Rachel Singer
@rachelbsinger.bsky.social
Environmental historian of post-Roman Britain and Merovingian Gaul.
PhD Candidate at Georgetown University researching plague, climate, rebel nuns, and disaster.
Philly sports fan and weird rescue animal enthusiast by night.
rachelbsinger.com
PhD Candidate at Georgetown University researching plague, climate, rebel nuns, and disaster.
Philly sports fan and weird rescue animal enthusiast by night.
rachelbsinger.com
Pinned
Contextualising Edix Hill: First-Pandemic Plague and Britain*
Abstract:. The 2019 discovery of Yersinia pestis ancient DNA at Edix Hill in Cambridgeshire unquestionably confirms that plague was present in sixth-centur
academic.oup.com
For those of you who (wisely) haven’t been on Twitter lately and may not know, I recently had an article come out in the EHR on early medieval British plague and its broader historiographical implications. Just message me if you don’t have access and need a pdf!
academic.oup.com/ehr/advance-...
academic.oup.com/ehr/advance-...
Philly sports and I are on a break
October 10, 2025 at 2:22 PM
Philly sports and I are on a break
Reposted by Rachel Singer
An article I wrote about emotions and colonialism has just come out in The Sixteenth Century Journal - you can find it below or message me if you’d like a PDF!
The Sixteenth Century Journal: Vol 56, No 2 www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/...
The Sixteenth Century Journal: Vol 56, No 2 www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/...
The Emotional Dimensions of Colonial Rule in the Sixteenth-Century Andes: José de Acosta, Jesuits, and Emotions During the Great Resettlement* | The Sixteenth Century Journal: Vol 56, No 2
This article examines the writings of the Jesuit José de Acosta (1540–1600) on Andean governance at the time of the Great Resettlement (a late-sixteenth-century Spanish attempt to resettle Andean peop...
www.journals.uchicago.edu
June 6, 2025 at 4:59 PM
An article I wrote about emotions and colonialism has just come out in The Sixteenth Century Journal - you can find it below or message me if you’d like a PDF!
The Sixteenth Century Journal: Vol 56, No 2 www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/...
The Sixteenth Century Journal: Vol 56, No 2 www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/...
Pangur Bán and his owner might disagree, lol
Why Cats were Hated in Medieval Europe www.medievalists.net/2023/05/cats... #Cats
Why Cats were Hated in Medieval Europe - Medievalists.net
Cats in medieval Europe mostly had a bad reputation – they were associated with witches and heretics, and it was believed that the devil could transform himself into a black cat. How did this view of…
www.medievalists.net
May 25, 2025 at 9:29 PM
Pangur Bán and his owner might disagree, lol
Louse-borne relapsing fever is an important part of early British infectious disease history since William MacArthur’s 1949 speculation that it caused the mysterious, sixth-century outbreaks often assumed to be plague. It’s therefore Enormously exciting to have new paleoscientific evidence of it!
Excited to announce our paper on ancient Borrelia genomes is finally out! 🦠💀We document the evolutionary history of louse-borne relapsing fever, published today in @science.org with @lucyvandorp.bsky.social and @pontus-skoglund.bsky.social #aDNA 🏺🧪🧬
Main findings and paper below: 🧵⬇️
Main findings and paper below: 🧵⬇️
May 23, 2025 at 12:59 AM
Louse-borne relapsing fever is an important part of early British infectious disease history since William MacArthur’s 1949 speculation that it caused the mysterious, sixth-century outbreaks often assumed to be plague. It’s therefore Enormously exciting to have new paleoscientific evidence of it!
Reposted by Rachel Singer
Want to learn how a careful study of burial #archaeology can improve our understanding of past disease events, especially the First #Plague #Pandemic (6th-8th centuries)? Check the #OpenAccess article I led in this month’s issue of Speculum: A Journal of Medieval Studies!
