On 15 March 2019 applications are due for the Andrew Sherratt Fund for 2019 (up to £1000), to assist postgraduate students in Old World Prehistory, from academic institutions anywhere in the world, to travel or gain access to resources that would otherwise be unavailable to them. Further information, including a link to the Google form for application, is available at https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/archaeology/research/andrew-sherratt-fund.
On 1 February 2019 abstracts (300 words maximum) are due for a conference entitled Food and Drink in the Ancient World, to be held at Rutgers University on 31 May - 1 June 2019. Further information is available at https://rutgersclassics.com/2018/12/30/a-rutgers-classics-conference-food-drink-in-the-ancient-world-31-may-1-june-2019-call-for-papers/. Topics may include but are not limited to:
The Ancient Mediterranean Diet
• Staple foods in the Mediterranean (wine, oil, and bread; cereals and legumes)
o Meat consumption, availability of seafood
o Specialized diets, medical approaches to nutrition (e.g. for the military, athletes, infirm)
• The Social Context of Food and Drink
o Sacrifices and offerings, public and communal meals
o Variations in diet based on social class
o Food supply and shortages, grain doles (e.g. frumentatio, annona)
• Food as a Point of Contact, Creator of Identity, Delimitation of Otherness
o Import and markets, especially for spices and exotic ingredients
o Horticulture, soil chemistry, and cultivation of local specialties
o Taboos (e.g. beer and milk as barbarian; cannibalism as historical fact or political slander)
• Alcoholic and Non-Alcoholic Beverages
o Wine and viticulture (e.g. merum, mulsum, and conditum)
o Access to potable water, aqueducts
o Drinking vessels (e.g. kylikes, skyphoi, kantharoi, and their images)
On 4 February 2019 abstracts (500 words maximum) are due for the 17th Annual International Conference on History and Archaeology: From Ancient to Modern, to be held in Athens on 3-6 June 2019. Further information and abstract submission forms are available at https://www.atiner.gr/history.
On 8 February 2019 titles and descriptions (150 words maximum) are due for a symposium entitled Cypriot Archaeology, Pre-Modern Material Culture, and Cultural Heritage in the UK, to be held on 5 April 2019 at UCL Institute of Archaeology. Researchers and museum curators in the UK with an interest in Cypriot ancient history and archaeology, and cultural heritage are invited to present their work in this one-day symposium; abstracts should be sent to
On 10 February 2019 abstracts for synthetic studies on the theme “Χωροταξία και πολεοδομία. Δημόσια και ιδιωτική αρχιτεκτονική” (100 words) are due for the 32nd meeting of the conference Το Αρχαιολογικό Έργο στη Μακεδονία και στη Θράκη (32η ΑΕΜΘ), to be held on 14-16 March 2019. Further information is available at https://www.hist.auth.gr/sites/default/files/ΕΓΚΥΚΛΙΟΣ%20ΑΕΜΘ.pdf.
On 26-28 March 2019 the 12th International Workshop of the Association for Written Language and Literacy (AWLL12). Diversity of writing systems: embracing multiple perspectives will be held in the Faculty of Classics, University of Cambridge, UK. Further information is available at https://awll12.wordpress.com/. Papers and posters of interest to Nestor readers will include:
S. Finlayson, “Writing material matters: a discussion of the use of clay in the Bronze Age Aegean”
P. Steele and R. Crellin, “Contextualising writing in the ancient world: two case studies”
E. Salgarella and A. Judson, “Diversity and variation in the writing systems of Bronze Age Greece”
P. Boyes, “Multiscriptality and Society in Late Bronze Age Ugarit”
C. Donnelly, “Regional Pressures in the Formation and Use of Cypro-Minoan”
On 10-14 April 2019 the conference In Poseidons Reich XXIV. Kontaktzonen: Archäologie zwischen Wasser und Land Küsten, See- und Flussufer will take place in Bodrum, Turkey. Further information is available at http://www.deguwa.org/?id=12. Papers of interest to Nestor readers will include:
D. Cvikel, Y. Me-Bar, and A. Miller, “The Holding Power of Bronze Age Stone Weight Anchors”
H. Hristov, “Die Seevölker - Überlegungen zu ihrer Herkunft”
The Aegean Seminar in Zagreb hosted the following lectures in December. Further information is available from Helena Tomas at
6 December 2018: D. Urem-Kotsou, “Pottery and cooking practices in Neolithic Greece. An experimental approach to the study of use-alterations related to processing of food”
18 December 2018: R. Seifried, “Living in the Shadow of a Minoan Palace in the 21st Century: The Case of Kato Zakros, Crete”
On 13-14 December 2018 a conference entitled Genes, Isotopes and Artefacts: How Should We Interpret the Movement of People Throughout Bronze Age Europe? was held in Vienna. Further information is available at https://www.orea.oeaw.ac.at/veranstaltungen/event-detail/article/genes-isotopes-and-artefacts/. Papers of interest to Nestor readers included:
J. T. Koch, “Formation of the Indo-European Branches in the Light of the Archaeogenetic Revolution”
M. Gavranović, “Distinction and movements of the Bronze Age groups in the Balkans – a long search for indicators of mobility”
B. Molloy, “In search of the Dorian Invasion: Integrating settlement, material and scientific perspectives on mobility in the late Bronze Age Balkan peninsula”
The December 2018 issue of Nestor (45.9) is available as a free download.