Mary Harlow, (born 20 October 1956) is an English

archaeologist Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...

and

classical scholar Classics or classical studies is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, classics traditionally refers to the study of Classical Greek and Roman literature and their related original languages, Ancient Greek and Latin. Classics ...

. Her research focuses on various aspects of

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...

social history Social history, often called the new social history, is a field of history that looks at the lived experience of the past. In its "golden age" it was a major growth field in the 1960s and 1970s among scholars, and still is well represented in his ...

―such as age, family, dress and textiles―and their impact on the formation of ancient identity. Her approach strongly promotes interdisciplinary methods, using source materials to accompany the study of Roman dress.

Education and career

Harlow studied at the

University of Leicester , mottoeng = So that they may have life , established = , type = public research university , endowment = £20.0 million , budget = £326 million , chancellor = David Willetts , vice_chancellor = Nishan Canagarajah , head_labe ...

gaining a BA in classical studies and

PhD PHD or PhD may refer to: * Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), an academic qualification Entertainment * '' PhD: Phantasy Degree'', a Korean comic series * ''Piled Higher and Deeper'', a web comic * Ph.D. (band), a 1980s British group ** Ph.D. (Ph.D. albu ...

in ancient history. After the completion of her PhD she taught briefly at

St Andrews St Andrews ( la, S. Andrea(s); sco, Saunt Aundraes; gd, Cill Rìmhinn) is a town on the east coast of Fife in Scotland, southeast of Dundee and northeast of Edinburgh. St Andrews had a recorded population of 16,800 , making it Fife's fou ...

, before joining the Institute of Archaeology and Antiquity at the

University of Birmingham , mottoeng = Through efforts to heights , established = 1825 – Birmingham School of Medicine and Surgery1836 – Birmingham Royal School of Medicine and Surgery1843 – Queen's College1875 – Mason Science College1898 – Mason Univers ...

as senior lecturer in Roman history (1995–2012). Between 1995 and 2000 she was also an Associate Lecturer at the

Open University The Open University (OU) is a British public research university and the largest university in the United Kingdom by number of students. The majority of the OU's undergraduate students are based in the United Kingdom and principally study off- ...

. In 2000–2002 she held a

Leverhulme Research Fellowship The Leverhulme Trust () is a large national grant-making organisation in the United Kingdom. It was established in 1925 under the will of the 1st Viscount Leverhulme (1851–1925), with the instruction that its resources should be used to suppo ...

to study Dress and Identity in Late Antiquity. In 2013 Harlow returned to the University of Leicester, where she is now associate professor in ancient history in the School of Archeology and Ancient History. Between 2011 and 2013 Harlow was also guest professor at the Danish National Research Foundation's Centre for Textile Research (CTR) in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

, where she took part in the TEMA (Textile Economies in the Mediterranean Area) research project. Since 2015, Harlow has been involved in the international research group ATOM (Ancient Textiles from the Orient to the Mediterranean), in collaboration with CTR and the

CNRS The French National Centre for Scientific Research (french: link=no, Centre national de la recherche scientifique, CNRS) is the French state research organisation and is the largest fundamental science agency in Europe. In 2016, it employed 31,637 ...

, Paris. On 15 March 2018, Harlow was elected a

Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries A fellow is a concept whose exact meaning depends on context. In learned or professional societies, it refers to a privileged member who is specially elected in recognition of their work and achievements. Within the context of higher education ...

(FSA).

Selected bibliography

* ''Growing Up and Growing Old in Ancient Rome: A Life Course Approach'' (with

Ray Laurence Ray Laurence is professor of ancient history at Macquarie University. He has won the Routledge Ancient History Prize for his first book ''Roman Pompeii: Space and Society'', and the Longman-History Today New Generation Prize for his book ''Pomp ...

, 2002); * ''The Clothed Body in the Ancient World'' (with Liza Cleland and Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones, 2005); * ''Age and Ageing in the Roman Empire'' (with Ray Laurence, 2007); * ‘The Greek and Roman family’ (with Tim Parkin) in ''Blackwell’s Companion to Ancient History'' (2009), pp. 329–41; * ''A Cultural History of Childhood and Family in Antiquity'' (with Ray Lawrence, 2010); * ''Dress and Identity'' (2012); * ''Families in the Roman and Late Antique World'' (with Lena Larsson Loven, 2012); * ''Prehistoric, Ancient Near Eastern & Aegean Textiles and Dress: An Interdisciplinary Anthology'' (with Cécile Michel and

Marie-Louise Nosch Marie-Louise Bech Nosch (January 1970 -; née Gregersen) is a Professor in the University of Copenhagen and an expert in the interdisciplinary study of prehistoric textiles. Her main research focus is on the evidence for textile production in Myce ...

, 2014); * ''Greek and Roman Textiles and Dress: An Interdisciplinary Anthology'' (with Marie-Louise Nosch, 2014); * ''Spinning Fates and the Song of the Loom: The Use of Textiles, Clothing and Cloth Production as Metaphor, Symbol and Narrative Device in Greek and Latin Literature'' (with Giovanni Fanfani and Marie-Louise Nosch, 2016);

References

External links

Podcast by Mary Harlow on Roman Dress and Traditional Textile Craft, June 2014
{{DEFAULTSORT:Harlow, Mary English archaeologists 1956 births Living people English women archaeologists Academics of the Open University Academics of the University of Birmingham Alumni of the University of Leicester British classical scholars British women classical scholars Fellows of the Society of Antiquaries of London English women historians