Leiden researchers receive KIEM grant to explore materiality in ancient religions
A KIEM grant was recently awarded to a diverse group of Leiden researchers, aiming to organise an interdisciplinary conference with the title ‘Ancient Religions and the Materiality of Danger’ in 2026. The topic of the conference marks a shift towards the study of the role of objects.
The Material Turn
The material turn refers to a broad intellectual shift across various disciplines toward emphasising the role of materiality in understanding human life, culture, and social processes. Thus, the material turn leads to a more integrated outlook on the role of objects in ancient societies.
However, within the discipline of (Ancient) History as well as the Study of Religion, questions of materiality are still very much underrepresented. The focus among ancient historians, classicists and scholars of religion has been very much on the textual evidence.
New perspectives
In the field of Archaeology objects have always been of prime importance, but the material turn has put them in a new perspective. There have been arguments for objects being active agents in processes of historical change, forcing the archaeologists to rethink how and to what extent religious experiences, sensations and actions of people in the ancient world were delineated and enhanced by the artifacts they used in cultic contexts.
International interdisciplinary conference
‘The KIEM grant 2025 allows us to go beyond faculty boundaries by organising an international interdisciplinary conference on Ancient Religions and the Materiality of Danger in 2026.’ Dr Kim Beerden explains. ‘The conference aims to provide scholars, students and the wider public with opportunities to deliberate on recent developments, new conceptions and emerging trends in this particular subfield of the study of ancient religions.’
The team
Kim Beerden (Humanities), Michael Kerschner (Archaeology), Rafal Matuszewski (Humanities) and Miguel John Versluys (Archaeology) are the recipients of a KIEM grant 2025. With Patricia Kret completing the team, an interdisciplinary conference with the title ‘Ancient Religions and the Materiality of Danger’ will be organized in 2026.