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Durham Centre for Roman Cultural Studies

Members of the Durham Centre for Roman Cultural Studies

Dr Claire Nesbitt, BA (Hons) M.Litt Ph.D

Research Associate in the Department of Archaeology
Telephone: +44 (0) 191 33 42913
Room number: 307

Biography

Claire completed her undergraduate degree in Ancient History and Archaeology at Newcastle University before going on to undertake an AHRC-funded M.Litt degree in Byzantine Archaeology. She completed a PhD on the manipulation of light in middle Byzantine churches, also funded by the AHRC, at Newcastle in 2007. Between studies Claire worked as a field archaeologist and as an archaeological and geophysical surveyor in North East England. She was also involved in the Leverhulme-funded project, based in Newcastle University, to survey the Anastasian Wall and the Water Supply for Constantinople. Claire has taught at the Institute of Byzantine Studies, Queen's University Belfast and the School of Historical Studies, Newcastle University. Claire came to Durham in 2007 and worked on the Tales of the Frontier Project funded by the AHRC under the Landscape and Environment programme. Subsequently she was PDRA for the Uig Landscape Project funded by Historic Scotland. She is currently Post Doctoral Research Associate of the Heart of the Atlantic Project.

Research interests include:

Phenomenology and Experience of Architecture and Landscape

  • The experience of worship and encountering the Divine in Byzantine sacred architecture
  • Perception of landscape in relation to understanding of self and society (Hadrian's Wall case study)

Perceptions of Monumentality

  • Dislocated experience of monumental sites
  • Archaeology of monumentality vs archaeology of marginality
  • Biographies of monuments

Material culture and the aesthetics of experience

  • Window glass, light and architectural form in the Byzantine Church
  • Material culture on the margins


Research Groups

Department of Archaeology

  • Landscapes of Complex Society Research Group
  • North East Research Group
  • Ritual, Religion, Belief and Place Research Group

Research Projects

Department of Archaeology

Research Interests

  • Archeology of Landscape
  • Historiography and the Perception of Monumentality
  • The Geography of Ownership and Development of Archaeological Knowledge on Hadrian's Wall
  • Manipulation of Light in Ecclesiastical Architecture
  • Phenomenology and Experience in Byzantine Church Architecture
  • New Perspectives on Late Antique and Byzantine Glass

Publications

  • Nesbitt, Claire (2012). Glass, Byzantium.
  • Tolia-Kelly, DP & Nesbitt, C (2009). An Archaeology of Race. Exploring the Northern Frontier in Roman Britain.

Books: reviews

Books: sections

  • Nesbitt, C (2012). Experiencing the light: Byzantine church window glass and aesthetics of worship. In New Light on Old Glass: Byzantine Mosaics and Glass. Entwhistle, Chris & James, Liz British Museum Research Publication. Forthcoming.

Journal papers: academic

  • Nesbitt, C., Church, Mike J. & Gilmour, Simon M.D. (2012). Domestic, industrial, (en)closed? Survey and excavation of a Late Bronze Age / Early Iron Age promontory enclosure at Gob eirer, Lewis, Western Isles. Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland 142: Forthcoming.
  • Nesbitt, C. (2012). Shaping the Sacred: Light and the Experience of Worship in Middle Byzantine Churches. Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies 36(2): 139-160.
  • Nesbitt, C, Church, Mike J., Gilmour, Simon M.D. & Burgess, Christopher P.G. (2012). Small-Scale Evaluation of a Post-Medieval Blackhouse at Bereiro, Lewis, Western Isles of Scotland. Journal of the North Atlantic Forthcoming.
  • Nesbitt, C & Tolia-Kelly, Divya P. (2009). Hadrian's Wall: Embodied Archaeologies of the Linear Monument. Journal of Social Archaeology 9(3): 368-390.

Journal papers: popular

Related Links

Grants Awarded

  • 2010: IMRS Student Bursary and Conference Support Grant £1000
  • 2010: NIASSH Conference Programme Grant £2000.00
  • 2010: Seven Pillars of Wisdom Trust £1000
  • 2010: Society for the Promotion of Byzantine Studies £2000

For details of research postgraduates associated with the Roman Centre, please see our Postgraduates page.

NB Please address any postal mail for members of the research centre to the appropriate department (click on members' profiles above for further details).

Hadrian's Wall Publications