Marike van Aerde
Assistant professor
- Name
- Dr. M.E.J.J. van Aerde
- Telephone
- +31 71 527 1138
- m.e.j.j.van.aerde@arch.leidenuniv.nl
- ORCID iD
- 0000-0002-4471-3796
Dr. Marike van Aerde is Assistant Professor World Archaeology and coordinator of the Honours Academy Archaeology Program. Her research focuses on the archaeology of ancient trade routes between East Africa and the Indian Subcontinent (ca. 300 BCE-800 CE).
More information about Marike van Aerde
News
Leiden Archaeology Blog
See also
Office days
Monday to Thursday
Research
Marike works with an international team of PhDs and MA students as part of her research project Routes of Exchange, Roots of Connectivity, which examines multiregional sites and datasets across the Indian Ocean region. The project uses interdisciplinary and scientific methods, such as ceramics studies, chemical analysis (XRF), satellite, LiDAR, and database analyses. These analyses moreover provide a basis for a wider synthesis and questions of global connectivity in the ancient world.
Recent publications have included studies on Indian Ocean trade networks, ancient Egyptian, Aksumite and Indian port sites, and the documentation and preservation of rock art from the Karakorum Himalaya mountains. Marike appears regularly at international conferences, and actively pursues Open Access and international Heritage initiatives. She frequently collaborates with the Antiquities Museum in Leiden (RMO) for public outreach programs, and maintains international collaborations with universities and institutes in India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Egypt.
Teaching activities
As Honours Academy coordinator, Marike actively encourages interdisciplinary approaches to archaeological research and discourse. Through the Honours curriculum, she explores current issues such as politics and global affairs, heritage threats, sustainability and climate change. Her lectures engage with diverse perspectives and encourage students to develop an analytical and long-term approach not only to the past, but also to our world today.
At the Faculty of Archaeology, Marike’s courses are closely linked to her ongoing research project and introduce students to the archaeology and history of ancient India, East Africa, and the earliest ‘Silk Roads’ trade routes and sites across ancient Persia. Her teaching combines archaeological data studies with wider frameworks, such as network theory, to understand complex processes that shaped the global past. On her project website, students regularly write blogs and post videos about their active involvement with the research.
Curriculum vitae
From 2019-21, Marike held simultaneous Lectureships at the Faculty of Archaeology and the Ancient History Department in Leiden. In 2021 she set up Heritage fieldwork in the Karakorum mountains of Pakistan together with Prince Claus Heritage Grant awardee Abdul Ghani Khan. In 2019-20 Marike was awarded the LeidenGlobal seed grant for her research project, and from 2016-19 she held the Postdoctoral Byvanck Fellowship at Leiden University, which included an interdisciplinary teaching program at both the Archaeology and Humanities Faculties in Leiden.
From 2010-2015, Marike’s PhD was supervised by Prof.Dr. Natascha Sojc and part of Prof.Dr. Miguel John Versluys’ VIDI project 'Cultural innovation in a globalising society: Egypt in the Roman world'. Her doctoral thesis examined connectivity and exchange between Egypt and Rome. Fieldwork included campaigns at the Palatine Hill in Rome and material analyses in collaboration with the Soprintendenza Archeologica di Roma, the Royal Dutch Institute in Rome (KNIR), and The British Museum in London. Marike also holds a (cum laude) Master’s degree in Classics and Archaeology from Radboud University (2005), and was awarded the Graduate School Research Scholarship from University College London (UCL, 2005-2008).
Assistant professor
- Faculteit Archeologie
- World Archaeology
- Historical Archaeology
- Zampierin D., Moita P., Lischi S., van Aerde M., Barrulas P. & Mirão J. (2024), A multi-analytical approach applied to pottery from Oman as a key to understanding ancient Indian Ocean maritime trade, Archaeometry : 1–49.
- Aerde M.E.J.J. van & Botan S.A. (2023), Trade dynamics in East Africa: the continuation of ancient port settlements in the first millennium AD, Talanta: Proceedings of the Dutch Archaeological and Historical Society 54: 97-116.
- Amarasinghe P., Kalaycı T. & Aerde M. van (2023), All roads lead to Beijing: politics, power, and profits of the roads. In: Kalayci T. (Ed.), Archaeologies of roads. Grand Forks, ND: The Digital Press at The University of North Dakota. 369-392.
