Staff profile

I have been a Research Associate at Durham University for several years, publishing legacy sites, delivering teaching and undertaking research on a range of archaeological periods. Most recently (2019-2022) I was Deputy and Reviews Editor for the Journal Antiquity.

I am an experienced field archaeologist having worked for commercial units and undertaken research fieldwork. My research experience has been diverse spanning a broad range of periods from the Mesolithic to post-Medieval, and covering a vast geographical area from Atlantic Scotland to the Near East. I have published research on the archaeology and material culture of the Byzantine & Late Antique worlds, identity and phenomenology in Roman Britain, Landscape archaeology of Bronze Age and Iron Age Scotland and the archaeology of Post-Medieval architecture in the UK.

• Archaeology of Landscape
• Byzantine Archaeology
• Classical Archaeology
• Identity in Roman Britain
• Historiography and the Perception of Monumentality
• Late Bronze Age - Early Iron Age Scotland
• Manipulation of Light in Ecclesiastical Architecture
• Mesolithic in the North Atlantic
• Phenomenology and Experience of Architecture and Landscape
• The Geography of Ownership and Development of Archaeological Knowledge on Hadrian's Wall

• 2012: FSA Scot: Elected Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland
• 2000: SPBS: Executive Committee for the Society for the Promotion of Byzantine Studies (2008-2011)

Chapter in book

• Nesbitt, C. (2014). Multiculturalism on Hadrian’s Wall. In M. Millett, L. Revell, & A. Moore (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Roman Britain. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199697731.013.013
• Nesbitt, C. (2013). Experiencing the light: Byzantine church window glass and aesthetics of worship. In C. Entwhistle, & L. James (Eds.), New Light on Old Glass: Recent Research on Byzantine Mosaics and Glass. British Museum Research Publication
• Nesbitt, C. (2013). Glass: Byzantine. In R. Bagnall, K. Brodersen, C. Champion, A. Erskine, & S. Huebner (Eds.), Encyclopaedia of Ancient History. Wiley. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781444338386.wbeah03101

Edited book

• Nesbitt, C., & Jackson, M. (Eds.). (2013). Experiencing Byzantium: Papers from the Forty Fourth Spring Symposium of Byzantine Studies, Newcastle University, April 2011. Ashgate Press. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315581507

Journal Article

• Church, M., Arge, S., Edwards, K., Ascough, P., Bond, J., Cook, G., Dockrill, S., Dugmore, A., McGovern, T., Nesbitt, C., & Simpson, I. (2013). The Vikings were not the first colonizers of the Faroe Islands. Quaternary Science Reviews, 77, 228-232. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2013.06.011
• Nesbitt, C., Church, M., Gilmour, S., & Burgess, C. (2013). Small-scale evaluation of a Post-Medieval Blackhouse at Bereiro, Lewis, Western Isles of Scotland. Journal of the North Atlantic, 22, 1-19
• Church, M., Nesbitt, C., & Gilmour, S. (2013). A special place in the saltings? Survey and excavation of an Iron Age estuarine islet at An Dunan, Lewis, Western Isles. Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, 143, 157-226
• Hingley, R., Witcher, R., & Nesbitt, C. (2012). Life of an Ancient Monument: Hadrian's Wall in History. Antiquity, 86(333), 760-771. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0003598x00047906
• Nesbitt, C. (2012). Shaping the Sacred: Light and the Experience of Worship in Middle Byzantine Churches. Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies, 36(2), 139-160. https://doi.org/10.1179/0307013112z.0000000009
• Church, M., Bishop, R., Blake, E., Nesbitt, C., Perri, A., Piper, S., & Rowley-Conwy, P. (2012). Temple Bay, Harris. Discovery and excavation in Scotland, 13,
• Church, M., Bishop, R., Blake, E., Nesbitt, C., Perri, A., Piper, S., Rowley-Conwy, P., Snape-Kennedy, L., & Walker, J. (2012). Tràigh na Beirigh, Uig. Discovery and excavation in Scotland, 13,
• Church, M., Bishop, R., Blake, E., Nesbitt, C., Perri, A., Piper, S., & Rowley-Conwy, P. (2011). Temple Bay, Harris. Discovery and excavation in Scotland, 12,
• Church, M., Bishop, R., Blake, E., Nesbitt, C., Perri, A., Piper, S., & Rowley-Conwy, P. (2011). Tràigh na Beirigh, Uig. Discovery and excavation in Scotland, 12, 194-195
• Nesbitt, C., Church, M., & Gilmour, S. (2011). Domestic, industrial, (en)closed? Survey and excavation of a Late Bronze Age / Early Iron Age promontory enclosure at Gob Eirer, Lewis, Western Isles. Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, 141, 31-74
• Nesbitt, C., & Tolia-Kelly, D. (2009). Hadrian’s Wall: Embodied Archaeologies of the Linear Monument. Journal of Social Archaeology, 9(3), 368-390
• Hingley, R., & Nesbitt, C. (2008). A Wall for all times

Other (Digital/Visual Media)

• Tolia-Kelly, D., & Nesbitt, C. (2009). An Archaeology of Race (Exhibition Catalogue)
• Tolia-Kelly, D., & Nesbitt, C. (2009). An Archaeology of Race. Exploring the Northern Frontier in Roman Britain

Report

• Bishop, R., Church, M., & Nesbitt, C. (2012). Archaeological investigations at Northton, Harris, Western Isles, 2011. Data Structure Report. National Science Foundation (US), Hunter Trust, Historic Scotland, Durham University
• Blake, E., Church, M., & Nesbitt, C. (2011). Data Structure Report of Small-Scale Sampling of the Mesolithic Site at Bàgh an Teampaill, Toe Head Peninsula, Northton, Harris, 2011. [No known commissioning body]
• Blake, E., Church, M., & Nesbitt, C. (2011). Data Structure Report of Small-Scale Sampling of a Mesolithic Shell Midden at Tràigh na Beirigh, Cnip, Lewis, 2011. [No known commissioning body]