Letty ten Harkel is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Global Archaeology.

More information about Letty ten Harkel

Office days

To be determined

Research

Letty ten Harkel's interdisciplinary research focuses on the formation and negotiation of identities in the North Sea and Mediterranean regions, forging links between archaeology, heritage management, history, literature and archaeological science. Prior to joining the Leiden team, she worked as a Postdoctoral Researcher on two successive projects for the School of Archaeology at the University of Oxford.

The first of these was the English Landscapes and Identities (EngLaId) project, which ran from 2011-2016 and investigated long-term patterns of landscape use in England from c. 1500 BCE to c. 1100 CE. Letty was the early medieval specialist on the project, working closely with colleagues focusing on the Roman and later prehistoric periods.

The second (ongoing) project is the Endangered Archaeology in the Middle East and North Africa (EAMENA) project, a collaboration between the UK universities of Oxford, Leicester and Durham, which promotes the protection of archaeology and heritage in the MENA region. In this context, Letty took a leading role in a number of field projects in Lebanon as well as remote sensing work in South Sinai.

In addition to this, Letty has actively pursued a research agenda investigating early medieval identities in the wider North Sea region through her Fell grant-funded Medieval Migrants of the North Sea World (MMNSW) project and its precursor, the Investigating the Dead in Early Medieval Domburg project. A common thread through Letty’s varied research portfolio is a deep interest in how people in the past related to each other, and how we, as archaeologists, relate to the past.

Teaching activities

Letty’s teaching activities are as wide-ranging as her research background. In addition to providing specialist classes during her PhD and Postdoctoral appointments at Sheffield and Oxford, she has held part-time / affiliate lectureships at Canterbury Christ Church, Reading, and Birkbeck, and has taught extensively in the Oxford University Department for Continuing Education. She has also redesigned the entire archaeology curriculum for (and taught aspects of) the Middlebury College – CMRS Oxford Humanities Study Abroad Program. During her employment as Postdoctoral Researcher on the EAMENA project, Letty was actively involved in the delivery of training programmes to heritage professionals in Egypt, Jordan, Libya and Tunisia, and to academics from Iran (the latter taught in the UK). Letty’s approach is student-focused and practical, aiming to equip students with the necessary tools to tackle complex issues independently.

Curriculum vitae

1996 - 1997 ‘Propedeuse’ English Language and Literature, University of Utrecht

1997 - 2002 ‘Doctoraal’ Mediëvistiek (Medieval Studies), with specialisation in Early Medieval History and Old English, University of Utrecht

2000-2001 Visiting Student in Dept of Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic / Newnham College, University of Cambridge

2002 - 2003 MA in Medieval Archaeology, University of York

2003 - 2006 Field Archaeologist / Archaeological Supervisor, Cambridge Archaeological Unit, University of Cambridge

2006 - 2010 PhD in Archaeology, University of Sheffield

2008 British Council Research Fellow, John W. Kluge Center, Library of Congress, Washington DC

2010 - 2011 Field Archaeologist, various archaeological contractors in London

2011 - 2022 Postdoctoral Researcher, School of Archaeology, University of Oxford

Publications