Preservare

News

  • Niet zomaar houten vaten

    *English translation below* Op 25 september ontving het PRESERVARE-team archeoloog Jeroen Oosterbaan, docent aan Hogeschool Saxion en deeltijdpromovendus aan de Universiteit Leiden. In zijn lezing gaf hij ons een inkijkje in zijn fascinerende onderzoek naar tonnen uit de late middeleeuwen en vroegmoderne tijd (1300-1800). Tonnen werden, nadat ze jarenlang dienstgedaan hadden in het transport, in…

  • Ingelegde heimwee

    *English translation below* Op 25 september bezochten we met het PRESERVARE-team de tafelzuurwinkel De Leeuw in Amsterdam. Al op de stoep komt een milde azijngeur ons tegemoet. We worden ontvangen door eigenaresse Bianca, die de geur niet meer zegt te ruiken – zelfs niet als ze drie weken op vakantie is geweest. Op de toonbank…

  • New publication – The Goldilocks Moment: Fire, Material Change, and Critical Time in Medieval Metallic Transmutation

    Postdoc Carmen Schmechel has recently published her work on metallic transmutation in Ambix. The article explores how medieval Latin alchemists determined the “Goldilocks moment” in fire management: the exact moment to take the product from the fire. It is available open access here. Schmechel, C., 2025. “The Goldilocks Moment: Fire, Material Change, and Critical Time in Medieval…

  • New publication – “Smoke and Sea”. Unveiling Food Preservation in Bronze Age Heiloo.

    PhD researcher Tijmen Moesker has recently published an article in Metaaltijden 12. Bijdragen in de studie van de metaaltijden. His research sheds light on Bronze Age coastal inhabitants’ sophisticated understanding of food preservation techniques, focusing on archaeological evidence from Heiloo. The article is available here. Moesker, T.P., 2025. “Smoke and Sea”. Unveiling Food Preservation in Bronze…

  • A Crumbling History: Reconstructing Wormer Rusk Production and Its Sticky Connections

    Two pieces of ‘Wormer beschuit’ survive in the collection of the Zaans Museum and are claimed to be more than 300 years old:  hard, dry, and crumbly. Would you still fancy a bite? Four centuries ago, baking dough twice was a vital method for preserving bread – although contemporaries claimed it would not last more than three years.…

  • A Day in the Life at PRESERVARE

    In March, we launched #ADayInTheLife, a new series on Bluesky, offering a glimpse behind the scenes of the PRESERVARE project. Check out the posts by:

  • Historical Food Preservation: A Seminar Series

    Together with the New York Botanical Garden’s Humanities Institute, we are launching an online seminar series. The series will bring together historians of science, art, and capitalism to explore the history of food preservation from a multidisciplinary and transregional perspective. Each session will feature two research presentations, followed by an open discussion, moderated by Marieke…

  • Just published: the second PRESERVARE newsletter

    The second newsletter of the PRESERVARE project is now live! In this issue, we share exciting updates for 2025, including the introduction of three new researchers joining the project and details about our upcoming seminar series. Don’t forget to subscribe if you haven’t already.

  • Two exciting PhD openings

    History PhD We are looking for an interdisciplinary PhD candidate with a background in the history of science or cultural history to join the project on 1 February 2025. This four-year position is aimed at developing a history of knowledge of brining and pickling in the early modern Low Countries through preservation as an analytical…

  • Just published: the first PRESERVARE newsletter

    We are excited to announce the publication of the first PRESERVARE newsletter. Get to know our (current) team and learn about the two exciting PhD openings within our project. Don’t miss out — subscribe now and stay updated on our latest research and findings.