Archaeological research of coastal farming communities on the southern North Sea coast, 2000-800 BC

Pottery traditions and social interaction in the earliest Neolithic of the Lower Rhine Area

Knowledge generated by development-led archaeology about the Late Neolithic, the Early Bronze Age and the start of the Middle Bronze Age (2850 - 1500 cal BC) in the Netherlands

Does knowledge of environmental performance change farmer's behaviour?

New insights into the Fayum Epipalaeolithic and Neolithic.

Did early farmers deliberately use animal manure on their fields?

Global climate change is manifest by local-scale changes in precipitation and temperature patterns, including the frequency of extreme weather events (EWEs). EWEs are associated with a myriad range of adverse environmental and societal consequences, including negative impacts to agriculture and food…

Charisma K. Lepcha (PI, Sikkim University), Pradyut Guha (co-PI, Sikkim University), Rajib Sutradhar (co-PI, Christ University Bangalore) and Erik de Maaker (Leiden University) have been awarded a two-year grant of USD 18.000 to conduct research on the impact of ‘green farming’ on the sensitive mountain…

LI Weiya from the University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei City, has been awarded a general scholarship by the CSC (China Scholarship Council) to carry out his PhD research at the Laboratory for Material Culture Studies.

Last week, a large number of farmers came to The Hague to ask attention for the problems they are faced with. They certainly received a lot of attention but does this mean their problems are actually being addressed?

Farmers who commit to environmentally friendly working methods also actively practise nature conservation in their farming - particularly when this is not financed by the government. These are the findings of research carried out by Anne Marike Lokhorst, who will receive her PhD on 17 September based…

In his inaugural lecture Professor of Environmental Sustainability Jan Willem Erisman calls for local solutions that give people more freedom in how they meet environmental, nature and climate goals. This would allow farmers to come up with their own solutions to the nitrogen problem. The idea ties…

The rare Ethiopian wolf is increasingly coming into contact with local cattle farmers. PhD candidate Girma Eshete explored ways of saving this elegant animal from being wiped out. Phd-defense on 5 September.

Nanotechnology has pervaded numerous industrial sectors over the past decades. Although many of us may not be aware of it, nanomaterials are now embedded within many of the the products we use in our daily lives. The agricultural sector might be next in line. Leiden environmental scientists Tom Nederstigt…

Within the Global Ethnography specialisation, you can develop your own research project or make use of the research opportunities offered by our staff members listed below.

Promotores: E. van Dijk, G.R. de Snoo. Co-promotor: H. Staats

Food production in the Netherlands is an economic success but has led to many environmental issues, including nitrogen pollution. Recently, the policy to allow economic growth while reducing nitrogen losses was disapproved by the highest court in the Netherlands, casting the country into a nitrogen…

A management strategy has been developed for field margins to reduce pesticide drift to non-target areas and to promote biodiversity on arable land. To this end, 3 and 6 m wide strips along the edges of winter wheat, sugar beet and potato crops have been left unsprayed with herbicides and insecticides…

The main question I want to answer is about the mutual influence between the cultural and settlements changes that occurred between the Bronze and the Early Iron Age in Margiana and the management of water resources.

Exponential population growth and rapid urbanisation are prompting the development of gigantic African metropolises that must be supplied with resources such as food, water and energy. This creates economic opportunities, drives migration and presents political challenges. Researchers from Leiden combine…

This project explores the decline of shifting cultivation in Northeast India. What is the impact on society of people’s deepening engagement with markets and the state?

Excavations at Geleen-Janskamerveld 1990/1991

Striga hermonthica, commonly known as witchweed, infests major cereal crops in Sub-Saharan Africa causing severe yield losses and threatening the livelihood of millions of resource poor farmers.

Part of ‘Moralising Misfortune: A Comparative Anthropology of Commercial Insurance’, an ERC Consolidator project of Erik Bähre.

