Introductory

So this is the inaugural post for my blog dedicated to medieval studies, Late Antiquity, archaeology and other academic pursuits. I registered for the account and selected the title a long time ago, but I didn't think I had anything to say about medieval studies in a blog post until now. I have another blog, in which I discuss things that are not related to medieval studies; other interests of mine and my mundane observations about life, the universe and everything. It's called Unsubstantial Pageant. I haven't posted anything in that blog in a while. I also have a LiveJournal account, which has been updated more recently. Both of these blogs consist mainly of links to web sites and articles that I find interesting and/or entertaining. I haven't actually written much in either of these. I haven't written much of anything in general lately, including my thesis. I decided to finally start posting to this blog in an attempt to get into the habit of writing on a regular basis because I've had a difficult time lately trying to write and edit my thesis. Writing blog posts doesn't entail as much pressure and anxiety as writing a thesis, but it still flexes the same muscles in the brain, and the hands. Neil Gaiman described his blog entries as a warm-up exercise for 'real writing', which is more or less how I'm approaching this blog, with my thesis as the 'real writing'.

I suppose I should introduce myself and my area of interest. I am a PhD student in a medieval studies programme. I will refrain from being more specific at the moment because I'm not sure about the university rules regarding blogging, and anonymity might be useful if I decide to rant about my particular university or department (although if you follow the links above you could probably figure out more specific information about who I am and where I am based). My thesis is titled Saint Alban and the Cult of Saints in Late Antique Britain. My research is interdisciplinary and incorporates archaeological evidence and historical texts, with occasional forays into linguistics, mostly toponymy. I actually submitted my thesis at the end of last September, and my viva voce
was just before Christmas last year. The result was a referral, which basically means that the examiners found my research to be original and important, but the thesis itself required some substantial revision. So I've basically been granted an extension to revise it. I have now just over a year left to do so.

In addition to my PhD research, I have also studied various aspects of the medieval period in Britain, including Anglo-Saxon culture (history, literature, language and archaeology), and pilgrimage in later medieval England. I have also studied British prehistory. My background is predominantly archaeological but I have ventured into history and literature. I have taught on modules in world archaeology, history of western civilization, medieval British literature, and Anglo-Saxon culture.

The title of this blog captures all these interests. I first encountered the term dust-sceáwung in Bruce Mitchell and Fred Robinson's A Guide to Old English, 5th ed., where it is presented as a possible Anglo-Saxon word for archaeology (I don't have a copy to hand so I can't provide a specific reference). It literally means 'contemplation of dust', as described in the Bosworth-Toller Anglo-Saxon Dictionary.

I think it is an accurate description for what archaeologists and historians do, and thus an appropriate title for my blog. Besides Unlocked Wordhoard, is already taken.

This introductory post turned out to be longer than I expected. So I will discuss what I intended to explore here in another post. Watch this space.