Professor Jen Baird
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Overview
Overview
Biography
Jen Baird came to Birkbeck in 2008 after holding a Leverhulme Early Career Fellowship at the University of Leicester. Her main interest is in the archaeology of Rome’s Eastern provinces and the archaeology of everyday life, but she has also published on topics such as ancient graffiti, ancient urbanism, archaeological photography, archaeological archives, and the history of Classical archaeology. Many of these publications have focussed on the site of Dura-Europos in Syria, where she has worked both in the field and in the archives, now held at Yale University Art Gallery. She is a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, and a Member of the Academia Europaea.
Her most recent monograph is Dura-Europos, published in Bloomsbury's Archaeological Histories series in 2018. Her book on the housing of Dura, The Inner Lives of Ancient Houses, was published by Oxford University Press in 2014. She has co-edited a number of collections including Ancient Graffiti in Context (2011), Remembering Roman Syria (2019), and Housing in the Ancient Mediterranean World: Material and Textual Approaches (2022) Cambridge University Press.
Her current work focusses on archaeological archives, both as sources for previously ignored data, and as subjects which can allow the study of the history of archaeology and the formation of archaeological knowledge. She is on the editorial board of Archive Archaeology, and has recently published on archival topics in the Journal of Social Archaeology and the Journal of Eastern Mediterranean Archaeology and Heritage Studies.
She also supports displaced Syrian archaeologists through the Council for At-Risk Academics, and the Threatened Scholars Initiative of the Open Societies University Network.
Web profiles
Professional activities
Member of AHRC Peer Review College
Specialist Assessor, Cultural Protection Fund, British Council
Member of editorial committee, Britannia (Journal of Romano-British and Kindred Studies, published for the Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies)
Institute for Historical Research/Institute for Classical Studies/Warburg Institute Joint Research Degrees Committee
Mentor for Syrian academics in exile with the Council for at-Risk Academics (Cara)
Member of Roman Archaeology Committee, Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies
Member of the Board of Trustees, Palestine Exploration Fund
Member of Yale Digital Dura-Europos Archive Advisory Board
Professional memberships
Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries
Elected member of the Academia Europaea
Association for Critical Heritage Studies
Archaeological Institute of America
Honours and awards
- Keynote Lecture, The Shadows of the Discipline: Time in Archaeological Photographs, University of British Columbia, Department of Anthropology/Department of Classics Near Eastern and Religious Studies, November 2019
- Keynote Lecture, The Ruins of Local Memory, Theoretical Roman Archaeology Conference, April 2023
- Keynote Lecture, Imperial Debris, Global and Local Cultures in the Roman East: From Domination to Interaction, University of Helsinki, November 2018
- Keynote Lecture, In Small Scratches Forgotten: Perspectives on Graffiti from Ancient Dura-Europos, Amsterdam Centre of Urban Studies, UVA, November 2016
- Margo Tytus Research Fellowship, Department of Classics, University of Cincinnati, November 2008
- Leverhulme Trust Early Career Fellow, Leverhulme Trust, November 2007
ORCID
0000-0002-4705-0289 -
Research
Research
Research Centres and Institutes
- Steering Committee Member, History and Theory of Photography Research Centre
- Steering Committee Member, Architecture Space and Society Centre
- Centre for Museum Cultures
Research clusters and groups
- Materialities and material cultures
- Difference, race and inequality
- Environment: urban, rural, global
Research projects
Lives in Ruins: Assessing and Addressing the Needs of Syrian Heritage Workers
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Supervision and teaching
Supervision and teaching
Supervision
I welcome enquiries from prospective PhD students who are interested in undertaking research in any of my areas of research interest, including the Roman Near East, archaeological photography, and archaeological archives.
My current PhD students include AHRC-funded campus-based and distance learning students working on PhDs topics including:
- Scratching the Surface: A Comprehensive Analysis of the Graffiti from Hatra in Northern Iraq
- The Thames on the Eve of Londinium: Exploring the Late Iron Age Landscape of the Tidal river
- Life in Photographs: Movement and Materiality in the Archives of OGS Crawford (AHRC-CDP with Pitt Rivers Museum)
- Everyday Food Tasks in Classical Greek Houses: Ceramic vessels and equipment for preparing and cooking food within the house
- Wasted London: Rubbish and Recycling from the Romans to the Present (AHRC-CDP with Museum of London Archaeology)
Current doctoral researchers
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CLAIRE WALSH
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IRENE LIESK
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JOHN CAMPBELL
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JULIET SAMSON-CONLON
Doctoral alumni since 2013-14
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ILARIA BUCCI
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BETH HODGETT
Teaching
I teach a number of undergraduate and postgraduate modules on Roman archaeology and archaeological theory, including Palmyra and Dura Europos: The Archaeology of Syria from Ancient Cities to Modern Destruction (UG, Level 5), and The Archaeology of Roman Slavery (MA), as well as contributing to team-taught modules on material culture, heritage, and the ancient world.
