Prof. dr. Leonard V. Rutgers (Ph.D. Duke University 1993) is an archaeologist and historian of religion, specializing in Late Antiquity. He currently leads the international  Genetic Legacies project, which uses previously unpublished genetic data to shed new light on the history of Jewish communities in Europe (0–1500)--a collaboration with David Reich (Harvard) and archaeologists and heritage professionals from all over Europe. The first results are highly promising and will soon appear in further publications, including with Cambridge University Press.

Rutgers is known for his interdisciplinary approach, bringing together archaeology, history, the natural sciences, and digital methods, particularly in his work on the Jewish and early Christian catacombs of Rome. He has previously directed archaeological projects such as The Rise of Christianity and Reconfiguring Diaspora, whose results attracted worldwide attention, including coverage in Nature, as well as the theme group Diaspora, Migration, and the Sciences: A New Integrated Approach at the Netherlands Institute for Advanced Research. 

His research focuses on themes such as migration, diaspora, cultural interaction, and the position of religious minorities. In addition, he develops innovative digital platforms, among them a geo-spatial model for Jewish migration in collaboration with the Digital Humanities Lab at Utrecht University. He is member of the Pontificia Accademia Romana di Archeologia and the Royal Holland Society of Sciences and Humanities and has edited the Cambridge Encyclopedia of Late Antique Art and Archaeology.

Public Humanities
Rutgers attaches great importance to sharing research with a wider audience. From 2015 to 2018, he wrote a popular weekly column for the Dutch Financial Times. He has also published three  well-received popular science books on archaeology: Underground Rome (2000), The Classical World in 52 Discoveries (2018, winner of the Homerus Prize and a bestseller), and Israel on the Tiber (2023, awarded as the best book on the art and archaeology of Italy, 2021–2023). A fourth popular-science book, this time on ancient DNA and population genetics, is currently in the making.

Publications

• Israel aan de Tiber. Joods leven in het oude Rome (2022) (translations into English and Italian in preparation)
• De klassieke wereld in 52 ontdekkingen (2018)
• Making Myths. Jews in Early Christian Identity Formation (2009)
• Subterranean Rome: In Search of the Roots of Christianity in the Catacombs of the Eternal City (2000)
• The Hidden Heritage of Diaspora Judaism (1998)

• The Jews in Late Ancient Rome. Evidence of Cultural Interaction in the Roman Diaspora (1995/2000) 

   

Edited Volumes

• Languages of the Jews ( in press)
• Ancient and Medieval Religious Homelands: Essays on Space, Place, and Religion (in preparation).
• The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Late Antique Art and Archaeology  (2 vols., 2025)
• Frontiers. The Transformation and Christianization of the Roman Empire between Center and Periphery. Proceedings of the 17th International Congress of Christian Archaeology (4 vols. 2025)
• Letters in the Dust. The Epigraphy and Archaeology of Medieval Jewish Cemeteries (2023)
• What Athens Has to Do with Jerusalem. Essays on Classical, Jewish, and Early Christian Art and Archaeology in Honor of Gideon Foerster (2002)
• The Use of Sacred Books in the Ancient World (1998)