843 search results for “byzantine archaeology” in the Public website
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New research indicates Hunter-Gatherer impact on prehistoric European landscapes
The starting point of human-induced landscape changes has been under permanent debate. It is widely accepted that the emergence of agriculture strongly increased human impact on their environments. However, foragers can and do actively transform land cover and ecosystems. Ethnographic observations,…
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Leiden archaeologists identify skull of sabre-toothed cat
Leiden archaeologists have identified a number of bone fragments that were excavated in Germany two years ago. The fragments are from a sabre-toothed cat and appear to be parts of the skull of a prehistoric feline that is over 300,000 years old.
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Maikel Kuijpers
Faculteit Archeologie
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Karsten Wentink
Faculteit Archeologie
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Archaeologist Ady Roxburgh receives two-year research grant from the Estonian Research Council
Ady Roxburgh has been awarded a two-year grant to continue his research into the choices behind the composition of Roman, copper-alloy artefacts. The Estonian Research Council has awarded him a fully funded Mobilitas Pluss postdoctoral grant. The Evaluation Committee decided to fund the first 5 applications…
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Tymon de Haas receives LUF grant for research on the ecological impact of Roman expansion
Through the Byvanck Fund, Classical Mediterranean archaeologist Tymon de Haas has received a grant of €6,350 for his research on the ecological impact of Roman expansion. He will use this grant to investigate the traces of one of the oldest and best-preserved Roman cadastres, situated in the former…
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Impressions from the Nexus 1492 fieldwork in the Dominican Republic
The summer has flown by and the Nexus 1492 team in Valverde, Dominican Republic, has once again had an exciting and successful season!
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Iron Age canoeing
In 2005 Leiden's municipal archaeologists excavated a 2,700-year-old canoe dug out from a tree trunk. Researchers from Material Culture Studies are now building a reproduction of this vessel using replicas of Iron Age tools. The researchers are hoping to gain a better understanding of the building p…
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How can you rescue clay tablets from the war in Syria?
On 7 June, the National Museum of Antiquities opened a mini exhibition 'Scanning for Syria'. The exhibition shows how Leiden archaeologists and Delft technical specialists make reconstructions of 3000-year-old Assyrian clay tablets. The originals, stored in museum depots in Raqqa (Syria), have been…
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Aitor Burguet-Coca studied fire-use from Palaeolithic to Bronze Age: ‘This gives us an image on different uses of fire across prehistory’
For the following years, Dr Aitor Burguet-Coca will be a returning face at the Faculty of Archaeology. He will join Dr Amanda Henry’s team with his expertise on prehistoric fire use and the methodologies that studying ancient hearths requires.
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Neanderthals changed ecosystems 125,000 years ago
Hunter-gatherers caused ecosystems to change 125,000 years ago. These are the findings of an interdisciplinary study by archaeologists from Leiden University in collaboration with other researchers. Neanderthals used fire to keep the landscape open and thus had a big impact on their local environment.…
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'Eastern Desert tombs reflect successful culture adapted to harsh environment’
The Jordan Times interviewed professor Peter Akkermans about this research on ancient tombs in Jordan's Eastern Desert. “The evidence of this flourishing culture can be seen, among other things, in the diverse and complex burial record which we are currently investigating.”
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Late Antiquity and early Islam
This NWO project, which is being be carried out in close cooperation with the universities of Oxford (contact: Prof. Robert Hoyland) and Princeton (contact: Prof. John F. Haldon) and the UMR 8167 (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, CNRS, University Paris-Sorbonne, Paris IV, University Panthéon-Sorbonne,…
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Forum Essays
Forum essays provide a framework for intellectual exchange and debate about the role of diplomacy around a particular theme. The essays are argumentative contributions and are shorter than research articles.