April 7, 2025 at 5:46 PM
Want to learn how a careful study of burial #archaeology can improve our understanding of past disease events, especially the First #Plague #Pandemic (6th-8th centuries)? Check the #OpenAccess article I led in this month’s issue of Speculum: A Journal of Medieval Studies!
It exists in the physical world!
@merleeisenberg.bsky.social
@merleeisenberg.bsky.social
April 4, 2025 at 9:16 PM
It exists in the physical world!
@merleeisenberg.bsky.social
@merleeisenberg.bsky.social
Reposted by Rachel Singer
New #SpeculumSpotlight episode!! @medievalacademy.bsky.social
April 1, 2025 at 5:12 PM
New #SpeculumSpotlight episode!! @medievalacademy.bsky.social
My colleagues, Janet Kay, Jordan Wilson and I went on @mmapod.bsky.social to promote our new Speculum article, “Burial Archaeology and the First Plague Pandemic.” Give it a listen if you’re interested!
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/s...
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/s...
The Multicultural Middle Ages Podcast
History Podcast · Updated Monthly · The Multicultural Middle Ages Podcast brings medievalists from all professional and disciplinary tracks together to think and talk about the too-oft-unsung diversit...
podcasts.apple.com
April 1, 2025 at 2:00 PM
My colleagues, Janet Kay, Jordan Wilson and I went on @mmapod.bsky.social to promote our new Speculum article, “Burial Archaeology and the First Plague Pandemic.” Give it a listen if you’re interested!
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/s...
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/s...
Reposted by Rachel Singer
New issue of Speculum Vol. 100, No. 2 (2024) www.journals.uchicago.edu/toc/spc/2025... @chicagojournals.bsky.social @medievalacademy.bsky.social @merleeisenberg.bsky.social
@rachelbsinger.bsky.social
@rachelbsinger.bsky.social
Speculum | Vol 100, No 2
www.journals.uchicago.edu
March 31, 2025 at 12:43 AM
New issue of Speculum Vol. 100, No. 2 (2024) www.journals.uchicago.edu/toc/spc/2025... @chicagojournals.bsky.social @medievalacademy.bsky.social @merleeisenberg.bsky.social
@rachelbsinger.bsky.social
@rachelbsinger.bsky.social
New, OA article! Here my coauthors and I (led by the lovely Janet E. Kay) ponder what burial archaeology would bring to the table as we seek to understand the First Plague Pandemic (spoiler alert: we think it could contribute quite a lot!) www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/...
Burial Archaeology and the First Plague Pandemic | Speculum: Vol 100, No 2
Abstract Archaeological evidence from funerary contexts is largely ignored in current scholarship on the First Plague Pandemic, despite the important information that burials and cemeteries can provid...
www.journals.uchicago.edu
March 29, 2025 at 11:42 AM
New, OA article! Here my coauthors and I (led by the lovely Janet E. Kay) ponder what burial archaeology would bring to the table as we seek to understand the First Plague Pandemic (spoiler alert: we think it could contribute quite a lot!) www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/...
For folks in DC, I’m giving a talk on early Irish animal disease next week!
Join us next Thursday, 3/27, for “Coughing Cows, Mad Dogs, and Infected Bees: Making Sense of Animal Disease in Early Medieval Ireland”, with Rachel Singer! Register here: bit.ly/41K0D5N
March 20, 2025 at 2:25 PM
For folks in DC, I’m giving a talk on early Irish animal disease next week!
Split squad spring training game means 2 Phillies games at once let’s gooo
March 2, 2025 at 6:09 PM
Split squad spring training game means 2 Phillies games at once let’s gooo
Reposted by Rachel Singer
Check out Rachel Singer's review of Annalisa Marzano's "Plants, Politics and Empire in Ancient Rome," published in 2022 by @cambridgeup.bsky.social; review now available @hnetreviews.bsky.social #envhist #envhum #planthist #plantstudies
www.h-net.org/reviews/show...
www.h-net.org/reviews/show...
www.h-net.org
February 10, 2025 at 6:08 AM
Check out Rachel Singer's review of Annalisa Marzano's "Plants, Politics and Empire in Ancient Rome," published in 2022 by @cambridgeup.bsky.social; review now available @hnetreviews.bsky.social #envhist #envhum #planthist #plantstudies
www.h-net.org/reviews/show...
www.h-net.org/reviews/show...
