Conference | Workshop
Materiality and Historical Research
- Date
- Monday 20 April 2026
- Time
- Address
-
Herta Mohr
Witte Singel 27A
2311 BG Leiden - Room
- 1.30 (KITLV Seminar Room)
This PhD workshop explores how materiality shapes historical research across a wide range of periods and regions. Bringing together scholars working on topics from Byzantine Egypt to colonial Indonesia and Roman Hispania, the workshop highlights how objects, materials, and physical contexts inform our understanding of the past. The event is supported by the Leiden-Birmingham Strategic Collaboration Fund and aims to foster interdisciplinary discussion on the role of material culture in historical inquiry.
The programme and abstracts for this workshop can be found on the right-hand side of this page (under 'Documents').
| Time | Speaker & Topic |
|---|---|
| 13:00–13:15 | Opening – Miriam Müller (Leiden–Birmingham Collaboration Project), Cameron Heagney (Leiden–Birmingham Fellow), Geert Ham (Ancient History) |
| 13:15–13:40 | Cameron Heagney – Beyond Reading: Psalms and Things in Byzantine Egypt |
| 13:40–14:05 | Geert Ham – The Material is the Message: Stone in a Ptolemaic Inscription from Thebes |
| 14:05–14:30 | Anisa Nuranisa – Gift-exchange between Javanese and Dutch in Colonial Indonesia |
| 14:30–15:00 | Coffee & Refreshments |
| 15:00–15:25 | Mink van IJzendoorn – Why Things End: Studies on the Disappearance of the Amphora Phenomenon |
| 15:25–15:50 | Arnau Lario Devesa – “Let Me See this Scale!”: Market Related Objects as a Source for the Understanding of Commercial Interactions in Roman Cities from Hispania |
| 15:50–16:15 | Despina Borcea – Materiality in Papyrology: An Overview |
| 16:15–17:00 | Final discussion of themes and materials |
| 17:00–18:00 | Reception |