I am reading and writing about Demetrius of Tarsus. A Greek traveller who probably sailed around the coast of Britain in around AD 82 to 83. I am thinking of writing an imaginative account of Demetrius’s activities, drawing on what little information is currently available. I have been writing over the past three weeks.

For a talk I am giving on this topic on 12th February at 19.30, see https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/o/thornton-le-street-history-group-rttp-25326488045.

I have also been starting to address the archaeological knowledge of the Iron Age and Roman period in the Rye/Romney Marsh area. This includes a recent visit to Bodiam Castle to learn about the ongoing archaeological work the National Trust are leading there.

See: https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/sussex/bodiam-castle/archaeology-at-bodiam-castle.

It has been a hectic two weeks since I moved home from my house near Durham in north-eastern England to Camber on England’s south coast, and I also visited Stanford University in California to deliver two lectures. Details of the lectures can be found at:

https://events.stanford.edu/event/distinguished-lecture-series-living-in-the-past-the-re-construction-of-iron-age-living-and-experiential-authenticity

https://archaeology.stanford.edu/events/distinguished-lecture-series

Lecture one was on the current trend of reconstructing Iron Age-style roundhouses in the UK. This is also explored in detail in the Ancient Identities monograph, which is featured elsewhere on this website. Lecture two addressed the development of interpretations of the Roman past since around 1985. This second topic will be the theme of my new research project, which will result in a new book. I will post more on this later.

I had a wonderful time talking to my good friend Michael Shanks in Stanford and also exploring the neoclassical architecture on the impressive campus in Palo Alto. I am now starting to research the ancient history of the landscape around the Romney Marshes and Rye, developing my interest in maritime connections (as explored in my recent book, Conquering the Ocean).

For an in-press edition of a new open-access article, see:

Bonacchi, C., Krzyzanska, M., Sharpe, K., Horne, Z. and R. Hingley (2025). ‘Fostering tolerance through museums: assessing visitor engagement with historical analogies at three archaeological galleries in the UK’. Humanities and Social Science Communications (2025). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-025-06333-2.

This article derives from the Tolerant Futures project, directed by Chiara Bonacchi. The research developed from the earlier Ancient Identities project, which was a joint venture between Durham and Edinburgh Universities.

Three new things:

The Ancient Identities book has been published and is open access. For a link, see my page of publications.

I am starting to research and write a new book on the development of theory in Roman archaeology and Roman studies. I want to address this through the concept of entanglement between the past and the present. This is an approach that I have been developing for some time, and I aim to research and write this book over the next three years.

I am visiting Stanford University in January 2026 to deliver two talks. I will update the information for these talks on this website in due course.

A statue of Hadrian at the Roman town wall just north of the Tower of London. A modern copy of an ancient statue and a stie for offerings. I took this photograph a couple of years ago while exploring the Roman and medieval walls of London.

I have recently returned from a conference in Hesse (Germany) which focused mainly on the peasants’ war of 1524/1525. I spoke about Boudica’s uprising and am now writing an article for the conference proceedings. Meanwhile, the Ancient Identities volume should be published next week. I am also working on four or five hillforts that may have been attacked by the Roman military during the conquest of south-western Britain as it seems time to reassess the finds from Hod Hill, South Cadbury, Ham Hill and Maiden Castle.

My two new books are almost ready to print, and I have been finalising the index for both.

The Roman Towns book will be published in April 2026 (see https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/roman-britain-in-twenty-towns-9781350520110/ The little image above, based on the ‘Gorgon’ from Bath has been produced by Christina Unwin as a detail for the Preface of this book.

The Ancient Identities volume is to be published in late October but we are still working on the cover illustration (see https://uclpress.co.uk/book/ancient-identities-in-britain/).

Meanwhile, I am working on two articles and planning my next book (on interpretation and Roman archaeology). I am also travelling to Halle (Germany) to take part in a conference on rebellions at the end of September (see below). I will update my previous research on Boudica for this meeting,

I have just returned from a trip to Orkney to visit Martin Carruther’s exciting excavations at the Cairns broch on South Ronaldsay (see https://archaeologyorkney.com/the-cairns/). This is the most extensive excavation of a broch that I have been able to visit and the structures and finds that are being uncovered by the excavation team raise a series of very interesting issues about monument construction and reuse. These relate closely to some issues that I explored in an article in World Archaeology back in 1996. I am contemplating writing my next book on the archaeology and heritage of roundhouses and may return to these issues in a chapter in due course. The photograph is taken from the above website.

I also managed to revisit Gurness Broch, the Broch of Borwick, the Broch of Bigging and some of the Neolithic sites. Then I had to rush home to finish some page proofs.

I have been busy finishing off two books. The Ancient Identities volume is now in print with UCL Press to be published (open access) in October this year. An early draft of the cover is included below.

My Visitor’s Guide to Twenty Roman Towns in Britain has been refereed and sent back to the publisher. This should be published in 2026.

Two weeks ago I attended and contributed to Iron Age Dialogues conference in Cardiff, talking about re-constructed roundhouses in Britain. This is an online database of examples that I have found (http://doi.org/10.15128/r19c67wm84v). Here is a map of these examples. I am always looking for more.

Some time since I last added anything but I have been busy writing and travelling. The Ancient Identities book is now in production and should be published by UCL Press in October. My Roman Towns book is in the final stages of writing and should be submitted to Bloomsbury in April. I am planning my next project. I have also been travelling to Rome and planning fieldwork in Britain.

This is a contemporary take on a river god in a street in Rome, photographed last month. I am researching river gods and ocean spirits in the Roman world and may think about writing about this sometime soon.