Teaching modules
- Museum and Heritage Work Placement (ARVC054S7)
- Public History and Heritage: Theories, Issues and Practice (SC03003S7)
- Material Worlds (SSHC353S7)
- Critical Approaches to Archaeology and Heritage (SSHC358S7)
- The Archaeology of the Roman Empire (SSHC522S5)
- Palmyra and Dura-Europos: The Archaeology of Syria from Ancient Cities to Modern Destruction (Level 6) (SSHC563S6)
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Publications
Publications
Article
- Baird, Jennifer (2024) The gods of Dura-Europos. Minerva 2023, pp. 13-19. ISSN 0957-7718.
- Baird, Jennifer (2024) Reading field diaries against the grain: the notable and the absent in Syrian archaeology. Journal of Eastern Mediterranean Archaeology and Heritage Studies 12 (1), pp. 20-34. ISSN 21663548.
- Baird, J. A. and Kamash, Zena and Raja, Rubina (2023) Knowing Palmyra: mandatory production of archaeological knowledge. Journal of Social Archaeology 23 (1), pp. 76-98. ISSN 1469-6053.
- Baird, Jennifer (2020) The ruination of Dura-Europos. Theoretical Roman Archaeology Journal 3 (1), pp. 2. ISSN 2515-2289.
- Baird, Jennifer and Kamash, Z. (2019) Remembering Roman Syria: valuing Tadmor-Palmyra from ‘Discovery’ to destruction. Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies 62 (1), pp. 1-29. ISSN 0076-0730.
- Baird, Jennifer (2018) In small scratches forgotten: perspectives on graffiti from Dura-Europos. Tijdschrift voor Geschiedenis 131 (1), pp. 17-33. ISSN 0040-7518.
- Baird, Jennifer A. (2017) Framing the past: situating the archaeological in photographs. Journal of Latin American Cultural Studies 26 (2), pp. 165-186. ISSN 1356-9325.
- Baird, Jennifer A. (2015) On reading the material culture of ancient sexual labour. Helios 42 (1), pp. 163-175. ISSN 0160-0923.
- Baird, Jennifer A. and McFadyen, Lesley (2014) Towards an archaeology of archaeological archives. Archaeological Review from Cambridge 29 (2), ISSN 0261-4332.
- Baird, Jennifer A. (2013) Re-excavating the houses of Dura-Europos. Journal of Roman Archaeology 25, pp. 146-170. ISSN 1047-7594.
- Baird, Jennifer A. (2011) Photographing Dura-Europos, 1928–1937: an archaeology of the archive. American Journal of Archaeology 115 (3), pp. 427-446. ISSN 0002-9114.
Book
- Baird, Jennifer and Pudsey, April, eds. (2022) Housing in the ancient Mediterranean world: material and textual approaches. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9781108845267. (In Press)
- Baird, Jennifer (2018) Dura-Europos. Archaeological Histories. London, UK: Bloomsbury. ISBN 9781472530875.
- Baird, Jennifer A. (2014) The inner lives of ancient houses: an archaeology of Dura-Europos. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780199687657.
- Baird, Jennifer A. and Taylor, C., eds. (2010) Ancient graffiti in context. Routledge Studies in Ancient History. New York: Routledge. ISBN 9780415878890.
Book Review
- Baird, J.A. (2022) Danish diaries of Palmyra.
- Baird, Jennifer (2022) Palmyra: city of churches and mosques. (In Press)
Book Section
- Baird, Jennifer (2023) The significance of household cisterns at Roman Dura-Europos. In: Bonnie, R. and Klingborg, P. (eds.) Water in Ancient Mediterranean Households. Global Perspectives in Ancient Mediterranean Archaeology. Routledge. ISBN 9781032213972.
- Baird, Jennifer and von Reden, Sitta (2023) A caravan city at the edge of empire? The economy of Dura-Europos in the Syrian desert. In: von Reden, S. (ed.) Handbook of Ancient Afro-Eurasian Economies. De Gruyter. pp. 535-558. ISBN 9783110604641.
- Baird, Jennifer (2023) Unclassified: structured silences in the archaeological archive. In: Raja, R. (ed.) Shaping Archaeological Archives: Dialogues between Fieldwork, Museum Collection, and Private Archives. Archaeological Archives. Brepols. pp. 19-32. ISBN 9782503605647.
- Baird, Jennifer A. (2022) The site of the archive: responsibility and rhetoric in archival archaeology of the Middle East. In: Boubou, O. and Miranda, A.C. and Raja, R. (eds.) Archival Historiographies - The Impact of Twentieth-Century Legacy Data on Archaeological Investigations. Archive Archaeology. Brepols Publishers. ISBN https://www.brepols.net/products/IS-9782503600185-1.
- Meyer, Caspar (2022) Domesticating the ancient house: the archaeology of a false analogy. In: Baird, Jennifer and Pudsey, April (eds.) Housing in the Ancient Mediterranean World: Material and Textual Approaches. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9781108845267. (In Press)
- Baird, Jennifer (2021) Dura-Europos. In: Kaizer, T. (ed.) A Companion to the Hellenistic and Roman Near East. Blackwell Companions to the Ancient World. Wiley. pp. 295-304. ISBN 9781444339826.