- Aerde M.E.J.J. van (2023), Gandhara in context: boeddhistische stoepareliefs als klassieke kunst?, Hermeneus 95(4): 29-35.
- Aerde M.E.J.J. van (2022), Van Hellas tot de Himalaya: de archeologie van culturele diversiteit. In: Huig E., Kuin I.N.I. & Liebregts M. (Eds.), De huid van Cleopatra: etniciteit en diversiteit in oudheidstudies. Zenobia no. 9. Hilversum: Uitgeverij Verloren. 186-197.
- Aerde M.E.J.J. van (2022), Crossing oceans: interdisciplinary research and ancient trade routes Review of: De Romanis F. (2020) The Indo-Roman pepper trade and the Muziris papyrus, Oxford Studies on the Roman Economy, Journal of Roman Archaeology : .
- Aerde M.E.J.J. van & Khan A.G. (2021), Carvings & community: inclusive heritage solutions for for protecting ancient Karakorum petroglyphs under threat, Journal of Archaeohistorical Studies 1(2): 77-90 (5).
- Aerde M.E.J.J. van, Mohns A.D.L. & Khan A.G. (2020), Buddha on the Rocks, Gandharan Connections through the Karakorum Mountains. In: Rienjang W. & Stewart P. (Eds.), The Global Connections of Gandharan Art, Proceedings of the Third International Workshop of the Gandhara Connections Project, University of Oxford, 18th-19th March 2019. Oxford: Archaeopress Publishing Ltd.. 105-134.
- Aerde M. van & Zampierin D. (2020), A lot of pepper and a little garum: an archaeological comparison of the Roman presence at Berenike and Arikamedu, Ancient West & East 19: 145 - 166.
- Aerde M.E.J.J. van (2019), Routes Beyond Gandhara: Buddhist Rock Carvings in the Context of the Early Silk Roads. In: Yang L.E., Bork H.-R., Fang X. & Mischke S. (Eds.), Socio-Environmental Dynamics Along the Historical Silk Road. Kiel: Springer Open. 455-480.
- Aerde M.E.J.J. van (2019), Egypt and the Augustan cultural revolution: an interpretative archaeological overview. BABESCH Supplements no. 38. Leuven: Peeters Publishers.
- Aerde M.E.J.J. van (2018), Revisiting Taxila: A new approach to the Greco-Buddhist archaeological record, Ancient West & East 2018(17): 203-229.
- Aerde M.E.J.J. van (2018), Egypt and the Augustan Cultural Revolution: an interpretative archaeological overview. BABESCH.
- Aerde M.E.J.J. van (2018), Heracles in Gandhara? A study of architectural decoration of early Buddhist stupas, European Architectural History Network Newsletter 6(1): .
- Aerde M.E.J.J. van (2017), Buddhism in Gandhara and beyond: cultural interaction between ancient East and West, Aspects of globalisation. Mobility, exchange and the development of multi-cultural states : 40-45.
- Aerde M.E.J.J. van (23 April 2015), Egypt and the Augustan Cultural Revolution : an interpretative archaeological overview (Dissertatie, Faculty of Archaeology, Leiden University). Supervisor(s) and Co-supervisor(s): Sojc N., Versluys M.J.
- Aerde M.E.J.J. van (2015), Gandhara als cultureel kruispunt: interactie tussen de mediterrane wereld en de Indusvallei, Tijdschrift voor Mediterrane Archeologie 27(54): 41-47.
- Aerde M.E.J.J. van (2014), Augustus en Egypte: Rome als wereldstad, Archivo Español de Arte 86(2): 105-108.
- Müskens S., Versluys M.J., Leemreize M., Mol E. & Aerde M. van (2014), L’Egitto a Roma, Forma Urbis 9(9): 17-19.
- Müskens S.W.G., Leemreize M.E.C., Mol E.M., Aerde M.E.J.J. van & Versluys M.J. (2014), Egypt in the Roman world. By conquering the world, Rome itself became the world. Archaeology in Transition Symposium, Leiden. 25 September 2014 - 26 September 2014. [conference poster].
- Aerde M.E.J.J. van (2013), Concepts of Egypt in Augustan Rome: Two case studies of cameo glass from The British Museum, British Museum Studies in Ancient Egypt and Sudan 2013(20): 1-23.