We have done it again, for yet another year we are continuing our long-established tradition and this autumn is another autumn full of congresses from one end of the world to the other. And this time, in addition, we are combining it with the preparation and writing of the different chapters for our Companion. The year has started off strong, but we come back with our batteries charged!
The season of scientific meetings started in September with the conference The Global and Local Economies of the Early Middle Ages, which took place in Tübingen and in which Sabine participated with an interesting paper on imperial and post-imperial economies in the Strait of Gibraltar. This month also saw the start of the QGIS workshop given by Pieter for the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, which we have been telling you about through our social networks. The last session was at the beginning of October and the feedback has been so positive that the next edition is already being organised. Pieter also closed the month of September with his participation at a conference in Limoges, where he presented the the idea of small monumental cities as mere representation centres without inhabitation.
At the beginning of October, Laurent and Ada coincided in an interesting workshop in Seville on traumatic phenomena and crisis in antiquity. Their presentations were complementary, as each analysed the concept of crisis from two different perspectives, that of written sources and that of archaeology. Later, Sabine participated in the conference From Ctesiphon to Toledo: A Comparative View on Early Church Councils in East and West in Vienna. And, as we could not miss our traditional autumn of congresses, at the end of October the XIV workshop Toletum took place, this time dedicated to Hispanic diplomacy between the Republic and al-Andalus. As always Sabine took the lead in organising the Workshop. ATLAS was represented twice by Isabelle Mossung, presenting on the ‘tabula patronatus’, and our post-doc Pieter presenting the development of the urban system seen as a form of diplomatic dialogue.
But don’t think that the autumn of congresses ends here – there are still a few months to go before winter arrives! So in both November and December we have a few colloquia and conferences coming up that we are looking forward to participating in. In November Pieter will present a paper on Latinization of the Iberian Peninsula. Later that month Sabine presents a very ATLAS topic at the colloquium Crises et résiliences urbaines: «Résister au changement ? Le fait urbain de la péninsule ibérique pendant l’Antiquité tardive». December starts with Pieter participating in the Roman Youth University at the Thermenmuseum in Heerlen (NL). Sabine and Laurent will participate in the colloque ATEG VIII in Bordeaux to present work from the ATLAS project. Thereafter if all goes well ATLAS will close 2023 with a bang: Sabine and Pieter have been invited to go to Rio de Janeiro to formalise a collaboration between the universities of Hamburg and Rio de Janeiro. Fingers crossed the bureaucratic systems work like clockwork and they get to go. As always, we will keep you informed in more detail through our social media, so don’t hesitate to follow us!
And, in parallel, ATLAS as a whole is still at full speed preparing the final publication in the form of the Companion. Our research groups have returned to their regular meetings after the summer, to pool ideas and establish the lines of work for the writing of the corresponding chapters. We are looking forward to seeing the fruits of all these years of work!