Vrije Universiteit Brussel

Faculty Member, Art History and Archaeology (SKAR)

About

Dries Tys (1972) studied history and archaeology at the university of Ghent. He obtained his PhD at the University of Brussels. This Phd was an interdisciplinary project in landscape archaeology and history of the Belgian coastal plain. In his approach, he tries to understand the motives behind landscapes and how landscapes act as interactive signs and forms of material culture. He directs several projects on landscape history and archaeology in the medieval period, a.o. on coastal identity in the early medieval period (cooperation with Chris Loveluck), on forest history in the Kempen region (cooperation with Kris Verheyen) and on the start of the early-medieval fisc of Snellegem (together with Harvard and Frankfurt Universities). His current research is aimed at a better understanding of the development of medieval coastal settlement in relation to social formations and strategies of social reproduction. As such he is also involved as scientific advisor in the excavations and post-excavation research of the 9th- and 10th- century town centre of Antwerp. He is also involved in the research of the 13th century castle structure in Assebroek near Bruges together with Jan Dumolyn.
He is the supervisor of several PhDs (Pieterjan Deckers, Sara Adriaenssens, Danielle Caluwé, Rica Annaert, Dirk Callebaut, Natasja Reyns, Jordi Brugman and Lotte Govaerts and co-promotor on the landscape project on the Canche Valley by Inés Leroy under direction of Laurent Verslype).
Since 2005, he was appointed as lecturer in Medieval Archaeology and Historical Archaeology at Brussels Free University, where he is the current Head of Department of Arts and Archaeology.

He Teaches the following Courses:

Ba1:
General Introduction to Archaeology and the study of Material Culture

Ba2:
Medieval and Early-Modern Archaeology of Europe 

Ba3:
Landscape History and Historical Archaeology
 
Methods of Archaeological terrainwork

Social and Economic problems of the medieval period
   
Master:
Urban Archaeology

Themes in Medieval Archaeology

Theory in Archaeological research

He is next to Frans Theuws co-editor of the international peer reviewed Journal Medieval and Modern Matters (Brepols)
Dries Tys also is current member of the Royal Commission of Monuments, Landscapes and Archaeology, of the VUB Research Group on Food History (FOST) and of the VUB Research Group on Urban History (HOST).

Contact Information