Eurasian Empires

Global Migration History

Archaeological Heritage Management (Dean Prof. dr. Willem Williems)

Beauty and the Feast (Dr. Renzo Duin)

Consolidating Empire. Reconstructing Hegemonic Practices of the Middle Assyrian Empire at the Late Bronze Age Fortified Estate of Tell Sabi Abyad, Syria, ca. 1230 – 1180 BC (Dr. Bleda During)

Cultural innovation in a globalising society: Egypt in the Roman world (Dr.  Miguel Joh Versluys)

Fixing history: Ancient cultural practices of stone sculpture in central Nicaragua (Dr. Alex Geurds)

The Heritage of the Netherlands Antille and Aruba (Prof. dr. Corinne Hofman and Dr. Menno Hoogland)

Tell Balata Archaeological Park (Dr. Gerrit van der Kooij, Dr. Monique van den Dries, Drs. Sjoerd van der Linde)

The Indigenous Calendars of Mexico and Guatemala (Prof. dr. Maarten Jansen)

The formation of Islam: The view from below (Prof. dr. Petra Sijpesteijn)

Late Antiquity and Early Islam: Continuity and Change in the Mediterranean (Prof. dr. Petra Sijpesteijn)

The Transfer of Knowledge in a Cuneiform Culture (Prof. dr. Wilfred H. van Soldt)

The Impact of Migration: Migrant-Related Change in the Ancient Near East (Dr. Jan Gerrit Dercksen)

The programme analyses representative and well-documented periods in the history of Mesopotamia ( Iraq and part of Syria) and Anatolia to answer these research questions:

a) What institutional changes can be perceived in ancient Mesopotamia and Anatolia during the selected periods and what is the role of migration therein.

b) Did migration lead to cultural uniformity or rather to diversity.

c) What interregional effects of economic or political expansion can be observed.

The programme is divided into three sub-programmes:

1) The effects of the Amorite migration to Mesopotamia: an analysis of the social, legal, economic and religious consequences of the settlement of Amorites in Babylonia (PhD: Drs R. de Boer).

The whole-community migration of Amorite pastoralists (a West-Semitic people divided into two main groups, the Simalites and the Benjaminites) entered Mesopotamia during and following the Ur III period (ca. 21^st c BC). One visible result of their settlement is the emergence of Amorite (mostly Benjaminite) rulers in Babylonian cities after the demise of the Ur III state.

2) Non-Assyrian population groups in the expanding Neo-Assyrian Empire: a study of the consequences of mobility, conquest and deportation (Post-doc: Dr J.C. Fincke).

The expansion of Assyria in the 9^th-7^th centuries BC led to numerous displacements. Members of the Babylonian elite and some Egyptian scholars went to Assyria. Arameans and other populations from Syria and the Levant became subjects of the Assyrian Empire; some groups were deported to remote places in punishment of political rebellion or to populate newly founded cities.

3) Kanesh: an early multi-cultural urban centre? The impact on and by Assyrian merchant colonies in Anatolia: a study of the changes on immigrant Assyrian merchants and local societies as a result of intensive commercial contacts in 19^th-18^th century Anatolia (Post-doc: Dr W.J.I. Waal).

Assyrian trade with the Central-Anatolian city of Kanesh (Kültepe) is documented for a period of over 150 years, which makes it the best documented trade of antiquity. These data contain detailed information on the social, religious and economic interaction between local inhabitants and highly mobile merchants from Assur, many of whom settled in Anatolia and founded families there.

Actors and Commodities Crossing at the Tri-Border Region in South America  (Dr. José Carlos G. Aguiar)

Since the 19th century, the Paraguayan, Brazilian and Argentinean states have launched different programmes to produce and enforce their national borders at the Tri-border area. Through the years, the zone enjoyed some kind of regime of exception and turned into a ‘forgotten’ wild spot, where contraband expanded with the illegal trade of cars, cigarettes and other goods. Yet, since the early 1990s the area has gained much attention. With the arrival of new ethnic groups, mainly Muslim and Asian migrants, the urban area at the cities of Ciudad de Este, Foz de Iguazú and Puerto Iguazú experienced a demographic boom. These new residents have expanded the scope of the networks visible at the Tri-border area through trade, and consolidated the economy of the region. Yet, the bonanza at the Tri-border area has a controversial side.  According to the US government, terrorism (reportedly, Hezbollah, Hamas, and al-Qai’da cells) and organised crime (human traffickers, drug and weapons smugglers) profit from international trade.  The region poses interesting questions regarding the ethnography of national borders in Latin America, the reduction of crime and illegality against the background of globalisation, and South-South relations in the context of transnational networks.This research assesses the programmes implemented by the national governments to secure their borders, and the responses from traders and smugglers active in  the Tri-Border region.