News
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Investigating the Europe-wide connections of early medieval commoners with an ERC Synergy Grant06 November 2025A large research group involving Leiden University as corresponding Host Institution has been awarded a major European grant, the ERC Synergy Grant. T...
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Early hunter-gatherers reshaped Europe’s ecosystems long before agriculture22 October 2025In a new study published in PLOS One, Leiden archaeologist Anastasia Nikulina, together with an international team from France, Denmark, the United Ki...
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Tracing mobility and connection to place in the world’s first farming villages09 October 2025How did people move and form communities when human societies first shifted from hunting and gathering to farming? A new study of the Neolithic period...
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Lennart Kruijer returns to Archaeology: ‘It’s good to be back!’22 September 2025After a three-year absence, Lennart Kruijer has returned to the Faculty of Archaeology. He previously completed his PhD within the VICI project Innova...
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Leiden archaeologists play a role in repatriating Central and South American heritage05 September 2025On 3 September 2025, more than 30 archaeological objects were returned to Peru, Panama and Costa Rica. The objects come from a private collection belo...
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ERC grant for Nathalie Brusgaard's investigation into complex relationship early farmers and wild animalsA largely unexplored theme 03 September 2025The European Research Council (ERC) has awarded a prestigious Starting Grant to Leiden archaeologist Dr Nathalie Brusgaard. With this €1.5 million gra...
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Neanderthals ran ‘fat factories’ 125,000 years ago02 July 2025Fat is a very valuable food component, packed with calories, especially important when other resources might be scarce. Our earliest ancestors in Afri...
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What does ‘human’ really mean? When Philosophy and archaeology join forces30 June 2025Archaeology is the only science that allows us to study the material traces left by most of human evolution. But what happens when we bring philosophy...
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Bleda Düring investigates social inequality in Cyprus with ERC Advanced Grant17 June 2025Archaeologist Prof Bleda Düring has been awarded a prestigious ERC Advanced Grant for his research on the emergence of social inequalities in the tran...
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Alex Geurds new Professor in Central American archaeology: 'A professorship as a unifying force'16 June 2025The appointment of Alex Geurds as Professor in Central American Archaeology reinvigorates an existing focus within the faculty. 'The research chair of...
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High diversity in lifeways among early Caribbean inhabitants26 May 2025The first settlers of the Caribbean have long been regarded as bands of highly mobile groups who subsisted exclusively by hunting, gathering, and fish...
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Mediterranean hunter gatherers navigated long-distance sea journeys well before the first farmers24 April 2025Small, remote islands were long thought to have been the last frontiers of pristine natural systems. Humans are not thought to have been able to reach...
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Archaeologists discover worrying signs of axe addiction in Dutch prehistory: 'It set the Netherlands back for at least two millennia'01 April 2025Are you worried about your smartphone addiction? Trust us, it could have been far worse… A shocking discovery, by an interdisciplinary team of special...
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The paleo diet: Is it what our ancestors really ate?Video 31 March 2025The paleo diet: eating like people in the Stone Age did, because it is supposed to be healthier. But how accurate are the recipes in this diet? Archae...
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PhD candidate Marie Kolbenstetter helps repatriate Honduran heritage31 March 2025In a significant step toward restoring cultural heritage, PhD candidate Marie Kolbenstetter has played a pivotal role in repatriating a collection of ...