Head of collections and research
Dr. Lucas Petit
Phone number: +31 (0)71 516 3149
Mobile phone number: +31 (0)6 8294 6307
E-mail: send a message
See his Academia-page
ORCID ID: 0000-0002-0314-0741
Study and career
Lucas Petit (1973) studied Palestinian archaeology at Leiden University. After graduating in 1997, he was involved in several archaeological projects, among others in Syria, Jordan and Palestine. From 1999 to 2002 he worked as executive project leader for the University of Frankfurt am Main in Benin (West Africa). This resulted in his PhD in 2003. A year later he returned to Leiden University to work as a postdoc in the NWO project Settling the Steppe. He was also substitute lecturer in archaeology of the southern Levant. In 2010 he succeeded Akkermans as Curator of the Near Eastern collection of the National of Antiquities. Since 2019 Lucas Petit is the head of the collections and research department and a member of the management team.
Research
After his graduation, Petit was active in the field of archaeology in various countries in Africa and the Middle East. Together with two colleagues, he initiated the construction of a museum in Burkina Faso, investigated rock art in the Sahara and excavated a water tunnel in Palestine. Within the NWO project Settling the Steppe (2004-2008), he was responsible for research into settlement cycles in the Jordan Valley. Since 2012, Petit leads the research at Tell Damiyah, a settlement mound in the Jordan Valley, together with Zeidan Kafafi.
Ask me a question about
- Archaeology of Jordan, Israel and Palestine
- Archaeology of Benin
- Archaeology of Burkina Faso
- Querns and other stone objects
- Excavation methods
Important research projects
- Excavation Tell Damiyah, Jordan (2012-present, in collaboration with Yarmouk University)
- Settling the Steppe, Jordan (2004-2008, in collaboration with Yarmouk University)
- Oursi hu-beero, Burkina Faso (2000-2010, collaboration between the University of Frankfurt and the University of Ouagadougou)
- The (pre)history of northwest Benin (1997-2002, collaboration between the University of Frankfurt and the University of Cotonou)
Lucas Petit
Important publications
- Petit, L.P., 2021. Grinding Stones. In A. Mazar and N. Panitz-Cohen (red.), Tel Rehov. A Bronze and Iron Age City in the Beth-Shean Valley. Volume V. Various Objects and Natural-Science Studies, Chapter 43, 263-322. Qedem Monographs Series 63. Jerusalem: The Institute of Archaeology, Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
- Erkelens, C. and L.P. Petit, 2020. Jericho tomb P23 in the Dutch National Museum of Antiquities. In R.T. Sparks, B. Finlayson, B. Wagemakers and J.M. Briffa (red.), Digging up Jericho. Past, Present and Future, 129-150. Oxford: Archaeopress.
- Khasawneh, S. al, A. Murray, Z. Kafafi and L. Petit, 2019. Luminscence Dating of the Iron Age Deposits from Tell Damiyah in the Jordan Valley. Radiocarbon 62 (1), 1-12.
- Emberling, G. and L.P. Petit (red.), 2018. Museums and the Ancient Middle East. Curatorial Practice and Audiences. Routledge Research in Museum Studies. Oxon/New York: Routledge.
- Petit, L.P., 2017. Mind the Gap! Identifying occupation hiatus macroscopically and evaluating their importance for settlement mound research. In: N. Rupp, C. Beck, G. Franke and K.P. Wendt (red.), Winds of Change. Archaeological Contributions in Honour of Peter Breunig, 373-384. Bonn: Dr. Rudolf Habelt Verlag.
- Petit, L.P. and D. Morandi Bonacossi (red.), 2017. Nineveh, the Great City. Symbol of Beauty and Power. PALMA 13. Leiden: Sidestone Press.
- Petit, L.P. and Z. Kafafi, 2016. Beyond the River Jordan: a Late Iron Age Sanctuary at Tell Damiyah. Near Eastern Archaeology, Vol. 79 [1], 18-26.
