I am a zooarchaeologists and marine historical ecologist. I joined the University Museum in August 2025 after having completed postdoctoral positions in Trondheim, Paris, and Sapporo. My research primarily focuses on reconstructing ancient whaling practices and the study of the historical ecology of cetaceans (whales, dolphins, and porpoises). For this I apply osteological morphological research, osteometrics, palaeoproteomics (ZooMS and LC-MS/MS), stable isotope analysis, and radiocarbon dating. Other research interests include the study of South American camelid fibres preserved in archaeological textiles, the spread of domesticated animals in Europe, and various other zooarchaeological and historical ecological topics.

In addition, I am the curator for the zooarchaeological osteological collections at the University Museum. This is the largest zooarchaeological collection in Norway and contains millions of specimens from thousands of sites spread over Norway. A searchable database (soon to be updated) lives here.

Academic lecture

• Buss, Danielle Lia; Hurk, Youri van den; Sollid, Eirik et al. (2025). Variation in foraging of North Atlantic right whales and fin whales over the Holocene. (external link)
• Buss, Danielle Lia; Hurk, Youri van den; Sollid, Eirik et al. (2025). Temporal and spatial variation in the foraging preferences of Bowhead whale (Balaena mysticetus), North Atlantic right whale (Eubalaena glacialis) and fin whale (Balaenoptera physalus) using archaeological and museum specimens. (external link)
• Hurk, Youri van den; Buss, Danielle Lia; Seiler, Martin et al. (2024). The demise of the Atlantic grey whale: New biomolecular archaeological findings on an extirpated whale population. (external link)
• Hurk, Youri van den; Collins, Matthew J; Nadeau, Marie-Josee et al. (2022). The Demise of the Atlantic Grey Whale. (external link)

Academic article

• Hurk, Youri van den; Sikström, Fanny; Amkreutz, Luc et al. (2025). Dating the first historic extirpation of a whale species: The demise of the grey whale (Eschrichtius robustus) in the eastern North Atlantic. (external link)
• Dierickx, Katrien Alfred C; Kersten, Oliver Sven; Hurk, Youri van den et al. (2025). Ontogenetic changes and sexual dimorphism in the cranium and mandible of the Atlantic walrus (Odobenus rosmarus rosmarus L.). (external link)
• Buss, Danielle Lia; Dierickx, Katrien; Falahati-Anbaran, Mohsen et al. (2024). Archaeological evidence of resource utilisation of walrus, Odobenus rosmarus, over the past two millennia: A systematic review protocol. (external link)
• Kock, Willemien de; Hurk, Youri van den; Dreshaj, Merita et al. (2024). Sea turtle shells in the Netherlands: Zooarchaeology by mass spectrometry and stable isotope analysis identify species and provenance. (external link)
• Nabais, Mariana; Soares, Rui; Hurk, Youri van den (2024). The Zooarchaeology of ancient whaling practices in Portugal: A review and a new Roman Republican contribution at Castelo Velho de Safara. (external link)
• Dekker, Joannes A. A.; Mylopotamitaki, Dorothea; Verbaas, Annemieke et al. (2024). Palaeoproteomic identification of a whale bone tool from Bronze Age Heiloo, the Netherlands. (external link)
• Hurk, Youri van den; Riddler, Ian; McGrath, Krista et al. (2023). Active Whaling, Opportunistic Scavenging or Long-Distance Trading: Zooarchaeological, Palaeoproteomic, and Historical Analyses on Whale Exploitation and Bone Working in Anglo-Saxon Hamwic. (external link)
• Aiken, Magie; Gladilina, Elena; Çakırlar, Canan et al. (2023). Prehistoric and historic exploitation of marine mammals in the Black Sea. (external link)
• Hurk, Youri van den; Sikström, Fanny; Amkreutz, Luc et al. (2023). The prelude to industrial whaling: Identifying the targets of ancient European whaling using zooarchaeology and collagen mass-peptide fingerprinting. (external link)
• Hurk, Youri van den; Bormetti, Matteo; Maini, Elena (2023). Testing osteometric species determination on zooarchaeological dolphin remains from Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age sites in Ash-Sharqiyyah, Sultanate of Oman. (external link)
• Winter, Rachel M.; Kock, Willemien de; Mackie, Meaghan et al. (2023). Grouping groupers in the Mediterranean: Ecological baselines revealed by ancient proteins. (external link)