This article discusses local expressions of crisis in Beed district, central Maharashtra. Both in public and academic discourse crisis has become the term of choice for the many structural deficiencies which make agriculture an increasingly precarious livelihood in India. While most voices subscribe…

Agriculture is among the most vulnerable sectors to climate change and poorer countries face the most severe difficulties. Coffee farmers in Central America, for instance, are facing multiple and mutually reinforcing crises, including price shocks, outbreaks of pests and diseases, migration, and farm…

Promotors: Prof.dr. G.R. de Snoo, Prof.dr. G.A. Persoon, Prof.dr.ir. H.H. de Iongh

Also including: Wateringen 4 & Acquiring a taste.

The Netherlands is not particularly rich in ‘wild nature’. Comparatively, what we have is a lot of intensively used agricultural land. This means that from nature’s perspective there much to be gained by combining the ‘nature’ and ‘agriculture’ functions. Not an easy task in such a densely populated…

In November we went to a real, biodynamic farm (Kwekerij Eko Logisch) and listened to David, a farmer who believes you can limit harm to the environment while still growing heaps of vegetables, fruits, and herbs. On the two-hour visit, we were shown around the farm and even encountered some animals.

Lecture, China Seminar

The neolithization of the southern Netherlands in an antropological and geographical perspective

The Latin language is a descendant of the widespread Indo-European family of languages. Recent ancient genetic studies have helped shed light on the likelihood that the Indo-European languages spread into a Europe that had already been populated by farmers for thousands of years.

Lecture, VVIK lecture

On this page you will find resources developed by the project team, such as bibliographies, reading lists, template case-studies as well as the team's training and seminar activities.

Basketry, cordage and textiles made of plant fibers or bark are rarely preserved in the archaeological record. By means of experimental archaeology and microwear analysis, we obtain indirect evidence about this important craft.

The 'living lab' Vrouwe Vennepolder is situated just north of Leiden, The Netherlands, and aims to find ways to improve the agriculture of the future.

The emergence of new players on the world market such as India, Brazil, China, Turkey and the Gulf States gives Africans more choice in who they work with and under which terms. At the same time, African multinationals are choosing to work with regional partners and are thus furnishing old political…

On the 1st of November, Andrew Wigman successfully defended a doctoral thesis. The Leiden University Centre for Linguistics congratulates Andrew on this achievement!

The book ‘Pesticides and the Environment’ gives a transparent overview of facts and figures concerning pesticide use in the Netherlands and the impact of pesticides on the environment.

Reworking Culture: Relatedness, Rites, and Resources in Garo Hills, North-East India provides intimate insights into the lives of hill farmers and the challenges they face in day-to-day life. Focusing on the ongoing reinterpretation of traditions, or customs, the book critiques the all too often taken-for-granted…

Of jars and gongs deals with the traditional ritual art of Ot Danum Dayak subsistence farmers from a stretch of tropical rainforest in the heart of Borneo. Together with the Ngaju, their neighbours to the south, they gloried in one of the most elaborate secondary mortuary rites in the world.

Living labs make it possible for citizens to participate in research for sustainable development of their environment. This way citizens, together with scientists and stakeholders, create local conditions for food production, healthy environment, and biodiversity.

Promotor: G.R. de Snoo, Co-promotor: C.J.M. Musters

This dissertation is a comprehensive description of the Jiăomùzú dialects. These dialects belong to the Tibetan-Birmese language of the rGyalrong spoken in the province Sìchuā, China.

Agrian History, 5300 BC - AD 1000; C.C. Bakels

On Wednesday 24 April 2024, the European Integration cluster at the Institute of Political Science and the Centre for the Study of Political Parties and Representation hosted a panel on the topic of 'The 2024 European Parliament election: what’s at stake?'

This page features an overview of relevant lectures, publications and conference papers.

Relatively simple adjustments can reduce nitrogen losses on dairy farms in peatland areas. That’s the conclusion of the PhD research by by Leiden environmental scientist Jeroen Pijlman at the Louis Bolk Institute. Protein-poor grass species and narrow-leaved plantain in the grassland can limit nitrogen…

The Khoesan were the first people in Africa to undergo the full rigours of European colonisation. By the early nineteenth century, they had largely been brought under colonial rule, dispossessed of their land and stock, and forced to work as labourers for farmers of European descent.