dr. FA Gerritsen

Assistant Professor, Faculty of Humanities, Art and Culture, History, Antiquity

Assistant Professor, CLUE+

Personal information

In addition to teaching in the Department of Art and Culture, History, Antiquity, I am the director of the Netherlands Institute in Turkey (nit-istanbul.org). From its base in Istanbul, this subsidiary of the Netherlands Institute for the Near East conducts and fosters research on the archaeology, history and heritage of Anatolia. It aims to stimulate academic cooperation and exchange between the Netherlands and Turkey and organizes undergraduate and graduate courses.

Research

Fields of research that I am currently engaged in include the Archaeology of Anatolia and the Near East & Early Farming Societies.

I direct the Barcın Höyük Excavations project, which after nine fieldwork seasons betweeen 2007 and 2015 is currently in the stages of analysis and publication. Barcın Höyük is a Neolithic settlement mound in northwestern Anatolia dating to the middle and late seventh millennium BC and representing the earliest phases of settled farming life in the region.

Past work and fields of research have included survey and landscape archaeology, both in the Netherlands and Turkey, the archaeology of Iron Age Europe, and the archaeology of local communities.

Education

2001:   Ph.D., Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Prehistory and Archaeology (cum laude)
1996:   Doctoraal, University of Amsterdam, Cultural Prehistory
1995:   M.A., University of Chicago, Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations
1989:   Propedeuse, University of Amsterdam, Art History and Classical Archaeology

Teaching

Teaching on topics including origins and spread of farming, early social complexity, state formation and early urbanism.

Prizes and Awards

2015: Corresponding member of the Türk Eskiçağ Bilimleri Enstitüsü, Turkish Institute for Ancient Studies.

2010: Huibregtsenprijs: Member of South Netherlands Project research team, winning award for 'innovative research with strong social relevance'.

2005-2015: Member of ‘De Jonge Akademie’ (DJA) of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW), one of the first cohort of 40 selected young scientists.

2003: Dissertation Award of the Praemium Erasmianum Foundation (for outstanding dissertations in the Humanities and Social Sciences).

Grants

NWO Grant Investeringssubsidie Middelgroot (2011-2016): The beginnings of farming in the Marmara Region of NW Turkey. Excavations at Neolithic Barcın Höyük.

NWO Grant Promoveren in de Geesteswetenschappen (2012-2016): Living Neolithization. Micro history and grand narrative in Neolithic Western Anatolia and Southeastern Europe, c. 7000-5000 BC. PhD research project conducted by Elisha van den Bos.

Ancillary activities