Research project

Ancient Networks

The archaeology of transregional exchange (1st millennia BCE-CE)

Contact: Marike van Aerde
Funding: Byvanck Postdoctoral Fellowship, Leiden University (2017-2019)
: LeidenGlobal seed grant (2019-2020)
: Prins Claus Fund
: NWO Mosaic 2.0
: CER (Cultural Emergency Response)

Leiden MA graduate Alexander Mohns studying rock art in the Karakorum mountains

This research project, coordinated by Dr. Marike van Aerde, focuses on ancient trade routes and exchange networks, spanning from ancient Egypt to the Indian Ocean area in the 1^st millennia BCE-CE. Since 2017 (under the initial title ‘Routes of Exchange, Roots of Connectivity’), the project has conducted ceramics and glass analyses, petroglyphic documentation, distribution analyses, and methodological applications of Network Theory. In close collaboration with young researchers of PhD and MA level, the project connects the use of scientific methods (chemical analyses, network applications, and AI tools) to conceptual questions of transregional exchange processes and how they evolved in the ancient world. Based on a substantial foundation of archaeological data, methodological innovations and interdisciplinarity have likewise become a central component of the project. The project’s research results have incited a move from linear historical narratives towards investigating and understanding the complexity of the transregional human past, by engaging with conceptual and scientific methods alike.

Open Access knowledge sharing is an important part of the project output. Publications so far include statistical and scientific analyses, heritage rescue documentation, and interpretative studies of archaeological sites and materials from Egypt, the Horn of Africa, Pakistan, and south India. For our Karakorum Rescue fieldwork project (since 2021), we work with Pakistani archaeologists and local communities to document threatened rock art and make our data widely accessible in digital form. We continue to aim for open source publications in all our projects.

Dr. Marike van Aerde in Alexandria, Egypt

Karakorum Rescue Project

Ongoing fieldwork in the Karakorum mountains of Pakistan, documenting threatened rock art along the trade routes that connected the northern Indian Subcontinent to ancient China from the 1^st century BCE. This fieldwork is entirely non-invasive and conducted in collaboration with the region's local communities. Leiden archaeology students participate actively in the digitization of the rock art assemblages and the remote distribution analysis of the sites across the mountain range. This project has been supported by the Prince Claus Fund and Cultural Emergency Response CER, from 2021-2023.

PhD research

PhD candidates have participated in the project since 2019. Two current doctoral projects focus on the global connections of the ancient East-African kingdom of Aksum in the 1^st millennium (‘Aksum Across the Globe’, Samatar Botan, Leiden University), and on Indian Ocean trade routes based on a scientific analysis of transregional ceramic assemblages from Oman, south India and Sri Lanka (‘Past perception of time and past economy of long-distance trade: The Indian Ocean and its globalizing network’, Daniele Zampierin, Freie Universität Berlin).

Teaching and outreach

the project contributes an active teaching component at Leiden University. The BA seminar ‘the Archaeology of the Silk Roads’ introduces students to transregional exchange networks and how to approach long-distance connections through archaeological research, including a material practicum. The MA course ‘Ancient Networks’ explores network thinking and non-linearity as both conceptual and applied tools for understanding connections between ancient people, sites, and regions. Since 2018, various MA and RMA theses have emerged from the project, including studies of Sri Lankan trade routes, Indian port sites, Ptolemaic Egyptian trade centers, digital network applications, pigment and textile analysis, and zoomorphic Himalayan rock art.
During the Covid pandemic (2021), the project created an online documentary together with the Rijskmuseum van Oudheden in Leiden, giving a platform for young researchers from various parts of the world to connect their archaeological research and explore the need to look beyond traditional historical narratives.

Ceramics assemblages from Palmyra (Leiden University depot)

Zampierin, D., Moita, P., Lischi, S., van Aerde, M., Barrulas, P., & Mirão, J., 2024. ‘A multi-analytical approach applied to pottery from Oman as a key to understanding ancient Indian Ocean maritime trade’. Archaeometry, 1–49. https://doi.org/10.1111/arcm.12949

Van Aerde, M.& S. A. Botan, 2023. ‘Trade dynamics in East Africa: the continuation of ancient port settlements in the 1st millennium AD, in: Talanta: Proceedings of the Dutch Archaeological and Historical Society Vol. 54, 97-116.

Van Aerde, M.E.J.J. 2022. ‘Crossing Oceans: Interdisciplinary research and ancient trade routes’, in: Journal of Roman Archaeology Vol. 34, Cambridge University Press, 2-9.

Van Aerde, M. & A. G. Khan, 2021. ‘Carvings & Community: inclusive heritage solutions for protecting ancient Karakorum petroglyphs under threat’, in: Antiquity Pakistan Bulletin Vol. 2, 2021, 77-90.

Van Aerde, M.E.J.J. & A. D. L. Mohns & A. G. Khan, 2020. ‘Buddha on the Rocks, Gandharan Connections through the Karakorum Mountains’, in: W. Rienjang & P. Stewart (eds.) The Global Connections of Gandharan Art, Proceedings of the Third International Workshop of the Gandhara Connections Project, University of Oxford, 18^th-19^th March 2019. Archaeopress, Oxford, 105-134.

Van Aerde, M.E.J.J. & D. Zampierin, 2020. ‘A lot of pepper and a little garum: an archaeological comparison of the Roman presence at Berenike and Arikamedu,’ in: Ancient West & East (AWE) Vol. 19, 145-166.

Van Aerde, M.E.J.J. 2019. ‘Routes beyond Gandhara: Buddhist Rock Carvings in the Context of the Early Silk Roads’, in: L.E. Yang & H. R. Bork & X. Fang & S. Mischke (eds.), Socio-environmental dynamics along the historic Silk Road. Kiel: PAGES (Springer), 455-480.

The project has also appeared in external media, including newspaper features and the popular Dutch ‘Archeologie Magazine’:

Vermeulen, J. 2022. ‘Wie had met wie contact in de Oudheid? Het internationale onderzoeksprogramma Routes of Exchange, Roots of Connectivity probeert in kaart te brengen hoe internationale handelsnetwerken er in de oudheid hebben uitgezien’, in: Het Parool: Achtergrond, 26 Februari 2022.

Van Aerde, M., 2021. ‘Hellas en de Himalaya: internationale handel en cultuurcontact in de oudheid’, in: Archeologie Magazine Vol. 4, 15-19.

Van Aerde, M. & A. G. Khan, 2021. ‘Petrogliefen in Pakistan: archeologisch erfgoed van handelsroutes door de Himalaya’, in: Archeologie Magazine Vol. 6.