Papers written on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the institute of Prehistory, Volume II.

Play and Media is one of the six research themes of the LUCAS Modern and Contemporary cluster.

Research how ‘custom’, ‘traditions’ and ‘heritages’ take on new meanings in the uplands of South and (mainland) Southeast Asia.

Open up a world of opportunities with your master's degree in Archaeology from Leiden University!

This work represents the final results of several years of research within the Maya region. It deals with the relations between architecture and urbanism with landscape and astronomy.

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Análisis y Conversión del Vocabulario de fray Francisco de Alvarado (1593)

Time, Agency and Memory in Ancient Mexico.

Citizen science has recently become a widely used term, but what does it mean exactly? How does citizen science compare to crowdsourcing? And where does community archaeology stand in this discussion?

North, Middle and South America together constitute the single largest area in World Archaeology that is taught as a single focus. It is also the only major world area that saw societies develop from hunter-gatherers to early empires entirely independent from developments in Eurasia & Africa. It is,…

Through language and culture, history, anthropology, and sociology, we delve into the countries, populations, and societies of South and Southeast Asia. From this perspective, we address global issues such as migration, heritage, and colonialism.

This project combines and reconsiders all the available evidence of the Scheurrak SO1, and use new archival databases and modern archaeological techniques to shed new light on the material culture of the Baltic grain trade and the Holland shipbuilding industry at the turn of the sixteenth century.

Team Dutch and Colonial History

What does site patterning reveal about the social landscape dynamics across the historical divide?

High-quality education by talented lecturers and renowned researchers, international fieldwork internships, and practicals in ultramodern laboratories: the master's programme in Archaeology (research) at Leiden University offers you the perfect basis for a successful career.

How was time understood during the colonial period by Tlaxcaltecan Naua communities? What is the relationship between time, spirituality and ritual in the present-day Naua community of Santa Catarina? What does this tell us about the strengths and values of Indigenous heritage and about the impact of…

The Laboratory for Material Science, Technology and Culture (MATEC Laboratory) is a research and teaching facility dedicated to the scientific and cultural study of archaeological materials. We bring together a multidisciplinary team working at the intersection of materials science, archaeology, and…

Uniting an international consortium of scholars, the Skandapurāṇa Project comprises a team of researchers working in fields across the Humanities. We are creating a critical edition of a foundational work of purāṇic literature and, in doing so, tracing the dynamics of a textual tradition to better understand…

Zār jewellery from Egypt can be found in many museums and private collections in the West, but for a long time very little was known about it, except that it was used in rituals to protect against spirit possession. PhD candidate Sigrid van Roode has explored its history and discovered that the jewellery…

Much research into the colonial past of scientific institutions stops as soon as a colony gains independence. In two new projects, university lecturer Anne-Isabelle Richard focuses on the decolonisation period. How did universities deal with the changed reality?

On November 25, Dr Araceli Rojas presented her book El tiempo y la sabiduría: un calendario sagrado entre los ayöök de Oaxaca. The event took place in the Central Public Library of the State of Oaxaca, in the heart of Oaxaca City, at 7 pm.

The question of land property titles is a common source of conflict between indigenous communities and federal authorities all over the Americas. A new Panamanian law have led indigenous communities to reach out to archaeologist Dr Natalia Donner. A grant from the Centre for Indigenous American Studies…

In 'The Spirit of Matter', Peter Pels explores the significance of emotionally evocative objects, challenging the denial of their existence in modern 'mind over matter' ideology.

The results of the investigations by citizens are used in an innovative research project that investigates the potential of machine learning and automated detection in archaeology.

The goal of the LIACS Media Lab (LML) at Leiden University is to conduct state-of-the-art research in the areas of deep learning, artificial intelligence and computer vision.

This book presents a thorough analysis of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq’s memory culture, focusing particularly on commemorations and representations of the Anfal and Halabja atrocities.

The cry for decolonization has echoed throughout the museum world. Although perhaps most audibly heard in the case of ethnographic museums, many different types of museums have felt the need to engage in decolonial practices. Amidst those who have argued that an institution as deeply colonial as the…

Check back regularly on this page for research opportunities of interest to Humanities staff and students employing digital tools and methodology.

The Pioneer Years of the National Museum of Antiquities in Leiden, 1818-1840

Proparte is the Association of professors at Leiden University, their spouses and partners.

The Corfu Papers

Studies in current archaeological applications of remote sensing and non-invasive prospection methods edited by Hans Kamermans, Martin Gojda and Axel G.

The Central Asia Initiative is funded by the Leiden research profile area Asian Modernities and Traditions with the purpose to establish Central Asian Studies at Leiden University.

On 24 January 2023 Tobias Jones successfully defended a doctoral thesis and graduated.

A KIEM grant was recently awarded to a diverse group of Leiden researchers, aiming to organise an interdisciplinary conference with the title ‘Ancient Religions and the Materiality of Danger’ in 2026. The topic of the conference marks a shift towards the study of the role of objects.

Between 11 and 13 September 2025, the ESIL Annual Conference took place in Berlin, Germany. This year's conference unfolded on the theme 'Reconstructing International Law', attracting an unprecedented number of legal scholars from all over the world.

Directors of museums in the Netherlands announced in March 2019 that they would be taking new steps in relation to the return of looted colonial artefacts. So what has happened since?

In an article by the New York Times, cultural heritage law specialist Evelien Campfens discusses the difficulties surrounding the ownership of looted art.

As of 1 September , Karel Berkhoff has been appointed professor by special appointment in Ukrainian History. In this position, made possible in part by the KNAW, he will focus primarily on dark moments in recent Ukrainian history: the persecutions that have taken place in the first half of the twentieth…

A large research group involving Leiden University as corresponding Host Institution has been awarded a major European grant, the ERC Synergy Grant. This for research on how Europe developed after the fall of the Roman Empire with special attention to the yet underexplored but undoubtedly important…

Master's students Eden Dijkstra and Rosemary Snelth are the first winners of the H.S. Versnel Prize for best master's or research master's thesis in the field of ancient religion. According to the jury, their theses were so original, well-written and of such high quality that both deserved first pla…

The knowledge held by indigenous people is essential if you want to study the history or the language of a particular region. Leiden archaeologists and linguists are now looking for ways of involving local people more systematically in their research.

The Faculty of Archaeology proudly presents the research brochure Perspectives on the Past, featuring passionate, dedicated researchers introducing a dazzling scala of research topics: from present-day traditional knowledge in Africa to the power of glue in Palaeolithic Europe. In addition to these…