Luc Amkreutz is a Professor by Special Appointment in Public Archaeology.

More information about Luc Amkreutz

Office days

Thursdays

Research

Luc Amkreutz is a curator of the Prehistoric collection in the RMO/NMA, the National Museum of Antiquities in Leiden. His research interests include Stone and Bronze Age archaeology and material culture. He is involved in particular with the process of Neolithisation in Northwest Europe and the Prehistoric archeology of submerged Doggerland. Amkreutz is also involved in the communication of archaeology to a wider audience, citizen science, and public outreach, through exhibitions and many other projects. In 2022 he was appointed Professor of Public Archaeology at the Faculty of Archaeology, Leiden University, by special appointment on behalf of the NMA. Amkreutz is currently involved in the NWO project Resurfacing Doggerland, focusing on the postglacial, material culture of the drowned North Sea area. In 2024/25 he curated a large-scale exhibition on the Bronze Age in the Low Countries in a European context and is currently working on the new permanent exhibition ‘Archeology of the Netherlands’. Other research includes the Early Neolithic of the Low Countries, the Linearbandkeramik, and the process of Neolithisation.

Teaching activities

Amkreutz is involved in the courses Museums and Collections with dr. Berger, Science Communication with dr. Kuijpers as well as various courses as a guest lecturer and he is a thesis and PhD supervisor.

Curriculum vitae

Luc Amkreutz (Heerlen, 1978) studied Prehistory at Leiden University. He graduated in 2004 on a study of the earliest farmers in the Netherlands and was involved in several research projects at home and abroad. His PhD research (2013) concerned the neolithisation process in the Lower Rhine basin: Persistent Traditions. A long-term perspective on communities in the process of Neolithisation in the Lower Rhine Area (6000-2500 cal BC). In 2008 he succeeded Leo Verhart as Curator of the Prehistory Collection at the National Museum of Antiquities. Luc Amkreutz is intensively involved in diverse research projects into prehistory in Northwest Europe and its public communication. Together with a working group, he organises the annual Stone Age Day. As of April 1st 2022 Amkreutz on behalf of the National Museum of Antiquities has been appointed as professor of Public Archaeology at the Faculty of Archaeology, Leiden University. In 2025-2026 he was appointed as the 8th Eugène Dubois chair at Maastricht University. He is also a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries.

Focus area

Since his studies, Amkreutz has focused on the Stone Age and in particular the Mesolithic and Neolithic in the Netherlands and Northwest Europe. Research into the Linearbandkeramik Culture and the cultures after it, as well as the neolithisation process, form a common thread. The palaeolithic and mesolithic archaeology of the North Sea, the lost Doggerland, also has his special interest. The connection between mankind and material culture and landscape and climate change is central to this. He is also interested in the history of prehistory and the Ancient Europe collection as the NMA and has worked on the Bronze age both in regard to the large-scale exhibition in 2024 and the return of the Ommerschans sword and its research project. Research often takes place in cooperation with Leiden University and other partners and includes material studies, fieldwork, and public communication. Important focal points are citizen science, the optimization of cooperation with amateur archaeologists, the translation and valuation of scientific archaeological information, and the role of archaeological heritage in society.

Publications