- Baird, Jennifer (2019) Exposing archaeology: time in archaeological photographs. In: McFadyen, Lesley and Hicks, D. (eds.) Archaeology and Photography: Time, Objectivity and Archive. London, UK: Bloomsbury. ISBN 9781350029682. (In Press)
- Baird, Jennifer A. (2017) Everyday life in Roman Dura-Europos: the evidence of dress practices. In: Kaizer, T. (ed.) Religion, Society and Culture at Dura-Europos. Yale Classical Studies. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9781107123793.
- Baird, Jennifer and Taylor, C. (2016) Ancient Graffiti. In: Ross, J.I. (ed.) Routledge Handbook of Graffiti and Street Art. New York, U.S.: Routledge. pp. 17-26. ISBN 9780367335977.
- Baird, Jennifer A. and Taylor, C. (2016) Ancient graffiti. In: Ross, J. (ed.) Routledge Handbook of Graffiti and Street Art. Abingdon, UK: Routledge. pp. 17-26. ISBN 9781138792937.
- Baird, Jennifer (2015) Private graffiti? Scratching the walls of houses at Dura-Europos. In: Benefiel, R. and Keegan, P. (eds.) Inscriptions in the Private Sphere in the Greco-Roman World. Brill Studies in Greek and Roman Epigraphy. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill. pp. 11-31. ISBN 9789004307124.
- Baird, Jennifer A. (2013) Religion and ritual. In: Clark, P. (ed.) Oxford Handbook of Cities in World History. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. pp. 181-196. ISBN 9780199589531.
- Baird, Jennifer A. (2012) Dura deserta: the death and afterlife of Dura-Europos. In: Christie, N. and Augenti, A. (eds.) Vrbes Extinctae: Archaeologies of Abandoned Classical Towns. Farnham, UK: Ashgate. pp. 307-330. ISBN 9780754665625.
- Baird, Jennifer A. (2012) Constructing Dura-Europos, ancient and modern. In: Lafrenz Samuels, K. and Totten, D. (eds.) Making Roman Places, Past and Present. Journal of Roman Archaeology Supplemental Series. Rhode Island, U.S.: Journal of Roman Archaeology. pp. 34-49. ISBN 9781887829892.
- Baird, Jennifer A. (2012) Graffiti at Dura-Europos: a contextual approach. In: Baird, Jennifer A. and Taylor, C. (eds.) Ancient Graffiti in Context. New York, USA: Routledge. pp. 49-68. ISBN 9780415653527.
- Baird, Jennifer A. (2012) L’habitat d’époque romaine à Europos-Doura: replacer les artéfacts en contexte. In: Leriche, P. and Coqueugniot, G. and De Pontbriand, S. (eds.) Europos-Doura Varia 1. Bibliothèque archéologique et historique. Beyrouth: Institut français du Proche-Orient. pp. 231-240. ISBN 9782351593752.
- James, S. and Baird, Jennifer A. and Strutt, K. (2012) Magnetometry survey of Dura’s Roman military base and vicinity. In: Leriche, P. and Coqueugniot, G. and De Pontbriand, S. (eds.) Europos-Doura Varia 1. Bibliothèque archéologique et historique. Beyrouth: Institut français du Proche-Orient. pp. 111-116. ISBN 9782351593752.
- Baird, Jennifer A. (2011) The Houses of Dura-Europos: Archaeology, Archive, and Assemblage. In: Hoffman, G. and Brody, L. (eds.) Dura-Europos: Crossroads of Antiquity. Boston, U.S.: McMullan Museum. pp. 235-250.
- Baird, Jennifer A. (2010) The graffiti of Dura-Europos: a contextual approach. In: Baird, Jennifer A. and Taylor, C. (eds.) Ancient Graffiti in Context. Routledge Studies in Ancient History. New York: Routledge. ISBN 9780415878890.
- Baird, Jennifer A. and Taylor, C. (2010) Ancient graffiti in context: introduction. In: Baird, Jennifer A. and Taylor, C. (eds.) Ancient Graffiti In Context. Routledge Studies in Ancient History. New York: Routledge. pp. 1-19. ISBN 9780415878890.
- Baird, Jennifer A. (2010) City: Roman urbanism. In: Gagarin, M. (ed.) The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Greece and Rome. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. pp. 161-165. ISBN 9780195170726.
- Baird, Jennifer A. (2007) Shopping, eating and drinking at Dura-Europos: reconstructing contexts. In: Lavan, L. and Swift, E. and Putzeys, T. (eds.) Objects In Context, Objects In Use: Material Spatiality In Late Antiquity. Late Antique Archaeology. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill. pp. 413-437. ISBN 9789004165502.
- Baird, Jennifer A. (2007) The bizarre bazaar: early excavations in the Roman East and problems of nomenclature. In: Croxford, B. and Ray, N. and Roth, R. and White, N. (eds.) TRAC '06: Theoretical Roman Archaeology Conference Proceedings. Oxford, UK: Oxbow Books. pp. 34-42. ISBN 9781842172643.