Announcing the 2013 Edinburgh University Seventh Century Colloquium

2013 Edinburgh University Seventh Century Colloquium:

The Seventh Century: continuity or discontinuity?

28-29 May 2013, Teviot Lecture Theatre, University of Edinburgh

Can the seventh century be studied as a unit across regions or does the period represent a break in the longue durée?  What was the level of discontinuity between the ‘long sixth’ and ‘long eighth’ centuries? 

These questions and many more will be discussed at the Edinburgh University Seventh Century Colloquium, a two-day interdisciplinary conference for postgraduate students and early career researchers, 28-29 May 2013.

Our programme includes forty speakers from twenty-six institutions on three continents.  Papers cover a diverse range of topics and regions, stretching gepgraphically from Persia to Pictland and from Sweden to the Sahara.  Archaeology, historiography, and papyrology are among a few of the disciplines that will be seen.  A full schedule for the conference is visible online.

The colloquium has been organised by four Edinburgh postgraduate students from the School of History, Classics and Archaeology, with support from the Edinburgh Centre for Medieval and Renaissance Studies.  Together, Alessandro Gnasso, Bethan Morris, Emanuele Intagliata, and Tom MacMaster have put together an exciting and innovative event.

They believe that the colloquium bring together scholars from different disciplines, studying the seventh century, to promote discussion and the cross-fertilisation of ideas.  It will explore how wider perspectives can be used to formulate new approaches to source material, drawing out fresh perspectives on both the familiar and unfamiliar.

At the same time, the colloquium will operate under a somewhat unusual format.  In addition to presentation of papers, full responses will be given to every paper by scholars working on similar materials. 

Registration is now open!  Costs are £10 (student/unwaged)/ £15 (all others) and includes lunch on both 28 and 29 May as well as a reception on the 28^th.  There is also a conference dinner (£22 additional) on the 29^th and a guided tour of the National Museum of Scotland’s Early Medieval collections on the 30^th.

We invite all those working in archaeology, art history, history, literature, numismatics, and religion, as well as in fields including Byzantine, Celtic, Classics, Islamic, and Late Antique studies to attend.

For further information, please visit our website!