Academic literature review

• Buss, Danielle Lia; Hurk, Youri van den; Falahati-Anbaran, Mohsen et al. (2023). Archaeological evidence of resource utilisation of the great whales over the past two millennia: A systematic review protocol. (external link)

See a complete overview of publications in Cristin.

Hurk, Y. van den and Aiken, M., 2025. From Mesolithic Hunters to Medieval Nobility: The Spatiotemporal Exploitation and Changing Role of Harbour Porpoises (Phocoena Phocoena) in Northern Europe. In: Savelle, J.M., Kishigami, N. and Monks, G.G., eds. Subsistence Whaling. Singapore: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-96-3280-0_2 

Hurk, Y. van den, Küchelmann, H.K. and Spindler, L., 2024. Digging into a Biocultural Archive: The Potential and Urgency of Research on Historical Whale Bones illustrated by examples from Bremen. Deutsches Schifffahrtsarchiv, 41, 253-264. https://doi.org/10.14361/9783839475409-006 

Nabais, M., Soares, R.M. and Hurk, Y. van den, 2024. Cetaceans in Portugal: a zooarchaeological review and a new contribution from the Roman Republication levels of Castelo Velho de Safara. PLOS ONE. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0310215 

Buss, D.L., Dierickx, K., Falahati-Anbaran, M., Elliot, D., Rankin, L.R., Whitridge, P., Frasier, B., Richard, J-S., Hurk, Y. van den and Barrett, J.H., 2024. Archaeological evidence of resource utilisation of walrus, Odobenus rosmarus, over the past two millennia: A systematic review protocol. Open Research Europe, 24(4), 86. https://doi.org/10.12688/openreseurope.17197.1 

Dekker, J., Mylopotamitaki, D., Verbaas, A., Sinet-Mahiot, V., Presslee, S., McCarthy, M.L., Olsen, M.T., Olsen, J.V., Hurk, Y. van den, Brattinga, J. and Welker, F., 2024. Palaeoproteomic identification of a whale bone tool from Bronze Age Heiloo, the Netherlands. Peer Community in Archaeology, 100501. https://doi.org/10.1101/2024.04.15.589626 

Kock, W. de, Hurk, Y. van den, Dreshaj, M., Ramsøe, M., Dee, M., Taurozzi, A.J., Palsbøll, P.J. and Çakırlar, C., 2024. Sea turtle shells in the Netherlands: Zooarchaeology by mass spectrometry and stable isotope analysis identify species and provenance. Journal of Island and Coastal Archaeology. https://doi.org/10.1080/15564894.2024.2318553 

Petitguyot, M.A.C., Bearzi, G., Hurk, Y. van den, Tejodor Fuentes, M. and Pierce, G.J., 2024. Intentional killings and culling campaigns of small cetaceans in the Mediterranean Sea and Northeast Atlantic between the 18^th and 20^th century. Oceanography and Marine Biology. CRC Press. http://doi.org/10.1201/9781003477518-2 

Buss, D.L., Hurk, Y. van den, Falahati-Anabran, M., Elliott, D., Evans, S., Frasier, B.A., Mulville, J.A., Rankin, L.K., Stebergløkken, H., Whitridge, P. and Barrett, J.H., 2024. Archaeological evidence of resource utilisation of the great whales over the past two millennia: A systematic review protocol. PLOS One, 18(12), e0295604. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0295604 

