Lennart Kruijer
Postdoc
- Name
- Dr. L.W. Kruijer MA
- Telephone
- 071 5272727
- l.w.kruijer@arch.leidenuniv.nl
Lennart Kruijer is a postdoctoral researcher at the Faculty of Archaeology.
Office days
Monday - Thursday.
Current research
Lennart Kruijer is a postdoctoral researcher in Mediterranean and West Asian archaeology of the Hellenistic and early Roman period (ca. 400 BCE-200 CE). His research investigates the impact of globalisation processes and empire dynamics in Northern Syria, particularly focusing on the adoption and integration of non-local forms of architectural and floor decoration in the kingdom of Commagene (modern SE Turkey).
Lennart’s current research project, ‘Anchored Assemblages: a multi-site analysis of shifting objectscapes and embedding processes in Commagene (400 BCE–200 CE)’, examines how the introduction and integration of new object types gave rise to new forms of human-object relationships. Drawing on newly available archaeological legacy data and recent excavation results, the project explores and compares shifts in multiple material repertoires (‘objectscapes’) at the sites of Arsameia on the Nymphaios, Samosata, and Doliche. By tracing these changes, the project identifies when and where new forms of architectural and floor decoration emerged, how they were adapted to local contexts, and how their integration contributed to evolving human-object assemblages. By integrating the theoretical notions of ‘objectscapes’, ‘anchoring innovation,’ and New Materialist ‘assemblages’, the project seeks to move beyond hellenocentric and anthropocentric narratives of cultural transformation in Hellenistic West Asia.
A second research project that Lennart is currently developing is called ‘Classical Vibes: Graeco-Roman materiality and the Far Right’. This research project analyses the reception and weaponization of Greek and Roman antiquity by the contemporary Far Right, focusing on the visual, material and affective dimensions of this phenomenon. This project is an expansion of Lennart’s earlier work on classical reception, specifically his edited volume Rooted Cosmopolitanism, Heritage and the Question of Belonging Archaeological and Anthropological perspectives (Routledge 2024), which deals with nationalistic and (rooted) cosmopolitan appropriations of Hellenistic-period archaeological heritage in modern Turkey.
Teaching activities
Lennart teaches courses on Mediterranean and West Asian archaeology (ca. 400 BCE-400 CE) at undergraduate and graduate levels and provides specialist lectures in visual culture theory, globalization theory, New Materialism and architectural and floor decoration. Lennart is open to supervision on the wide range of topics he works on.
Curriculum vitae
Lennart Kruijer has previously held an ANAMED post-doctoral fellowship at Koç University (Turkey) for his project ‘Cosmopolitan Islands? Investigating the Social Embeddedness of Dynastic and Cultic Innovation in Late-Hellenistic Commagene’, a study of the ways that Hellenistic-period globalization processes and their often cosmopolitan outcomes impacted the dynamics between dynastic cult sites and their surroundings in south-east Anatolia. From 2023-2025, he was a Junior Lecturer at Exeter University (UK), where he taught at BA and MA level, and co-supervised several PhD candidates. Lennart has been a field supervisor at the Doliche Archaeological Project (Münster University) since 2017.
Lennart obtained his PhD from Leiden University (2023, cum laude), which developed a New Materialist approach to understanding socio-cultural change in the kingdom’s capital Samosata, providing a more-than-representational ‘assemblage perspective’ on the persistent notion of ‘Hellenism in the East’. This dissertation was awarded with the Praemium Erasmianum Dissertation Prize in 2023, and was published as a monograph in the Asia Minor Studien series in 2024.
Postdoc
- Faculty of Archaeology
- World Archaeology
- Classical and Mediterranean Archaeology
- Kruijer L.W. (2024), The Palace of Samosata: Objectscapes, Ancient Globalization and Cultural Transformation in Commagene (4th C. BCE - 1st C. CE) no. 103. Bonn: Habelt Verlag.
- Kruijer L.W., Versluys M.J. & Lilley I. (Eds.) (2024), Rooted Cosmopolitanism and Heritage and the Question of Belonging: Archaeological and Anthropological perspectives: Routledge.
- Kruijer L.W. (24 May 2022), The assembled palace of Samosata: object vibrancy in 1st C. BCE Commagene (Dissertatie, Faculty of Archaeoleogy, Leiden University). Supervisor(s) and Co-supervisor(s): Versluys M.J., Blömer M.
- Kruijer L.W., Hilbrants J., Pelgrom J. & Taviani M. (2018), The Santa Prisca Project - Unlocking the Legacy Data of the Dutch Santa Prisca Excavations on the Aventine (1964-1966), BABESCH 93: 185-204.
- Kruijer L.W. (2018) Zeugma VI. La Syrie Romaine. Permanences et transferts culturels. Review of: Abadie-Reynal C. & Yon J.B. (2015), Zeugma VI. La Syrie Romaine. Permanences et transferts culturels. Lyon. Bibliotheca Orientalis 70(4): 5-6.
- Gelder L. de & Kruijer L.W. (2016), Het Santa Prisca Project. Op zoek naar de wortels van de Nederlandse Archeologie in Italië, Roma Aeterna 4(1): .
- Kruijer L.W. (2015), We are not architects’ – review of Anna Vos’ Architect’s Perspective on Houses, Publication Graduate School of Archaeology Occasional Papers 14: .
- Kruijer L.W. (2014), Nieuwe verhoudingen: egyptianiserende wanddecoratie in laatantiek Rome, Roma Aeterna 2(2): 130-141.
- Waagen J., Kalkers R.A.A. & Kruijer L.W. (2013), Het OpenArchaeoSurvey project, Tijdschrift voor Mediterrane Archeologie 49: 72.
- Akkermans P.M.M.G., Brüning M., Hammers N., Huigens H., Kruijer L.W., Meens A., Nieuwenhuyse O., Raat A., Rogmans E.F., Slappendel C., Taipale S., Tews S. & Visser E. (2012), Burning Down The House: The Burnt Building V6 at Late Neolithic Tell Sabi Abyad, Syria, Analecta Praehistorica Leidensia 43/44: 307-324.
- Waagen J., Kalkers R.A.A. & Kruijer L.W. (2012), De Survey Archaeology Website, Tijdschrift voor Mediterrane Archeologie 48: 6.