In the course Hunter-Gatherer Archaeology you explore the current issues in hunter-gatherer archaeology, to focus on innovative approaches and future directions in order to develop new ideas, methods and strategies to archaeological fieldwork.

The regional focus is primarily Western Europe and the Netherlands, but the issues are relevant globally and can be developed for any region of choice. The course is designed to develop your own interest in, perspective of and approach to the hunter-gatherer past.

In the course Key Developments in European Prehistory, the focus is on agrarian communities. Themes that are addressed include the spread of farming in Europe, the rise and history of ritual landscapes, and the deep history of migration.

Due to its broad perspective, the course is not only of interest to students who plan a future career in the archaeology of early Europe, but also to students who are interested in links between the Mediterranean and Near East on the one hand, and ‘Barbaric’ Europe on the other.

In the course Current Issues in the Archaeology of the Frontier Regions of the Roman Empire you explore the impact of technology and expanding horizons, the role of consumers in the distribution of goods and the underlying continuity of religious practices in the final discard of particular artefacts. The case studies presented relate to ongoing departmental research, both national and international.

Debate in the provincial Roman community as expressed in the annual Theoretical Roman Archaeology Conference and its publications forms the theoretical background to this programme.

As the 'urban revolution’ swept through Europe after 1,000 CE , the Low Countries became, together with Italy, the most urbanised area in pre-industrial Europe. Along with history and cartography, archaeology is essential to understand the transformation that villages underwent in becoming towns and cities. However, it was only in the 1980s that archaeologists began to systematically record uncovered material remains in medieval towns; urban archaeology as an academic discipline only developed after that.