The Long-term Dynamics of Rural Settlement and Urban Societies in the Classical World, the wider Mediterranean and in the Near East

Settlement Analysis and the Social Logic of Space

The research focus develops the methods and theories of space syntax originating in the global urbanism project of B. Hillier (UCL), in close collaboration with him. Current projects include the analysis of Roman-Early Islamic towns in Syria (v.d.Zande), the Topography and Society of Roman Ostia (Stöger, v.d.Meer); the excavations at Tell Deir Alla (v.d.Kooij).

Cultural Identity and Ethnicity in Early Farming, Early States and Imperial Societies

This research area studies material culture as an expression of cultural distinctiveness and cultural interaction. Foci include ceramic cultures of Near Eastern pre-state societies (Nieuwenhuyse), ceramic and metal distributions as guides to social interaction in pre-state Italy (v.Rossenberg), Etruscan civilization’s cultural identity (v.d.Meer), monumentalsubculture and Hellenistic Kingdoms (Versluys), cultural interaction in Hellenistic-Early Roman Egypt (Savvopoulos, Versluys), Romano-British identity abroad (Ivleva), and ethnicity and material culture in Classical-Medieval-Postmedieval Greece (Bintliff).

Environmental History, Climate Change and Human Impact

Research foci include the impact of short-term climate change in the Near East on early farmers ca. 6000 BC (Climate project, Akkermans e.a.), climate change and complex societies in the Near East around 2000 BC (Settling the Steppe project, Wossink), and long-term trends in Mediterranean climate history and erosional sequences (Bintliff). Courses in the Environmental History of the Near East, as well as research opportunities for postgraduates in the environmental archaeology of Egypt are provided by R. Cappers.

Regional Field Survey and the Reconstruction of Long-term Settlement Patterns

Active field survey projects with multi-period foci and survey evaluation research include: settlement history in Syria (Wossink, v.d.Zande, Akkermans), same in Jordan (Kaptijn, v.d.Kooij), and in Egypt (Shirai). Same in Turkey (Düring), and in Greece (Bajema, Farinetti, Bintliff), and in Macedonia (Donev), and in Italy (v. Rossenberg).

The Economics of Rural and Urban Societies in Prehistoric and Historic Times

Research foci include pastoralism in Syria (Wossink, Meijer, Russell), same in Jordan (Kaptijn, v.d.Kooij), and in Egypt (Barnard, Shirai); ceramics in Syria and Iraq (Nieuwenhuyse, Akkermans), and in Jordan (v.d.Kooij), and in Egypt (Barnard); land use and carrying capacity for Mediterranean urbanism (Bintliff); the excavations at Hammam al-Turkman (Meijer).