01pp. 1–25
Nile ValleyDe-constructing Nubia: a critical look at cultural divisions in the Nubian Nile Valley
The Research Centre for History and Culture at BNBU follows the connected cultures of Africa and Eurasia before 1500, one region and one manuscript at a time.
From Meroitic temples in Sudan to the scriptoria of Ethiopia, Africa sits at the centre of the Old World, not at its edge.
Temple walls, Musawwarat es-Sufra, Sudan, 3rd century BCE
Hittite sanctuaries, Achaemenid kings and Persian viziers: the connected courts that wrote the histories of others.
Bowl with a griffin, Iran, 12th century
Merchants, monks and makers carried silk, scripts and stories between Iran and China.
Child’s coat with ducks, Sogdiana, 8th centuryJournal of Ancient Africa and Eurasia. Open access with Brill: inclusive, non-Eurocentric and multidisciplinary.
A book series on the languages and cultures of the ancient world. Newest title: The Dragon and the Rainbow: Man’s Oldest Story, by Robert Blust.
Book seriesAn annual Old World prize for early-career researchers. The 2026 theme is “AI and Old World”.
Prize
A lecture series with HKBU’s Jao Tsung-I Academy of Sinology and international partners.
Lecture seriesWe invite scholars of any region of the pre-modern world, from Iberia to the Tarim, to work, write and talk with us.
Old World: Journal of Ancient Africa and Eurasia publishes inclusive, non-Eurocentric research on the ancient civilisations of Africa, Asia and Europe.
Beatus of Gerona · 975Gospel · EthiopiaKufic Qur’anUyghur sutra · TurfanShould Europe’s age system name the cultures of the Nile Valley at all? Four contributions debate terms, chronologies and categories.
Read the clusterSix issues since 2021, every article open access.
The 2026 theme of the annual Old World competition. Doctoral researchers and early-career scholars are invited to submit an article; the best one wins the prize and is published in the journal.
Reading old sources with new tools
Kalpasutra folios · Gujarat, 15th century
“Challenging the social order in late antique Italy: the revolutionary approach to economic ethics in the De Nabuthae and De Tobia of Ambrose of Milan”
Old World welcomes research on any region of ancient Africa, Asia and Europe, from early-career and established scholars alike.
Lectures, conferences and reading series on Africa and Eurasia before 1500, at BNBU in Zhuhai and online, open to everyone.
Next event11 talks, conferences, series and exhibitions since 2020.
1–3Dec 2025ExhibitionScent Seeking, Pulse Discovering: Chinese incense culture
17Apr 2024LectureThe Persian vizier Rashid al-Din and the birth of Sinology as an Islamic science
6–7Oct 2023LectureDiaspora Jews in the royal court: the feast of Ahasuerus and Persian kingship
25–26May 2022ConferenceBronze Age Civilizations: international academic conference
2021–22Oct – JulSeriesNew Perspectives on the Old World
16–30Oct 2021SeriesOrigins of Chinese and Mesopotamian history-writing
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An international conference in May 2022 on the Bronze Age cultures of Asia, Africa and Europe: their emergence, transformation and evolution. Its papers became a special issue of Old World.
Rock relief of the twelve gods, Yazılıkaya, Hittite, 13th century BCELonger conversations across regions and disciplines, with partner institutions.
New Perspectives on the Old WorldA series in ancient world studies, co-organised with the HKBU Jao Tsung-I Academy of Sinology and the Institute of Oriental Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences.
About the seriesOrigins of Chinese and Mesopotamian history-writingAn international online series on the shared features and differences of early history-writing in ancient China and Mesopotamia.
About the seriesFree lectures and conferences, at BNBU and online. Never miss the next one.