Emeriti

Prof. dr. J. Bourgeois (°1955)

He was chairman of the Department of Archaeology from 2008 to 2014. At the Faculty of Arts and Philosophy, he held the position of Education Director from 2001 to 2005 and from 2016 to 2018. In 2014 (until 2016), he was Research Director for the Faculty. He was also Francqui Research Professor (from 2010 to 2013).

He is a member of Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium for Sciences and Arts and Corresponding Mitglieder of the Deutsche Archäologische Institut. He was active in the Union Internationale des Sciences Pré- et protohistoriques - International Union for Prehistoric and Protohistoric Sciences, since 1991 and became Secretary General (1996-2011) and later President (2011-2017). He is co-founder of the Lunula contact group and of AGAr Alumni Ghent Archaeologists, of which he was president between 2009 and 2012, and again since 2019.

Jean Bourgeois (co-)supervised about 130 license theses and master's theses and was (co-)supervisor of 14 PhDs.

His research originally focused on metal ages (settlements, burial mounds) in Western Europe as well as aerial photographic prospecting in Flanders. In that context, in collaboration with Ghent University, the Province of West Flanders and the In Flanders Fields Museum, he founded the CHAL Center for Historical and Archaeological Aerial Photography in 2014, which focuses on the research of Jacques Semey's aerial photographic prospections in East and West Flanders, aerial photography during World War I and more recent historical aerial photography.

After 1995 (and until 2015), his research focused more on the Altai Mountains (Russia) where mainly landscape archaeological research on funerary and ritual monuments from the metal ages (and later) were mapped. Finally, after 2012, he also conducted research on the irrigation systems of the Turpan oasis (Xinjiang, China).

Prof. Jean Bourgeois ended his academic career on Sept. 30, 2021.

Prof. dr. S.J.L. De Laet (1914-1999)

Sigfried Jan L. De Laet was professor at the department from 1947 to 1984. He finished his PhD in 1936, entitled “De samenstelling van den Romeinschen Senaat gedurende de eerste eeuw van het principaat (28 v. – 68 na Kr.) en de politieke houding van de keizers tegenover deze hoge vergadering” after which he became an FWO ‘aspirant’ (1942-1943) and later assistent at the department (1943-1947). His research dealt with a wide range of themes within the national archaeology, from the Neolithic tot the Middle Ages, with a strong focus on the Metal Ages and the Roman Times. He was active in dozens of excavations, a.o. in Blicquy (Gallo-Roman) and Destelbergen (late Bronze Age to Gallo-Roman). His book ‘Archaeology and its problems’ (1957) is translated in 7 languages; his ‘Prehistorische kulturen in het zuiden der Lage Landen’ (1974) was translated into French (La Belgique d’avant les Romains’, 1982). S.J. De Laet was promotor of over 50 licentiate students and about a dozen of PhD students.

Prof. dr. L. Baron De Meyer (1928-2006)

Leon Baron De Meyer was rector at Ghent University from 1985 to 1993. He was an excellent specialist of cuneiform script and of Mesopotamian culture in general. He did archaeological research in Iraq from 1979 onwards, as expedition leader in Sippar-Amnanum (Tell Ed-Dêr, Iraq), where about 2400 cuneiform tablets were discovered.

Based on his research, he was able to build a correct time table for the Babylonian Empire. In 1998, it was discovered that the fall of Babylon should be dated to 1499 BC, caused by a raid by the Hittites.

Prof. dr. J. De Meulemeester (1946-2009)

Johnny De Meulemeester

Prof. dr. J. Devreker (1943-2023)

Emeritus Prof. Dr. John Devreker was born in Ypres in 1943. In 1961, he completed his secondary education at the Royal Atheneum of Ypres with the greatest merit. In 1965, he obtained his licentiate degree in Classical Philology at the Ghent University with the thesis "Contribution to the study of Philostratos' Heroikos. Proof of translation and commentary”. In 1974, he obtained his doctorate in Classical Philology at Ghent University with a PhD thesis entitled 'The composition of the Roman senate among the Flavians'.

He started his university career in 1977 as a research trainee at the NFWO and as an assistant, later part-time lecturer, at the seminar for the History of Antiquity with the late Prof. Pieter Lambrechts. He was appointed full-time lecturer in 1980, professor in 1985, and full professor in 1990. Prof. dr. Devreker was head of the Department of Archaeology and Ancient History of Europe from 1994 to 2008, and dean of the Faculty of Arts and Philosophy of Ghent University from 1999 to 2004, member of the Board of Governors of Ghent University from 2000 to 2004 and member of the selection committee (history & archaeology) at the FWO for 10 years and at the FNRS for 15 years.

His research focused on the Roman institutions and in particular the Roman prosopography of the senate. In the footsteps of Prof. Pieter Lambrechts, under whose leadership he had taken part in the excavation campaigns in ancient Pessinus in present-day Turkey from 1967 until Lambrecht's sudden death in 1973, John Devreker set up study campaigns himself (1976, 1983 & 1986) and took over in 1987 the management of the site itself. He was excavation director with annual excavation campaigns for a Belgian team from Ghent University, the province of East Flanders and the PAMVelzeke until 2009, when the site was handed over to an Australian team following his retirement.