Louise Blanke

louise blanke
KRC Research Associate

I am an archaeologist specialised in late antiquity and the early middle ages in the Eastern Mediterranean, especially Egypt and Jordan. I am particularly interested in the emergence of Christianity and Islam and their impact on economy, built environment and material culture in both urban and rural settings. 

I completed my PhD from University of Copenhagen in 2014, was a post-doctoral researcher at Aarhus University in 2015-2016, held a post-doctoral fellowship at University of Oxford awarded by the Danish Carlsberg Foundation in 2016-2019 and in April 2019, I joined Cambridge University’s ERC funded Impact of the Ancient City Project (directed by Andrew Wallace-Hadrill at the Faculty of Classics) where I examine the development of cities in the Eastern Mediterranean from the Roman period into the early middle ages. In September 2019, I will join Edinburgh University as Lecturer in Late Antique Archaeology.  

I am an active field archaeologist with extensive experience from a wide variety of (mainly late antique and early medieval) sites. I was deputy director of the Islamic Jarash Project, chief archaeologist at Yale’s Monastic Archaeology Project at the White Monastery and Athribis. I directed an archaeological survey of the Red Monastery and have participated in the excavation and survey of a number of other sites in Egypt, Jordan, Qatar and Denmark. I also direct the ongoing ‘Late Antique Jarash Project’ which examines the development of a residential neighbourhood in Jarash’s southwest district over the longue durée.

 

Monograph

  • Blanke, L. An Archaeology of Egyptian Monasticism: Settlement, Economy and Daily Life of the White Monastery Federation. New Haven (2019)

Edited Volume

  • Blanke, L.and J. Cromwell (eds.). Monastic Economiesin Egypt and Palestine (500-1000). Cambridge University Press (submission expected spring 2019)

 

Journal Articles and Book Chapters (* denotes peer review)

FORTHCOMING 

  • *Blanke, L. Pricing salvation: visitation, donation and the monastic economies in late antique and early Islamic Egypt. In A. Collar and T.M. Kristensen (eds.) Going, Gathering and Giving. Economies of Sacred Travel in the Ancient Mediterranean. Leiden: Brill (2019)
  • Blanke, L., H. Barnes, K. Brunner, M. Brøndgaard Jensen, L. Goossens, R. Knieß, A. Mellah, R. Pappalardo D. Pilz and A. Vernet. Excavation and magnetic prospection in Jarash’s southwest district: the 2015 and 2016 seasons of the Late Antique Jarash Project. Annual of the Department of Antiquities of Jordan

2019

2018

  • *Blanke, L. Abbasid Jerash reconsidered: suburban life in southwest Jerash over the longue durée. In Achim Lichtenberger and Rubina Raja (eds.) The Archaeology and History of Jerash.110 years of excavation, Jordan. Turnhout: Brepols Publishers, 39-58.
  • Blanke, L. The Late Antique Jarash Project. In John D.M. Green, Barbara A. Porter and China B. Shelton (eds.) Archaeology in Jordan Newsletter: 2016 and 2017. The American Center of Oriental Research, 31-32.
  • *Jensen Søe, M., P. Nejsum, F. Valeir Seerholm, B. Lund Fredensborg, R. Habraken, K. Haase, M. M. Hald, R. Simonsen, F. Højlund, L. Blanke, I. Merkyte, E. Willerslev and C. Kapel. Ancient DNA from latrines reveals past parasites and diets. PLOS ONE.

2017

  • *Rattenborg, R. and L. Blanke. Jarash in the Islamic Ages (ca. 700-1200 CE): a critical review. Levant 49.3, 312-332. 
  • *Blanke, L. Et nyt dansk forskningsprojekt i Jarash (Jordan). Sfinx 40.3, 4-9. 
  • *Blanke, L. The Allure of the Saint: Late Antique Pilgrimage to the Monastery of St Shenoute.Excavating Pilgrimage,edited by T.M. Kristensen and W. Friese. Ashgate Studies in Pilgrimage. 

2016

  • Blanke, L. The Late Antique Jarash Project. In Barbara A. Porter, Glenn J. Corbett and Donald R. Keller (eds.) Archaeology in Jordan 2014 and 2015. American Journal of Archaeology 120.4: 643-645. 
  • *Blanke, L. Trois latrines publiques dans la Jérash de l’Antiquité tardive (Jordanie). Médiévales 70: 43-58. 
  • *Blanke, L. Life on the Desert’s Edge: The Water Supply of a Late Antique Monastery in Egypt. In J. Kuhlmann Madsen, N.O. Andersen and I. Thuesen (eds.) Water of Life. Copenhagen: Orbis. 

2015

  • *Blanke, L. Washing the masses, washing the self: An architectural study of the Central Bathhouse in Gerasa. Syria 92: 85-104. 
  • Blanke, L., H. Barnes, M. Broendgaard Jensen, R. Rattenborg and E. Thing. The 2011 season of the Late Antique Jarash Project – Results from the Survey Southwest of the Umayyad Congregational Mosque. Annual of the Department of Antiquities of Jordan.

