Head of Research group Archaeological Prospection

University of Bamberg
Institute of Archaeology, Heritage Conservation Studies and Art History 
Am Kranen 14, Room 02.12
96045 Bamberg

Tel.: +49 951 863-3930

E-Mail: wieke.de-neef(at)uni-bamberg.de

Consultation during the teaching semester: Tuesdays, 10:00-12:00 hrs and by appointment

https://uni-bamberg.academia.edu/WiekedeNeef

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Wieke-De-Neef

Courses: winter semester 2026-2027

Lecture Introduction to archaeological prospection, Tuesday 14.15-15.45, U5 / 01.18

Seminar Non-invasive prospection in urban archaeology, Wednesday 12.15-13.45, U5 / 02.23

Tutorial Prospection laboratory Staffelberg (fieldwork usually on Thursday and/or Friday depending on weather)

Research

Artanish Landscape Archaeology Project: non-invasive prospection of Metal Age settlement and land use near Lake Sewan (Armenia) 

Pollino Archaeological Landscape Project: surveys, geoarchaeology, prospection and ethnoarchaeology in the southern Apennines (Italy) 

The Staffelberg and its surroundings: non-invasive prospection and geoarchaeology of the Celtic hillfort near Bad Staffelstein (Germany)

Bronze Age centers in the Po Basin (Italy): geophysical prospection and geoarchaeology at Frattesina, Villamarzana, Lovara, Terranegra, Campo Verde

Churches in Bamberg: radar prospection in and around churches and monasteries in the UNESCO world heritage site Bamberg

Curriculum Vitae

March 2026: Main organizer of the international Landscape Archaeology Conference LAC2026, University of Bamberg (18–21 March 2026)

Since October 2023: head of the research group Archaeological Prospection (ArchPro), University of Bamberg

2024: Visiting professor in Archaeological Methodology, University of Verona (Italy)

November 2022 - September 2023: Acting Chair of Geophysical Prospection and Documentation in Archaeology and Architecture Studies (GeoPro), University of Bamberg

2020 - 2023: Senior postdoc, Ghent University (Belgium), Project Mountains, Mobility, Memory (MoMoMe), sponsored by Special Research Fund Ghent University (BOF)

2017 - 2020: Postdoc, Ghent University (Belgium), Project Neighbours and Nobles, sponsored by Flanders Organization for Scientific Research (FWO)

2017: Postdoc, University of Groningen (Netherlands), Project Geophysical surveys at the Mycenaean palatial settlement of Ayios Vasilios (Greece), sponsored by Gerda Henkel Stiftung

2016: PhD, University of Groningen (Netherlands), Dissertation ‘Surface <> Subsurface. A methodological study of Metal Age settlement and land use in northern Calabria (Italy)’, supervisors prof.dr. Peter Attema and dr Martijn van Leusen

2010 - 2016: PhD candidate, University of Groningen (Netherlands), Project Rural Life in Protohistoric Italy, sponsored by Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO)

2009 - 2016: Field technician (geophysics), Eastern Atlas GmbH &Co KG, Berlin

2008 - 2009: Research assitant, Center for Black Sea Studies, University of Aarhus (Denmark), Dzarylgac Survey Project (Ukraine)

2005 - 2008: Project manager, Excavation company De Steekproef, Zuidhorn (Netherlands)

2000 - 2004: Bookseller and marketing assistant, American Book Center, Amsterdam (Netherlands)

1999: Field archaeologist, Museo Carolino Augusteum, Salzburg (Austria)

1993 - 1998: Study Classical and Mediterranean Archaeology, University of Groningen (Netherlands), specialization Landscape archaeology 

1974: Born in Geldrop (Netherlands)

Publications (selection)

Vermeulen, F. and De Neef, W. (eds.) 2026. From Montarice to Potentia-Da Montarice a Potentia. Central Adriatic Valley-mouth domination between Bronze Age farmers and Roman colonisers. Bologna, Ante Quem.

De Neef, W., Kunze, R., Ullrich, B., Bobokhyan, A. 2026. A fortified Early Bronze Age settlement in the Southern Caucasus. Antiquity First view: https://doi.org/10.15184/aqy.2026.10350 

Maurer, Th. and De Neef, W. 2026. Radar auf der Rosenwiese - Aktuelle Grabungen und Forschungen im Bereich des Römerkastells Boiodurum, Passau-Innstadt. In: Vorträge des 43. Niederbayerischen Archäologentages. Rahden /Westf., VML.

