Bloomsbury Summer School

Fascinated by ancient civilisations?

Monday 20 to Friday 24 June

Course Director: Dr Claire Malleson (American University of Beirut)

Monday 20 June

10:45* – 11:00
Students assemble in BSS Common Room or login to Zoom*

11:00 – 11:30
BSS Director’s Welcome Address

11:30 – 13:00
1. The Origins of the Origins of Agriculture: Why are we so obsessed with the beginnings of farming?

13:00 – 14:30
Welcome Lunch in BSS Common Room (14:00 Short optional tour of UCL with the Director)

14:30 – 15:45
2. The Evidence: How do we study ancient farming and environment?

16:15 – 17:30
3. From the Pleistocene to the Anthropocene: Humans, climate, and change

Tuesday 21 June

10:00 – 11:15
4. End of the Ice Age: Hunters, gatherers, and fishers in Western Asia and North Africa

11:45 – 13:00
5. Bread and Beer Before Farming: Earliest evidence from the Levant (Dr Lara González Carretero, Museum of London Archaeology)

14:15 – 15:30
6. Cultivating Your Wild Oats: Identifying the process of change

16:00 – 17:15
7. Revolution! (?): Fully fledged farming in the fertile crescent

Wednesday 22 June

10:00 – 11:15
8. Nice Calm Cows and Wooly Sheep: The domestication of mammals in Western Asia (Dr Richard Redding, University of Michigan)

11:45 – 13:00
9. Environment vs Ego: Why did humans adopt farming?

14:15 – 15:30
10. Responding to Change: Çatal Höyük case study

16:00 – 17:15
11. Green Sahara: Grasses and gazelle

Thursday 23 June

10:00 – 11:15
12. Oasis Life: Farafra 8000 BP

11:45 – 13:00
13. The First Pharaohs and the Emergence of Agriculture Along the Nile

14:15 – 15:30
14. Understanding the Economics of Bronze Age Cereal Production and Processing

16:00 – 17:15
15. Museum Trip

Friday 24 June

10:00 – 11:15
16. Who Cares? Textual evidence for opinions about farmers

11:45 – 13:00
17. Sh*t Matters: Fodder, dung, fuel, and fertilizer

14:15 – 15:30
18. Land Tenure in Ancient Egypt

16:00 – 17:15
19. How Farmers Built the Pyramids: Agricultural supply chain management along the Nile

17:15 – 19:00
End-of-Course Drinks and Online Social (you are welcome to invite guests)

* All times are London UK time; Zoom waiting room opens 15 minutes prior to the start.

NB: Timetables, once published, are unlikely to change, but remain provisional until the first day of the course.