Hello, my name is Tristan and I’m a second-year history PhD student at Oxford. I believe that academics are foremost public servants – we have an obligation to share knowledge to the wider community rather than keeping it locked up in universities. The aim of this blog is to share my research and wider […]
An Oxford Historian Mar 16, 2021 3 min read Updated: Apr 26, 2021 It’s time to stop suggesting the role of aliens in archaeology as light-hearted fun – it’s a dangerous idea built on serious problems. Archaeology attracts all types, which is a wonderful thing. What is less wonderful, however, is the consistent conspiracy-theory trend […]
An Oxford Historian Mar 27, 2022 4 min read The burial at Sutton Hoo Mound 1 is England’s most famous archaeological site, and contains a body buried in a magnificent ship. But why would the ‘Anglo-Saxons’ have buried their dead in ships – what social, religious and economic significance might they have ascribed to this […]
‘Alternative Curricula’ is an attempt to provide free, online learning within a larger overall structure. Rather than just individual blogposts, here you’ll find groupings of posts into longer lessons and themes, alongside further online resources for extra reading ideas.
An Oxford Historian Jul 21, 2021 3 min read There have always been individuals who have physical impairments throughout history. How did past societies treat them, and does that approach vary by time and place? What tools can historians use to access contemporary understandings of physical bodily differences? A consistent trend in modern academic history […]
Hello, my name is Tristan and I’m a first-year history PhD researcher at Oxford. The aim of this blog is to share my research and wider history on the early medieval world, help give any advice on applying to university and explaining about Oxford, and generally expanding engagement with the Humanities. So if you fall […]
Formals vary a lot by college and by occasion. Some colleges host a formal meal every night, and therefore each meal is less of an ‘event’. Others hold formals as infrequently as every fortnight, and so formals turn into popular large gatherings, and are an important dates in a college’s social calendar. How exactly you […]
An Oxford Historian Jul 11, 2021 5 min read Far from the aloof ethnic group envisioned by historical misuse, the ‘Vikings’ show a consistent trend towards assimilation within other cultures, adapting their ways of life to fit within local power systems, and to benefit from them. Beyond studying a single aspect in great detail, there […]
Hello, my name is Tristan and I’m a first-year history PhD researcher at Oxford. The aim of this blog is to share my research and wider history on the early medieval world, help give any advice on applying to university and explaining about Oxford, and generally expanding engagement with the Humanities. So if you fall […]
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An Oxford Historian Sep 24, 2021 13 min read This week, I thought I’d run through the beginnings of a broader introduction to archaeological theory I have planned. The focus here is on the so-called ‘New’ or Processual Archaeology – one of several competing ways to ‘do’ archaeology. What was it, how was it different, […]
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An Oxford Historian Nov 15, 2021 3 min read The classic Arthurian comedy, Monty Python and the Holy Grail remains as strong today as ever. Its wild historical accuracy is a function of its witty criticisms and quick jokes – by wearing its historical inaccuracies as a badge of honour, it remains a great laugh. […]