De Neef, W. and Paolini, E. 2025. Montarice (Porto Recanati, MC, Italy): reconstructing long-term occupation history using legacy records and recent non-invasive data. GROMA: Documenting Archaeology, 9(1), 3–30. https://doi.org/10.32028/Groma-Issue-9-2024-3241 

De Neef, W. and Meyer, C. 2025. Magnetometer prospection at San Basilio di Ariano nel Polesine, 2020-2024. In: J. Bonetto and G. Falezza (eds.), Archeologia a San Basilio: Work in Progress. Atti della Giornata di Studi, Padova, 19 Gennaio 2024. Rome, Quasar: 11-24.

Vermeulen, F. and De Neef, W. 2024. Non-invasive investigations of Roman villa sites in the Potenza-valley (marche, IT). GROMA: Documenting Archaeology 8 (1): 3-17. https://doi.org/10.32028/Groma-Issue-8-2023-2839 

Fontana, G. and De Neef, W. 2024. Italy's empty hillforts: reassessing urban-centric biases through combined non-invasive prospection methods on a Samnite site (fourth-third centuries BC). Antiquity 48 (402): 1558-1575. https://doi.org/10.15184/aqy.2024.157 

Ullrich, B. and De Neef, W. 2024. Geophysical Prospection in Mountain Archaeology. In: F. Carrer et al. (eds.), Oxford Handbook of Mountain Archaeology, Oxford University Press (online) https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780197608005.013.20

De Neef, W. 2023. Sensing the Bronze Age. Non-invasive geophysical prospection in the archaeology of Bronze Age Italy and adjacent areas. Origini 46: 109-136.

De Neef, W., Ullrich, B., Ferdani, D., Demetrescu, E., Hayward, S., Maass, R., Noorda, N., Zoellner, H. 2023. Non-invasive prospection and landscape archaeology of Monte Primo (Marche, Italy): new perspectives on a monumental mountain site. Archeologia Picena, Atti del Convegno Internazionale, Frapiccini, N., Naso, A. (eds.), Rome, Quasar: 72-91.

De Neef, W., Voutsaki, S., Ullrich, B., Freibothe, R., 2022.  A palace under the olive trees. Investigating the spatial organization of the Mycenaean palatial center at Ayios Vasileios (Laconia, Greece) through large-scale magnetic gradiometry. Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences DOI: 10.1007/s12520-022-01513-6.

De Neef, W., and Ullrich, B. 2021. Tracing protohistoric technology using geophysical techniques in Italy and the Crimea. Bulletin Antieke Beschavingen BABesch, Supplement 41. Tracing Technology. Forty Years of Archaeological Research at Satricum, Gnade, M., Revello Lami, M. (eds.), Leuven, Peeters: 227-239.

De Neef, W., Larocca, A., Attema, P. 2021. Archaeology meets ethnography: mobility in the foothills and uplands of the Pollino range (Calabria) during the Bronze Age and Late Modern period. In: Larocca, F., Mittica, G., Colelli, C., Larocca, A. (eds.), Analecta Romana Instituti Danici. Supplement: Dal Pollino all’Orsomarso. Ricerche archeologiche tra Ionio e Tirreno. Rome, Accademia di Danimarca: 363-381.

Tol, G., De Haas, T., Sevink, J., Schepers, M., Ullrich, B., De Neef, W. 2021. “There's more than meets the eye”: Developing an integrated archaeological approach to reconstruct human–environment dynamics in the Pontine marshes (Lazio, Central Italy). Geoarchaeology 36(1): 109-129.

De Neef, W. 2020. A crossroads in the central Potenza Valley: non-invasive research of settlement (dis-) continuity at Monte Franco (Pollenza, Marche, Italy). In: Boschi, F., Giorgi, E., Vermeulen, F. (eds), Picenum and the Ager Gallicus at the Dawn of the Roman Conquest: Topography and Material Culture.Oxford: Archaeopress: 133-141.

Sevink, J., De Neef, W., Alessandri, L., Van Hall, R., Cinquegrana, M.R., Ullrich, B., Attema, P.A.J. 2020. Protohistoric briquetage at Puntone (Tuscany, Italy): principles and processes of an industry, based on leaching of saline lagoonal sediments. Geoarchaeology. DOI: 10.1002/gea.21820