Marlieke is a PhD researcher at Leiden University, where she also obtained her Bachelor (2012) and Research Master (2016) degree in archaeology. During her studies she has been interested in early colonial archaeology, ceramic studies, transculturation and intercultural interactions.

Ceramic material transformations

Within Nexus 1492 she will focus on the ceramic material transformations. She will investigate transcultural processes within intercultural communications at the island of Hispaniola. The material reflection of this multicultural society and the agency of the enslaved and colonized will be studied through the continuities and changes in the manufacture between pre-colonial and colonial,  non-European ceramics present at colonial sites. Both Amerindian (local and non-local), Spanish, and African presence will be studied within the ceramic assemblage. She will conduct technological, morphological, as well as stylistically analysis. The study will assess the extent to which indigenous pottery traditions disappeared and the amount in which new techniques and forms appeared.