2014

  • *Davis, S., G. Pyke, E. Davison, M. Farag, and D. Schriever with contributions by L. Blanke. Left Behind: A Recent Discovery of Manuscript Fragments in the White Monastery Church. Journal of Coptic Studies16: 69-87. 

2013

  • *Brooks Hedstrom, D. and E. Bolman with contributions by M. Abdel Rahim, L. Blanke, S. Mohammed, T. Herbich, G. Pyke, T. Musacchio and M. Khalifa (2013). The White Monatery Federation Project. Survey and Mapping at the Monastery of Apa Shenoute (Dayr al.Anba Shinuda), Sohag, 2005-2007. Dumbarton Oaks Papers 66-67: 333-364.

2012

  • Blanke, L. and A. Walmsley. Islamic Jarash Project. In Archaeology in Jordan, 2010 and 2011 seasons, edited by D. Keller and C. Tuttle. American Journal of Archaeology.

2011

  • Blanke, L., P. Lorien and R. Rattenborg. Changing Cityscapes in Central Jarash – Between Late Antiquity and the Abbasid Period. Annual of the Department of Antiquities of Jordan54: 311-327.
  • Bolman, E., S. Davis, L. Cesaris, F.M. El-Anthony, G. Pyke, E. Ricchi, A. Sucato and N. Warner with contributions by M. Abdel Rahim, L. Blanke, W. Dolling, M. Khalif, S. Mohammed and A. Stevens. The Tomb of Shenoute? More Results from the White Monastery (Dayr Anba Shenouda), Sohag. Bulletin of the American Research Center in Egypt 198: 31-38.

2010

  • *Pyke, G., L. Blanke and M. Ownby. Panehsy Church Project 2009-10: Settlement Survey. In Tell al-Amarna, 2010, edited by B. Kemp. Journal of Egyptian Archaeology96: 1-30.    
  • Blanke, L. and A. Walmsley. Islamic Jarash Project. In Archaeology in Jordan, 2008 and 2009 seasons, edited by D. Keller and C. Tuttle. American Journal of Archaeology 114: 505-545.
  • *Davis, S. with contributions by L. Blanke, E. Bolman, D. Brooks Hedstrom, M. Burgoyne, T. Herbich, B. Layton, S. Mohammed, G. Pyke and P. Sheehan. Archaeology at the White Monastery, 2005-2010. Coptica 9: 25-58.
  • *Bolman, E., S. Davis, and G. Pyke with contributions by M. Abdel Rahim, L. Blanke, D. Brooks Hedstrom, W. Dolling, F.M. El-Anthony, D. McCormack, M. Khalifa, S. Mohammed, P. Sheehan, A. Stevens and N. Warner. Shenoute and a Recently Discovered Tomb Chapel at the White Monastery. Journal of Early Christian Studies 18:3: 453-462.

2008

  • Bolman, E., L. Blanke, D. Brooks-Hedstrom, M. Khalifa, C. Meurice, S. Mohammed, G. Pyke and P. Sheehan. Late Antique and Medieval Painted Decoration at the White Monastery (Dayr al-Abiad), Sohag. Bulletin of the American Research Center in Egypt.
  • Walmsley, A., F. Bessard, L. Blanke, K. Damgaard, A. Mellah, L. Roenje and I. Simpson. A Mosque, Shops and Bath in Central Jarash: The 2007 Season of the Islamic Jarash Project. Annual ofthe Department of Antiquities of Jordan 52.

2007

  • Blanke, L., K. Damgaard, I. Simpson and A. Walmsley. From Bathhouse to Congregational Mosque: further discoveries on the urban history of Islamic Jarash. Annual of the Department of Antiquities of Jordan 51: 177-97.
  • Blanke, L. A Newly Discovered Bathhouse in Byzantine Jarash; An Archaeological Interpretation. The RAG (Roman Archaeology Group) 2.3.

2005

  • Barnes, H., L. Blanke, K. Damgaard, I. Simpson, M. Soerensen and A. Walmsley. From “Guard House” to Congregational Mosque: recent discoveries on the urban history of Islamic Jarash. In: Annual of the Department of Antiquities of Jordan 50.
  • *Damgaard, K. and L. Blanke. Moskeen i Jarash. Sfinx28.3.

2004

  • *Damgaard, K. and L. Blanke. The Islamic Jarash Project. A Preliminary Report on the First Two Seasons of Fieldwork. Assemblage 8. Sheffield University Graduate Journal of Archaeology 8. URL:http://www.shef.ac.uk/assem/issue8/

Reviews

2018

2016

  • Blanke, L. Review of Lavan, L. and Mulryan, M. (eds.) Field Methods and Post-Excavation Techniques in Late Antique Archaeology. Late Antique Archaeology, 9. Leiden, Boston: Brill, 2015, xiv, 687 p. Bryn Mawr Classical Review.http://bmcr.brynmawr.edu/2016/2016-11-42.html

 

Publications listed on Symplectic