | Category: 2017 posts

Neandertal teeth

Professor Keith Dobney was part of a team of researchers who recently made the exciting discovery of ancient DNA found in the dental plaque of Neandertals from Belgium and Spain.


On this day in history: Julius Caesar assassination

Posted on: 15 March 2017 | Category: 2017 posts

Julius Caesar painting

Our Roman history expert, Fred Hirt, looks back on this pivotal moment in ancient history and the unusual way he was first introduced to Shakespeare's version of events.


A passion for LEGO and archaeology

Posted on: 18 January 2017 | Category: 2017 posts

Lego comic strip

My latest research project has been inspired by my interest in digital humanities research, teaching methods - and a love of LEGO.


Beat stress and visit these top places to chill out in Liverpool

Posted on: 16 January 2017 | Category: 2017 posts

Man in a gallery

January blues can be tough. But what should you do when Blue Monday comes around when you're trying to prepare for your exams?