ACPA researchers Ned McGowan and Guy Livingston perform The Speed of Silence at the Maastricht University 's digital symposium Towards 2040: Creating Classical Music Futures.

During the summer, staff of the Faculty of Archaeology travel to all parts of the world, initiating or joining fieldwork projects. Read some of their stories here!

Four bachelor’s students in archaeology have embarked on a month-long field school in Aruba. They will work with Harold Kelly, a local archaeologist at the National archaeological museum of Aruba, and with the research team of Island(er)s at the Helm.

Professor Corinne Hofman has been made a Corresponding Fellow of the British Academy for the humanities and social sciences. She is among 76 distinguished scholars to be elected to the fellowship in recognition of her work in the field of archaeology.

Professor of Archaeometry Patrick Degryse analyses archaeological finds using techniques from chemistry, physics and biology. He will give his inaugural lecture on 19 February. He reflects on three interesting propositions from his lecture.

Bones contain a wealth of information about a person's life. Leiden archaeologists glean information from skeletons about human development and find ways of combating diseases. Read more in the research dossier on 'The skeleton as source of information'.

William Pestle and Jason Laffoon recently published a new article entitled 'Quantitative paleodietary reconstruction with complex foodwebs: An isotopic case study from the Caribbean' in the Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports.

Corinne Hofman’s term as Dean of the Faculty of Archaeology has finished. After 11 years she leaves the Faculty Board to fully focus on her research once again. On Thursday September 20th, during the final Dean's Lecture, a series she initiated, she was lauded by her successor, Dean Jan Kolen, Study…

During his visit to the Caribbean part of the Kingdom, Minister Ronald Plasterk (Home Affairs) on Thursday, January 24, 2013 performed the official opening of a small exhibition. The exhibition portrays the work Prof. Dr. Corinne Hofman and Dr. Menno Hoogland have conducted on Saba over the past 26…

The Dutch Research Council (NWO) has awarded a €4.84 million NWO Large grant to set up a new state-of-the-art laboratory for isotope geochemistry. The new lab, the “Netherlands Isotope GEochemistry Laboratory” (NIGEL), will be built in the brand new VU Research Building at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam.…

Floris Keehnen has been awarded the Volkskrant thesis prize 2012 for his MA thesis entitled:

The first settlers of the Caribbean have long been regarded as bands of highly mobile groups who subsisted exclusively by hunting, gathering, and fishing. In recent years, however, there has been increasing evidence for the cultivation of domesticated plants by early groups and a lower degree of mobility…

In November 2024, Dr. Hana Kubatova (Charles University, Prague) visited Leiden to talk with students and our community about academic freedom and neutrality at the university. This meaningful event was planned by student leaders from CIROS (Community for International Relations and Organisations Students)…

The JASON Institute, together with the Jean Monet Centre of Excellence, Leiden University Campus The Hague, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Jonge Atlantici, is very pleased to invite you to the Symposium on European Defence- and Security Policy.

On 4-5 December the Europa Institute and the Faculty of Governance and Global Affairs of Leiden University organize a conference on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP).

Het strategisch plan van de faculteit wiskunde en natuurwetenschappen (FWN) werd gepresenteerd tijdens de opening van het academisch jaar 2023-2024.

The fifteenth Annual Convention of Austria Centers took place in Berkeley, California, USA in May 2023.

On 7 November, we marked an important milestone for our Law and Criminology bachelor's students who celebrated at their graduation ceremony.

Amir Zamanipoor Najafabadi, a doctor and researcher at the LUMC’s Department of Neurosurgery, researches how meningioma treatment can have a long-term effect on a patient’s life. He recently defended his dissertation: with a patient on the examining committee, this was a unique occasion.

