Archaeology: Archaeology of the Americas

Leiden’s interest in the indigenous cultures of the Americas goes back to geographer, linguist and historian Johannes de Laet, who worked with the West Indian Company in the 17th century. Research methods have changed dramatically since those days, and now tend to be characterised by their multidisciplinary and intercultural perspectives.

In this programme, the development of indigenous societies of the Americas is approached from various angles, incorporating methods and techniques used in archaeology, bioarchaeology, archaeometry, history, ethnoarchaeology and cultural anthropology.
Students are offered a wide range of areas and topics, varying from the study of colonial encounters, settlement archaeology, human mobility and the exchange of goods and ideas in the Circum-Caribbean region and Central America to worldview, religion, identity and visual culture in the Caribbean, Central America , Mexico and the Andean region.
Archaeological excavations, surveys and artefact analyses take place in the Dominican Republic, Cuba, Grenada, St. Vincent, the Dutch Caribbean islands, Nicaragua, and Venezuela and its offshore islands.

Staff
Dr. M.M. (Marlena) Antczak
Dr. A. (Alex) Geurds
Dr. M. (Mark) Hauser
Prof. dr. C.L. (Corinne) Hofman
Dr. M. (Manuel) May Castillo