Rhiannon Williams

I have a B.A. in Ancient History from Macquarie University, Sydney, and a Masters in the History of Religions from MF Vitenskapelig Høyskole, where I wrote a thesis on the perceptibility of religious affiliation in the mortuary record of Late Antique Egypt. Since 2019, I have worked as a research assistant in association with the Varvaria-Breberium-Bribir excavation (Croatia) and the ERC project DEChriM, both led by Professor Ghica. This has entailed excavations in Croatia and several sites in Egypt, where, besides fieldwork operations, I ensure several stages of the post-excavation documentation. For DEChriM, I have also overseen the population of the 4CARE database.

I am currently conducting a PhD project in association with DEChriM, which examines the presence of Christianity in the Kharga Oasis in Late Antiquity. Using the archaeological record, the project aims to map the evolution of the religion, determine the avenues through which it spread, explore the real-life impacts on the oasean inhabitants, and generally to develop a better understanding of the place of Christianity in a fringe area of the Roman Empire.