David Fontijn

Biography

David Fontijn is professor in the Archaeology of Early Europe at the Faculty of Archaeology, University of Leiden, the Netherlands. His research deals with the early agrarian societies of Europe from prehistory up until the early historical period, with special attention to the Bronze Age and (early) Iron Age, the exchange and deposition of metalwork and on the archaeology of so-called "ritual" landscapes. He is director of Research of the Faculty of Archaeology, University of Leiden.

Research Interest

He is currently leading the NWO-VICI project “Economies of Destruction” investigating the puzzling destruction of valuable objects in Bronze Age Europe (2015-). In his previous research project, the NWO-Open Competition project “Ancestral Mounds” (2008-2013), a multi-disciplinary team dealt with the archaeology of burial mounds. He is co-applicant and main supervisor of the current NWO-funded projects " Powerful Identities" (on Early Iron Age elite burials, carried out by S. van der Vaart, 2012-) and " Breaking and Making the Ancestors" (on burial practices in Late Bronze Age/Early Iron Age urnfields, carried out by A. Louwen, 2014-).