Hurk, Y. van den, Sikström, F., Lehouck, A., Martínez Cedeira, J., Moreno, M., Nores, C., Riddler, I., Schmölcke, U., Speller, C., Pis Millán, J.A., Bleasdale, M., Borvon, A., Ephrem, B., Fernández-Rodríguez, C., Gibbs, H., Jonsson, L., Meng, S., Monge, R., Nabais, M., Segschneider, M., Vretemark, M., Wickler, S., Collins, M., Nadeau, M-J. and Barrett, J.H., 2023. The Prelude to Industrial whaling: Utilizing Zooarchaeological Analysis and Collagen Mass-Peptide Fingerprinting to Reconstruct Ancient Whaling and Whale Populations. Royal Society Open Science, 10, 230741. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.230741 

Hurk, Y. van den, Bormetti, E. and Maini, E., 2023. Testing Osteometric Species Determination on Zooarchaeological Dolphin Remains from Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age sites in Ash-Sharqiyyah, Sultanate of Oman. Journal of Island and Coastal Archaeology. https://doi.org/10.1080/15564894.2023.2244913 

Winter, R.M., de Kock, W., Mackie, M., Ramsøe, M., Desiderà, E., Collins, M., Guidetti, P., Presslee, S., Munoz-Alegre, M., Oueslati, T., Morales-Muniz, A., Michailidis, D., Hurk, Y. van den, Taurozzi, A.J., Çakirlar, C., 2023. Grouping groupers in the Mediterranean: ecological baselines revealed by ancient proteins. Ecology & Evolution, 13(10), e10625. https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.10625 

Aiken, M., Gladilina, E., Çakirlar C., Telizhenko, S., Hurk, Y. van den, Bejenaru, L., Olsen, M.T., Gol’din, P., 2023. Prehistoric and Historic Exploitation of Marine Mammals in the Black Sea. Quaternary Science Reviews, 314, 108210. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2023.108210 

Hurk, Y. van den, Riddler, I., McGrath, K. and Speller, C., 2023. Active Whaling, Opportunistic Scavenging or Long-Distance Trading: Zooarchaeological, Palaeoproteomic, and Historical Analyses on Whale Exploitation and Bone Working in Anglo-Saxon Hamwic. Medieval Archaeology, 67(1), 137-158. https://doi.org/10.1080/00766097.2023.2204674 

Brusgaard, N.Ø., Dee, M.W., Dreshaj, M., Erven, J., Hurk, Y. van den, Raemaekers, D. and Çakirlar, C., 2022. Hunting before herding: A zooarchaeological and stable isotopic study of suids (Sus sp.) at Hardinxveld-Giessendam, the Netherlands (5450–4250 cal BC). PLoS ONE, 17(2), e0262557. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0262557 

Hurk, Y. van den, Brusgaard, N.Ø., Erven, J., Slim, F.G., Filioglou, D., Kamjan, S., Kock, W. de, Winter, R. and Çakirlar, C., 2021. One Hundred Years of Zooarchaeology in Groningen. Paleo-aktueel, 31, 107-118. https://doi.org/10.21827/PA.31.107-118 

Hurk, Y. van den and McGrath, K., 2021. Whaling in Iron Age to post-medieval Scotland; a zooarchaeological and biomolecular study of cetacean remains from selected sites in Caithness, the Orkney Islands and the Shetland Islands. Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, 150, 451-474. https://doi.org/10.9750/PSAS.150.1324 

Kitchener, A.C., Szabo, V.E., Buckley, M., Hurk, Y. van den, Mainland, I., Carruthers, M., MacKay, C. and Frasier, B.A., 2021. First records of grey whale, Eschrichtius robustus, from Scotland. Mammal Communications, 7, 17-28. 