- Petit, L.P., 2014. An archaeological Historiography of Khirbet et-Tell, Palestine and the ongoing search for the Biblical city of ‘Ai. In B. Wagemakers (red.), Archaeology in the ‘Land of Tells and Ruins’, 41-57. Oxford: Oxbow Books.
- Petit, L.P., 2013. Understanding the ‘Pit people’. An imaginary conservation in the Central Jordan Valley during the late 7th or 6th century B.C. In E. van der Steen, J. Boertien and N. Mulder-Hymans (red.), Exploring the Narrative. Jerusalem and Jordan in the Bronze and Iron Ages, 171-179. London: Bloomsbury.
- Petit, L.P., 2013. The Jordan Valley. In D. Master (red.), The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Bible and Archaeology 2, 47-53. New York: Oxford University Press.
- Petit, L.P., 2012. What would the Pharoah Shoshenq I have seen if he had visited the Central Jordan Valley?. Palestine Exploration Quarterly 144 (3), 191-207.
- Petit, L.P., M. von Czerniewicz and C. Pelzer (red.), 2009. Oursi hu-beero. A medieval house complex in Burkina Faso, West Africa. Leiden: Sidestone Press.
- Kaptijn, E, and L.P. Petit, 2009. A Timeless Vale. Archaeological and related essays on the Jordan Valley in honour of Gerrit van der Kooij on the occasion of his sixty-fifth birthday. ASLU 19. Leiden: Leiden University Press.
- Petit, L.P., 2009. Settlement Dynamics in the Middle Jordan Valley during Iron II. BAR International Series 2033. Oxford: Archaeopress.
- Petit, L.P., 2005. Archaeology and history in North-western Benin. BAR International series 1398. Oxford: Bar Publishing.
Lucas Petit
Important exhibitions
- Nineveh. Hoofdstad van een wereldrijk (Leiden, 2017-2018)
- Petra. Wonder in de woestijn (Leiden, 2013-2014)
- Graven naar het Bijbelse Sichem (Leiden, 2013)
- The Dutch and the ancient Near East (Leiden, 2013-present)
- Nieuws uit het Midden-Oosten (Leiden, 2011)
- Handelswaar en souvenirs – islamitische kunst uit het Rijksmuseum (Leiden, 2011)
Important lectures and conferences
- 2020, Tell Damiyah. Een klein, maar belangrijke IJzertijd heiligdom in de Jordaanvallei. Ex Oriente Lux, Rotterdam.
- 2019, Archeologie 2.0. Ons verleden heeft nooit bestaan. Oog op de Oudheid, Leiden.
- 2018, Tell Damiyah. Artistic Expression from the Late Iron Age until the Ottoman Period. ICAANE, München.
- 2018, Creating and Recreating Nineveh. Scientific conference, Leiden.
- 2018, The Iron Age Shrine at Tell Damiye (Jordan). Congress Sacred Architecture in Palestine from the Bronze Age to Medieval Time, Mainz, together with Kafafi.
- 2017, 3D Reconstruction of Nineveh. Congres 3D Imaging in Cultural Heritage, The British Museum, London, together with Van Apeldoorn, Lenseigne, Jonker and Dik
- 2017, Cultuurterrorisme in het Midden Oosten. SIB, Utrecht.
- 2016, Current situation in Syria and Iraq. 3rd Meeting of the Informal Network of the Law Enforcement Authorities and Expertise Competent in the Field of Cultural Goods, Den Haag.
- 2016, Tell Damiyah. A Late Iron Age Sanctuary for Traders and Travellers? ICHAJ, Amman, together withmet Kafafi.
- 2015, Museums and the ancient Middle East: curatorial practices and audiences. Workshop, Atlanta, together with Emberling.
In the media
- 2021, Merovingische fibula: eenmaal, andermaal, verkocht. De Limburger, 7 november.
- 2021, Stampei om een gesmolten stad bij de Dode Zee. NRC, 24 september.
- 2020, Excavations at ancient sanctuary in Jordan Valley offer glimpse into area’s religious past. The Jordan Times, 19 januari.
Ancillary activities
- Board member of the friends association RoMeO
- Board member of Leiden Global
- Chief editor RMO Magazine