The Faculty offers a varied range of internships in the field of the archaeology of the ancient Near East. In our internships we aim to combine hands-on experience with archaeological materials and fieldwork, the development of research skills, and gaining acquaintance with current interpretative debates in Near Eastern archaeology.
Internships include:
Participating in fieldwork in the region as a site supervisor, in particular in Jordan, Greece, Turkey, and northern Iraq. These internships comprise the preparation of the fieldwork campaign, supervision of excavation and laboratory work, and administrative and logistic organisation throughout the fieldwork.
This type of internship will result in the completion of an organised archive of field and lab administration documents, which will be assessed by the field directors. Obviously, the availability of these internships depends on finances and local circumstances in the region, as well as on the degree of preparation and previous training of the student.The documentation, analysis and interpretation of archaeological materials from various periods and cultural contexts (Late Neolithic, Late Bronze Age and Medieval/Islamic) from sites for which we have important collections in Leiden. These include Tell Sabi Abyad, Qal’at Jabar and Tell Beydar III in Syria, and Tell Deir ‘Alla in Jordan.
These internships include various analytical methods depending on the type and size of the collection. For some topics the student may combine the internship with a Master’s thesis research. This type of internship will result in the completion of a database and interpretative report regarding the studied collection(s).
Internships are also promoted for the stratigraphical analysis of selected excavated parts of Late Neolithic Tell Sabi Abyad in Syria.Museum internships in the two museums in the Netherlands with substantial near Eastern collections: the National Museum of Antiquities Leiden, and the Allard Pierson Museum in Amsterdam.
Organised jointly with the curators for the Near Eastern departments of these museums, these internships may focus on specialised materials, periods or themes, but may also comprise documentation and archival research. Furthermore, upcoming exhibitions will offer opportunities for internships in the Gennadius Library of the American School of Classical Studies in Athens (opening January 2015) and in the Pera Museum in Istanbul in cooperation with the Museum Boymans-van Beuningen in Rotterdam (2016).