I wrote a book review!
New book review:
Singer on Marzano, Annalisa: _Plants, Politics and Empire in Ancient Rome_. Cambridge University Press, 2022. Published by H-Environment.
Read here: networks.h-net.org/node/20058950
Singer on Marzano, Annalisa: _Plants, Politics and Empire in Ancient Rome_. Cambridge University Press, 2022. Published by H-Environment.
Read here: networks.h-net.org/node/20058950
February 11, 2025 at 4:44 PM
I wrote a book review!
AAAAAHHHHHGGHH
SUPER BOWL CHAMPIONS!
THIS ONE’S FOR YOU PHILLY!
THIS ONE’S FOR YOU PHILLY!
February 10, 2025 at 4:21 AM
AAAAAHHHHHGGHH
February 2, 2025 at 10:51 PM
Reposted by Rachel Singer
January 26, 2025 at 11:52 PM
Today’s writing session is brought to you by a DAVIDsTEA strawberry matcha latte
January 24, 2025 at 7:59 PM
Today’s writing session is brought to you by a DAVIDsTEA strawberry matcha latte
Reposted by Rachel Singer
Very glad to share the findings from my PhD work on raptors from archaeological sites, showing an early pattern of urban scavenging! #archaeobirds
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Tracking 4000 years of raptor diets through isotope analysis reveals urban scavenging with implications for conservation
Birds of prey (‘raptors’) often consume anthropogenic foods and can be closely associated with human settlements. In medieval Britain, birds of prey w…
www.sciencedirect.com
January 17, 2025 at 3:29 PM
Very glad to share the findings from my PhD work on raptors from archaeological sites, showing an early pattern of urban scavenging! #archaeobirds
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Reposted by Rachel Singer
Today I’m debuting a new #EnvHist podcast series, “The Climate Chronicles.” In 8 seasons and 42 episodes, I’ll tell the remarkable story of how #ClimateChange influenced humanity’s past. Visit the website: theclimatechronicles.com (1/6)
January 15, 2025 at 5:07 PM
Today I’m debuting a new #EnvHist podcast series, “The Climate Chronicles.” In 8 seasons and 42 episodes, I’ll tell the remarkable story of how #ClimateChange influenced humanity’s past. Visit the website: theclimatechronicles.com (1/6)
Reposted by Rachel Singer
Very pleased to see this out now. Behind paywall for the moment, but hoping to have that changed … academic.oup.com/past/advance...
Economic Change, Silver, and the Plague of 664–687 in England*
Abstract. Bede and other authors describe a destructive wave of plague sweeping across Britain and Ireland in the period 664–87. In the decades around and
academic.oup.com
January 9, 2025 at 6:32 AM
Very pleased to see this out now. Behind paywall for the moment, but hoping to have that changed … academic.oup.com/past/advance...
Reposted by Rachel Singer
A very exciting and important new piece of reading from @helengittos.bsky.social on connections between 6th/7th-century England and the Near East. Highly recommended! academic.oup.com/ehr/advance-...
Sutton Hoo and Syria: The Anglo-Saxons Who Served in the Byzantine Army?*
Abstract:. The Sutton Hoo ship burial is one of the most famous examples of a group of lavishly furnished graves of the late sixth and early seventh centur
academic.oup.com
January 5, 2025 at 4:23 AM
A very exciting and important new piece of reading from @helengittos.bsky.social on connections between 6th/7th-century England and the Near East. Highly recommended! academic.oup.com/ehr/advance-...
