'The Long Black Death': New Perspectives

Society for Medieval Archaeology 2019 Annual Conference 

“The Long Black Death”: New Perspectives 

King’s Manor, University of York (UK), 5-6 July 2019 

A recent upsurge in scholarly interest in the Black Death has been driven in major part by methodological advances and new discoveries across a range of disciplines: archaeology is central to this as analysis of physical evidence has underpinned many recent advances. As our knowledge and understanding of the origins and impact of the Black Death, in the short, medium and long term, becomes increasingly clear, wider interest has grown in the role of plague across the world in periods from the prehistoric to the post-medieval. This is heightened by awareness that microbial resistance to antibiotics now used to treat plague is growing, thus interest in plague pandemics may not for much longer be confined to the past.

This conference brings together researchers in different fields to explore the latest research into the origins and impact of the 14th-century pandemic.  Our keynote speaker is Professor Monica Green (Arizona State University), who will address the wider implications of this emerging understanding of the ‘long’ Black Death for plague studies globally.

Registration is open. The conference registration fee for members of the Society is £35.00 and £20.00 for student members.  The registration fee for non-members is £80.00. Each of these registration packages includes tea/coffee breaks, a wine reception on Friday evening, lunch on Saturday, and attendance at the Friday evening keynote. If you wish to attend the keynote only please select the ‘Registration for keynote and wine reception ONLY‘ package.  Registration can be found here.

Please visit the Society's website for the full list of speakers and programme of events.