The international travelling exhibition Caribbean Ties will open at Museon in The Hague on Saturday 25 May. It tells the untold story of the indigenous peoples of the Caribbean and their lives before, during and after European colonisation. Caribbean Ties will be on show simultaneously in 11 countries…

Students and staff members at the Faculty Campus The Hague are cordially invited by the JASON Institute to join a group discussion with the Dutch EMP Mr. Hans van Baalen and Lithuanian MEP Mr. Petras Auštrevičius, together with Mr. Bart Hogeveen from institute Clingendael as the moderator, at the Lithuanian…

Nearly eight decades after the liberation of Auschwitz, we continue to learn more about how the Holocaust “happened” in central and eastern Europe. In Prof. dr. Sarah Cramsey’s History MA Research Seminar “New Approaches to the Holocaust in Central and Eastern Europe,” a dozen Leiden students read what…

Leiden University now offers almost 20 Massive Online Open Courses (MOOCs). The enthusiasm displayed by participants makes it rewarding to develop and teach such courses, say MOOC lecturers Marlies Reinders and Edwin Bakker. But that is not all, ‘You bring together a global community.’

Corinne Hofman, Leiden Professor of the Archaeology of the Caribbean Region has been awarded the 2013 KNAW Merian Prize for women in science. Her aim with her research is to broaden the history of the colonisation of the Americas to include the perspective of the indigenous Indian population.

After Columbus landed on the island of Hispaniola (present-day Haiti and the Dominican Republic), the farming culture of the indigenous people quickly disappeared. This has been demonstrated by Leiden archaeologists and colleagues from other universities on the basis of soil research. Publication in…

Archaeologist Jason Laffoon was awarded an NWO Vidi grant for an innovative investigation into ancient migrations in the western Caribbean. The innovative character of this research project lies in the wide-scale application of isotope analysis and isotope mapping. ‘We aim at further developing methods…

Archaeologist Corinne Hofman wins the Distinguished Lorentz Fellowship 2018/19 for research into the changing world of indigenous peoples as a result of colonialism. “The perspective of indigenous communities is still lacking in most history books.

In July 2023, Leiden University conducted another phase of its ongoing archaeological collaboration with the Kalinago Territory in the Caribbean island of Dominica. Activities focused on mapping and assessing coastal sites impacted by climate stressors, undertaking knowledge-exchange sessions, and co-creating…

A new student-curated exhibition in the F1-corridor of the Van Steenis building brings history to life through remarkable finds from the Amsterdam, a merchant vessel of the Dutch East India Company (VOC) that met an untimely end in 1749. 'The story of the Amsterdam is truly unique, especially considering…

Maritime archaeologist Martijn Manders has been appointed professor of Underwater Archaeology and Maritime Cultural Heritage Management at Leiden University. He will combine his new appointment at the Faculty of Archaeology, which began on 15 July 2022, with his current position at the Cultural Heritage…

The Council of the Academia Europaea (AE) has announced prof.dr. Corinne Hofman as one of the new Academy members. Corinne Hofman, Dean of the Faculty of Archaeology is one of a number of eminent international scholars from across the continent of Europe who were invited to accept membership in 2016,…

New sampling and analytical strategies give archaeologists a better understanding of the nutrition and survival of ancient populations. Publication in PLOS One.

Het zichtbaar maken van ongeschreven verhalen van inheemse culturen en volken van de Cariben. Dat doet de tentoonstelling ‘Caribbean Ties’ in de Oude UB.

The exhibition Unity and Diversity in the Amerindian Caribbean: The El Cabo San Rafael Archaeological Site has been officially opened by Prof. dr. Corinne Hofman on Tuesday evening in Santo Domingo.

Leiden researchers have developed a new method of determining the geographic origin of humans. Archaeologist Jason Laffoon and his team used the technique to discover where precolonial pioneers in the Caribbean region came from.

From indigenous space to colonial setting. Archaeological investigations at El Chorro de Maita in Cuba wins prestigious prize.

The dental remains of 25 enslaved Africans from the site of Newton's Plantation, on Barbados, were subjected to isotope analysis. Previous research had pointed out that the locally born individuals were subjected to high concentrations of lead poisoning. A new study, done by Dr Jason Laffoon among others…

Optical projection tomography (OPT) is a tomographic 3D imaging technique used for specimens in the millimetre scale.

The Dutch government chairs the EU council this year. Researchers from Leiden took this opportunity to reflect on the future of the European Union and to give recommendations where possible. The book will be presented on Friday 29 April, 10.15 AM in Nieuws Poort (Den Haag). Attending the event are Ankie…

Seminars, workshops