Our research deals with the deep history of Europe and Eurasia, from the inception of farming up until the beginning of the Roman Period. This was a period in which key developments took place that had a profound impact on European landscapes and society until the present day. Our research and teaching…

This is a book about the rich archaeological record of the Dutch municipality of Oss, written for its inhabitants and other interested members of the general public.

In the new board game Epoch – Early Inventors you explore the prehistoric landscape. You gather food and raw material to develop tools and skills, and you try to appease the gods. Dr Maikel Kuijpers was involved in its development from the start and he is very happy with the result. “There is a lot…

This dissertation investigates the impressive prehistoric cultivated landscape of the eastern part of West Frisia.

This volume of Analecta Praehistorica Leidensia focuses on how local communities in prehistory define themselves in relation to a bigger social world.

The excavation of three Bronze Age barrows and surrounding landscape at Apeldoorn-Wieselseweg

How the systematic destruction of valuables created value in Bronze Age Europe, c. 2300-500 BC

Valerio Gentile received the award during the Reuvensdagen for his master's thesis 'Martiality in Practice'. He is the first international student who wins this prestigious award. The W.A. van Es Prize is annually awarded by the Dutch Cultural Heritage Agency.

During the Dies Natalis for alumni, February 11 2017, the annual university thesis awards ceremony was held. The winner of 2017 is Erik Kroon, of the Faculty of Archaeology. His thesis featured innovative research on changes in the technology of Neolithic ceramics.

Some 5000 years ago the people of the corded ware culture exchanged ideas about death on a continental scale. There were strong gender differences in these ideas: men were buried in an international style, and women in a local style. This discovery was made by archaeologist Quentin Bourgeois.

The circular economy is typically seen as the progressive alternative to our wasteful linear economy, where raw materials are used to make the products that feed today’s rampant consumerist hunger, which are then thrown away. In a fascinating article, archaeologist Maikel Kuijpers reflects on the recycling…

Within the space of a few months, the Heritage Quest citizen science project, whereby volunteers scan elevation maps of the Veluwe area for burial mounds and other prehistoric remains, has already led to groundbreaking new insights. Hundreds of burial mounds have been found, as have a huge number of…

Professor David Fontijn is fascinated by the question why people destroy objects that are dear to them. It is a phenomenon that you find everywhere in the world, gaining particular strength in the European Bronze Age. Fontijn wrote a book on this ‘economy of destruction’, published by Routledge.

Lecture, Louwe Kooijmans lecture

The Faculty of Archaeology has a long research tradition in the municipality of Oss. Since 1974, researchers and students have been carrying out archaeological research here. In Januari 2019, an enormous replica of one of the top local finds was unveiled standing in the middle of a roundabout.

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…

Lecture, Science in Archaeology Lunch Talks

Lecture

Lecture, Louwe Kooijmans lecture

PhD Defence

Conference

Why do we have the languages that we speak in Europe today? When in European prehistory did these languages establish themselves, and what where the prehistoric mechanisms behind the formation of the historical European linguistic landscape?

Japanese was not always the language spoken in Japan. Researchers link the arrival of the language in Japan with the migration of farmers around 400 BC. Linguist Elisabeth de Boer has been awarded an ERC Starting Grant to carry out research on the further spread of the language in Japan.

Almost all languages of Europe and of a large part of western Asia belong to a single language family, which is called Indo-European, and which includes modern languages like English, Dutch, Russian, Farsi, but also ancient ones like Ancient Greek, Latin, Hittite and Sanskrit.

From Complex Hunter-Gatherers to Early Urban Societies

An analysis of pot decoration and hut distributions from the Central European Neolithic communities of Elsloo and Hienheim.

Monday June 18th the department of European Prehistory of the Faculty of Archaeology started a five-year research (2018-2022) of two newly discovered barrow groups: Baarlo-De Bong and Venlo-Zaarderheiken (northern Limburg).

The handbook is a wide-ranging survey of a crucial period in prehistory during which many social, economic, and technological changes took place. Written by specialists in the field, the book provides coverage both of the themes that characterise the period, and of the specific developments that took…

The researchers in the World Archaeology department of the Faculty of Archaeology concentrate on a range of different periods and regions: from humanity’s origins to the Middle Ages and the modern age, and from Asia to South America.

Ancient Greek was spoken in a large number of different dialects. Although we do not find direct evidence for syllabic liquids in any of our sources, comparative evidence shows that these sounds must have been present in Proto-Greek, and that they were retained until comparatively recently in the prehistory…

This study analyses the prehistory of a northeastern Siberian population, the Sakha, from both a molecular-genetic and a linguistic perspective.

Our alumna Victoria van der Haas was interviewed by The Female Scientist. Read her interview on why she chose Archaeology, her biggest achievements and failures, and what her hopes are for the future.

The emergence of metalwork deposition during the Bronze Age in Northwest Europe, c. 2300-1500 BC

Papers written on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the Institute of Prehistory, Volume I.

With Global Archaeology at Leiden University, the study of our past can help you understand and resolve current societal issues. Explore the dynamics in past societies: innovation, adaptation, resilience and resistance in processes of long- and short-term changes.

Analecta Praehistorica Leidensia is the annual journal of the Faculty of Archaeology (formerly the Institute of Prehistory), Leiden University.

Analecta Praehistorica Leidensia is the annual journal of the Faculty of Archaeology (formerly the Institute of Prehistory), Leiden University.

I. Die Ausgrabungen am Weinberg 1965 bis 1970. Mit Beiträgen von A.T. Clason, M.E.Th. de Grooth, L.H. Keeley und K.J.H. Vriezen.

In the master’s programme in Archaeology, you can follow courses on the archaeology of Europe, deepening your understanding of the continent’s long history.

Dive into the heart of archaeological science: explore the flora and fauna of bygone ages, study human bones and teeth, analyse the cultural biographies of material objects, or become an expert in the use of digital data in archaeological research.