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Numismatics in Leiden: more than two sides to the same coin
Numismatic research of Roman coin hoards in the Netherlands. The use of numismatic sources is incorporated in Claes’s research project “Dialogues of Power”. This project aims to analyse the legitimising dialogue between Roman emperors and their Germanic legions during the so-called “crisis of the third…
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Journal of the LUCAS Graduate Conference : Breaking the Rules: Textual Reflections on Transgression
The Journal of the LUCAS Graduate Conference was founded in 2013 to publish a selection of the best papers presented at the biennial LUCAS Graduate Conference, an international and interdisciplinary humanities conference organized by the Leiden University Centre for the Arts in Society (LUCAS). The…
- Week 2: 13-19 January 2019
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Investigating obsidian sources in Honduras with a Corrie Bakels Grant
Obsidian, a volcanic glass-like material, is often used for making tools by Mesoamerican societies. In Honduras, certain obsidian artefacts do not yet have a known provenance. PhD candidate Marie Kolbenstetter and Assistant Professor Dennis Braekmans were awarded a Corrie Bakels Grant to explore thus…
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‘Heritage is never neutral. It is always interpreted’
As of 1 September 2019, Prof. Pieter ter Keurs will assume the position of Scientific Director at the Leiden-Delft-Erasmus Centre for Global Heritage and Development as well as that of Professor of Museums, Collections and Society at the Faculties of Humanities and Archaeology at Leiden University.…
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Traces of indigenous "Taíno" found in present-day Caribbean populations
A thousand-year-old tooth has provided genetic evidence that the so-called
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‘Heritage decisions limit our ability to imagine alternative forms of society’
It is difficult to imagine a society other than a hierarchical nation-state. This is in part because we neglect alternative forms from the past, argues archaeologist Lewis Borck in the Journal of Contemporary Archaeology.
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Leiden archaeologists contribute to unique Iron Age exhibition in Oss
Museum Jan Cunen in Oss presents the very first retrospective exhibition of the richest graves from the early Iron Age (800-500 BC), including the one of the iconic Lord of Oss. Leiden archaeologist Richard Jansen was guest curator and the exhibition tells the story of the funeral rituals of the local…
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Laura van Broekhoven: ‘For me, it’s about the stories and who’s telling them’
Laura van Broekhoven always knew she wanted to study archaeology, and that’s exactly what she did. Now this Leiden alumna is director of the Pitt Rivers Museum, one of the four museums of the University of Oxford.
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Citizen scientists discover more than 1,000 new burial mounds
Over the past few years, citizen scientists from the Heritage Quest project have scoured the entire Veluwe and Utrechtse Heuvelrug areas for unknown archaeological heritage. One of the results of this research is that the number of known burial mounds in this area has doubled.
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Genner Llanes-Ortiz’s Leiden Experience: ‘Indigenous stories contain knowledge from deep past’
Back in 2016, Genner Llanes-Ortiz joined the Faculty of Archaeology as an assistant professor in the Heritage of Indigenous Peoples research group. Genner works on the crossroads of anthropology, archaeology, heritage, and human rights. ‘I am investigating how contemporary indigenous peoples are re-connecting…
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Archaeologist Nathalie Brusgaard investigates human-animal relations as Assistant Professor
Dr Nathalie Brusgaard both studied and finished her PhD at the Faculty of Archaeology in Leiden. After a few years spreading her wings, she is now back. As the new Assistant Professor in the World Archaeology department, she will continue her research on the relationship between prehistoric humans and…
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Exploring the Faculty’s depots: ‘What's an Indian type of cooking pot doing in Jerusalem?’
In the depots of the Faculty of Archaeology, many artifacts, accumulated after decades of fieldwork across the world, are stored. A new project, the Leiden Inventory Depot (LID), aims to unlock this wealth of information to the outside world. Our Master’s students Sam Botan and Rishika Dhumal are currently…
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Neandertal genome from Les Cottés site sequenced
On March 21 2018, a study was published in Nature, co-authored by Professor M. Soressi from the Faculty of Archaeology of Leiden University, announcing the sequencing of five new Neandertals, raising the number of high-coverage sequenced Neandertals from two to seven. A tooth lost by a Neandertal woman…
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Documents - Using Text Mining to Access the Hidden Knowledge in Dutch Archaeological Excavation Reports
PhD defence
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Towards a community-based heritage in the Caribbean: Challenges and practices
Symposium
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Unique mosaic floor discovered in Israel
A marvelous mosaic synagogue floor has been discovered at the Israeli excavation site of Horvat Kur. The timeworn stones of the mosaic clearly form the name ‘El’azar’. Leiden University researcher Jürgen Zangenberg and a group of Leiden students played a role in the excavation. ‘El’azar was likely an…
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Archaeologists reconstruct ancient Greek urge to build
An enormous number of monumental buildings, such as burial tombs, appeared in Mycenaean Greece after 1600 BC. Why did this urge to build come to an abrupt end 400 years later? Archaeologist Ann Brysbaert investigates the possible causes thanks to her ERC Consolidator Grant.
