Ancient Culture Studies

We examine the world’s earliest complex societies and the legacy of their ideas. We focus on the Middle East and Mesoamerica, combining archaeology with the study of ancient languages to understand some of humanity’s most influential complex societies.

We explore some of the most significant changes in our shared past: from the emergence of villages and cities, writing and religion, as well as technology and craftsmanship, to the development of political power and social inequality.

We also examine how ideas, goods, and technological advances moved, changed, and shaped entire regions – both in the past and in the present.

We seek to reconstruct concepts, economies, past climates, practices, and social worlds through textual analysis and historical studies, archaeological fieldwork, studies of material culture, and ethnography. Here, we incorporate computational, digital, and natural science methods to open new windows onto the past.

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Research clusters and collaborative research projects

Archaeology

Assyriology

Egyptology

  • Collaborations with University of Seville (excavations in Luxor), and with an ERC Advanced grant in Berlin (PI B. Schipper)

Native American Languages and Cultures

Papyrus Carlsberg Collection – houses the only surviving Egyptian temple library, with ongoing research projects and international collaborations.

The Archaeological Collections and Archives contain tens of thousands of artefacts, fieldwork records and personal archives from past and recent excavations in the Middle East. Much of the material is actively under study and used in teaching.

The Archaeological Laboratory contains a range of equipment for the analysis of archaeological objects, including several microscopes, 3D scanner and sampling materials.

The Digital Imaging Laboratory was recently built up with a grant from the Carlsberg Foundation and is used to create high-resolution images of archaeological objects. 

Birds as a key line of evidence for human vulnerability and resilience to environmental shifts
Funding: Independent Research Fund Denmark
Project period: 2021-2024
Contact: Lisa Yeomans

Changing Foodways in Prehistoric Southwest Asia
Funding: Independent Research Fund Denmark
Project period: 2018-2023
Contact: Tobias Richter

Hidden Treasures: The Cuneiform Collection of the Danish National Museum
Funding: Carlsberg, Augustinus, and Edubba Foundations
Project period: 2019-2022
Contact: Nicole Brisch

Researchers and lecturers

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