Faculty

The scholars leading research and teaching on the ancient world.

Derek Kennet

Howard E. Hallengren Professor of Arabian Peninsula and Gulf States Archaeology

Research Interests

Archaeology; Arabia; Early Islam; Indian Ocean; Late Antiquity

Derek Kennet headshot

About

Derek Kennet's research areas include the Arabian peninsula, Late Antiquity, early Islam, responses to arid environments, and the interactions between the Arabian peninsula and adjacent regions and the Indian Ocean. He started his career as the resident archaeologist at the National Museum of Ras al-Khaimah in the UAE and later spent 25 years at Durham University in the UK before moving to Chicago in 2024. He completed his undergraduate studies at Institute of Archaeology in London and his PhD is from the University of London’s School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS). He has coauthored several books, the most recent of which—Southeast Arabia at the Dawn of the Second Millennium: The Bronze Age Communal Graves of Qarn al-Harf, Ras al-Khaimah (UAE)— was published in 2025.

Select Publications

Books

  • Derek Kennet, with Alyson Caine, Anna Hilton, Christian Velde, Lloyd Weeks. Southeast Arabia at the dawn of the second millennium: The Bronze Age collective graves of Qarn al-Harf, Ras al-Khaimah (UAE). Oxford: Oxbow, 2025. With contributions by C. Clegg, H. David-Cuny, H., M. de Vreeze, E. Faber, Y. Feng, D. Goodburn-Brown, M. Jay, P. Macumber, A. Millard, J. Montgomery, A. E. Mortimer, A. D. Nguyen, G. Nowell, S. Ritchie, C. Roberts, H. Russ, J.-X. Zhao.
  • Seth M .N. Priestman and Derek Kennet. Sasanian and Islamic Settlement and Ceramics from Southern Iran 4th–17th Century AD: The Williamson Survey. Oxford: Oxbow, 2023. 
  • Derek Kennet, M. Kasturi Bai, J. Varaprasada Rao. Transformations in Early Historic and Early Medieval India: Excavations at Paithan, Maharashtra 1996–1999. Memoirs of the Archaeological Survey of India. New Delhi: Archaeological Survey of India, 2019.
  • Derek Kennet, M. Kasturi Bai, J. Varaprasada Rao. 2020. Excavations at Paithan, Maharashtra: Transformations in Early Historic and Early Medieval India. Beyond Boundaries 5: Religion, Region, Language and the State. Berlin: De Gruyter, 2020.
  • Alastair Northedge and Derek Kennet. Archaeological Atlas of Samarra. Samarra Studies 2. London: British Institute for the Study of Iraq, 2015.