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Isotope analysis finds source lead poisoning among slaves on Barbados
The dental remains of 25 enslaved Africans from the site of Newton's Plantation, on Barbados, were subjected to isotope analysis. Previous research had pointed out that the locally born individuals were subjected to high concentrations of lead poisoning. A new study, done by Dr Jason Laffoon among others…
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Skull 'oldest Dutchman' retrieved from North Sea bed
A fragment of a human skull from the collection of the Dutch National Museum of Antiquities (RMO) and a decorated bison bone, both from the North Sea bed, are rare finds from the end of the last Ice Age. The finds are 13,000 years old and, as such, form the earliest known modern human from the Netherlands…
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Leiden strengthens ties with Latin America and Caribbean
Astronomical observations in Chile, research into native heritage or the treatment of eye diseases in Brazil - Leiden is researching a large number and a wide variety of different topics in Latin America and the Caribbean. Researchers and representatives from 20 countries met on 11 May in Leiden to…
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Walking in a city of the dead
They call their team ‘The Walking Dead’: Leiden Egyptologists Lara Weiss, Huw Twiston Davies and Nico Staring. A fitting name for a group that conducts research into Saqqara, an Egyptian city of the dead. ‘We are trying to trace religious traditions. What did these mean for people’s lives and burying…
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Drones help write new history of Caribbean
Drones are proving to be a good means of mapping man-made changes in the landscape. Geophysicist Till Sonneman and his colleagues (archaeology) are experimenting with drones in inaccessible areas of the Caribbean.
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'I am interested in how we simulate ourselves into the future'
It is a known trait in humans to anchor innovations in the past, so as to make new developments easier to accept. It is an aspect of humanity that can also be spotted in classical and prehistoric times. Archaeologist Daniel Turner will investigate the anchoring of monumental building in Greek Prehistory…
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Hard chews: why mastication played a crucial role in evolution
We do it every day but barely give it a thought: chewing our food. But the ‘simple’ process of masticating food may have played a crucial role in the evolution of our jaws, facial muscles and teeth.
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Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds winner - Marcus Adrian Roxburgh
His PhD research project - entitled Charlemagne's Workshops - is an ongoing investigation into the role of copper-alloy craft production in the early medieval economy of North-west Europe. The geographic limits of this research have up until now centred on the Netherlands (Frisia Magna in medieval times)…
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Leiden's Austria Centre traveled to Berkeley, California for the Annual Convention of Austria Centers
The fifteenth Annual Convention of Austria Centers took place in Berkeley, California, USA in May 2023.
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Leiden archaeologist discovers unique ancient horse grave in Sudan
A unique archeological find near Tombos in Northern Sudan. Archaeologist Sarah Schrader from Leiden University, working with a team of international researchers, has discovered a grave of a ritually buried horse that is over 3000 years old. Both the grave and the skeleton are in perfect condition. The…
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On not seeing like a state: How archaeology can inform critiques of the inevitability of hierarchy, dispossession, and disconnection of the human
Lecture, Faculty Lecture
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Nuna Nalluituq / The Land Remembers
Lecture, Digital Archaeology Group
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SAILS Lunch Seminar
Lecture, seminar
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Discover our Perspectives on the Past
The Faculty of Archaeology proudly presents the research brochure Perspectives on the Past, featuring passionate, dedicated researchers introducing a dazzling scala of research topics: from present-day traditional knowledge in Africa to the power of glue in Palaeolithic Europe. In addition to these…
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SAILS Lunch Time Seminar Sustainability
Lecture
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Maia Casna investigates respiratory disease in the past with an NWO PhD in the Humanities grant
Every year, an NWO PhD in the Humanities grant is awarded to a prospective PhD candidate at the Faculty of Archaeology. This year, the grant went to Maia Casna, enabling her to study respiratory disease in the past. ‘My hypothesis is that the rapid formation of cities in the medieval Netherlands, must…
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Assyrians were more 'homely' than we thought
Archaeologist Victor Klinkenberg examined an old Assyrian settlement in Syria, near to the IS stronghold Raqqa. 'Social life was more important than military life.' PhD defence 27 October.
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The Oegstgeest bowl and the bones of a giant king mentioned in Beowulf
Recently, archeologists of Leiden University made an excavation in Oegstgeest, where they found a unique silver bowl from the first half of the seventh century as well as imported pottery and winebarrels. Thijs Porck, lecturer in Old English language and culture at Leiden University, places the Oegstgeest…