About Christina
Through her work at the British Museum and with London schools, Christina is dedicated to bringing archaeology to wider audiences. She regularly develops and delivers courses for continuing studies programs, gives public lectures, and serves on the boards of two heritage organisations in northern England and Scotland. Most recently, she was invited to join the Medieval Studies Program at the University of Victoria (Canada) as a guest lecturer in Scottish Studies in January 2027.
Christina’s teaching and public engagement are directly informed by 12 years of dedicated research into early medieval Britain (AD 500-1100). Her scholarship has been generously supported by Stanford University, the British Archaeological Association, Durham University, Hatfield College, Durham, the Hunter Archaeological and Historical Trust, the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, and the Bernician Studies Group. She has been the recipient of the Harvard Prize Book (2011), Stanford University Chappell Lougee Fellowship (2014), Stanford University Junior & Senior Prizes in Classics (2015 & 2016), Stanford University Robert M Golden Medal (2016), Glasgow University First Marquis Award for Scottish Studies (2017), and British Archaeological Association Ochs Scholarship (2022). In 2018, she turned down a fully funded Cambridge Trust PhD offer from Trinity College, Cambridge, to pursue the same project at Durham University, drawn by a strong supervisory fit (Dr David Petts & Professor Sarah Semple) and a desire to focus specifically on northern English and Scottish material.
In 2023, Christina was appointed as a fixed-term Lecturer in Celtic Studies in the University of Glasgow’s Department of Celtic & Gaelic and from 2024-25 was Research Assistant on Lancaster University’s Lowther Medieval Castle & Village Project. From 2018 to 2024, she taught undergraduates in the Department of Archaeology at Durham University on various history and archaeology modules. In 2023-24, she inaugurated the role of Senior Tutor, a pastoral and administrative role covering all departmental postgraduate teaching assistants. At the end of her tenure, Christina received a Durham University Discretionary Award (2024) for her contributions to departmental aims and undergraduate teaching.
Christina holds four degrees with distinction from Stanford University (BA Hons in Classics & Phi Beta Kappa), the University of Glasgow (MLitt in Medieval History), and Durham University (MA & PhD in Medieval Archaeology).
For a full CV, visit www.linkedin.com/in/cowartsmith.
Christina is a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland and an Affiliate Member of the Society of Antiquaries of London.
She is Trustee & Press Officer of The Gefrin Trust and an elected Committee Member of the Pictish Arts Society & Editor of its triannual newsletter. For 7 years, Christina has run the social media pages of the British Academy-funded Corpus of Anglo-Saxon Stone Sculpture (CASSS). She is currently working to share more of her own content @sculpturesmith.
Christina excavated on Holy Island, Northumberland with the Durham University & Dig Ventures team from 2017-2025. She still serves as that project’s sculpture specialist.
In her spare time, Christina is an avid traditional musician and is often found playing at pub jam sessions or in Royal Scottish Country Dance bands.
From the age of 9, she trained under Hebridean fiddler Calum MacKinnon. For the next decade she went onto perform on countless stages and in numerous competitions, including the U.S. Nationals for Scottish Fiddling.
This music is her longest love and its people and places continue to shape her intellectual pursuits.