Hurk, Y. van den, Rielly, K. and Buckley, M., 2021. Cetacean Exploitation in Roman and Medieval London: Reconstructing Whaling Activities by Applying Zooarchaeological, Historical, and Biomolecular Analysis. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 36, 102795. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2021.102795 

Kamjan, S., Groene, D. de, Hurk, Y. van den, Zidarov, P., Elenski, N., Patterson, W.P. and Çakirlar, C., 2021. The Evolution of Cattle Management along the “Northern Route” of Neolithisation: New Zooarchaeological and Stable Isotope Data from Džuljunica-Smărdeš in northeast Bulgaria. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 36, 102789. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2021.102789 

Genz, H., Damick, A., Wygnańska, Z., Makionson, M., Woodworth, M., Mardini, M., Raad, N., Rutter, A., Alameh, J., Wanessian, B., Rempel, S., Baldi, J., D’Andrea, M., Peršin, M., Kpetzky, K., El Morr, Z, Çakirlar, C., Slim, F., Hurk, Y. van den, Koolstra, F., Price, M., Makarewicz, C., Vanhecke, M., Winter, R., de Kock, W., Stantis, C., Maaranen, N., Peterkin, J., Nowell, G.M., Macpherson, C. and Schutkowski, H., 2021. Excavations at Tell Fadous-Kfarabida: Preliminary Report on the 2016 Season of Excavations. BAAL, 21, 9-93. 

Hurk, Y. van den, Spindler, L., McGrath, K. and Speller, C., 2020. The medieval mammoth: Biomolecular identification of mammoth remains from a Dutch medieval context. Lutra, 63(1/2), 75-79. https://hdl.handle.net/11370/9352f798-5862-4ca8-a612-878c25b7d964 

Hurk, Y. van den, Spindler, L., McGrath, K. and Speller, C., 2020. Medieval Whalers in the Netherlands and Flanders: Zooarchaeological Analysis of Medieval Cetacean Remains. Environmental Archaeology: The Journal of Human Palaeoecology, 27(3), 243-257. https://doi.org/10.1080/14614103.2020.1829296 

Çakirlar, C., Hurk, Y. van den, Jagt, I.M.M. van der, Bakker, J.K., Kootker, L.M., Amerongen, Y.F. van, Groot, M., Esser, E., Dijk, J. van, Breider, R., Jong, T.P.J. de, Steenhuisen, F., Zeiler, J.T., Prummel, W., Lauwerier, R.C.G.M., Kolfschoten T. van, 2019. Animal and People in the Netherlands’ Past: >50 years of archaeozoology in the Netherlands. Open Quaternary, 5(13). http://doi.org/10.5334/oq.61.

Frantz, L.A.F., Haile, J., Lin, A.T., Scheu, A., Geörg, C., Benecke, N., Alexander, M., Linderholm, A., Mullin, V.E., Daly, K.G., Battista, V.M., Price, M., Gron, K.J., Alexandri, P., Arbogast, R-M., Arbuckle, B., Bӑlӑşescu, A., Barnett, R., Bartosiewicz, L., Baryshnikov, G., Bonsall, C., Borić, D., Boroneanţ, A., Bulatović, J., Çakirlar, C., Carretero, J-M., Chapman, J., Church, M., Crooijmans, R., De Cupere, B., Detry, C., Dimitrijevic, V., Dumitraşcu, V., du Plessis, L., Edwards, C.J., Erek, C.M., Erim-Özdoğan, A., Ervynck, A., Fulgione, D., Gligor, M., Götherström, A., Gourichon, L., Groenen, M.A.M., Helmer, D., Hongo, H., Horwitz, L.K., Irving-Pease, E.K., Lebrasseur, O., Lesur, J., Malone, C., Manaseryan, N., Marciniak, A., Martlew, H., Mashkour, M., Matthews, R., Matuzeviciute, G.M., Maziar, S., Meijaard, E., McGovern, T., Megens, H-J., Miller, R., Mohaseb, A.F., Orschiedt, J., Orton, D., Papathanasiou, A., Pearson, M.P., Pinhasi, R., Radmanović, D., Ricaut, F-X., Richards, M., Sabin, R., Sarti, L., Schier, W., Sheikhi, S., Stephan, E., Stewart, J.R., Stoddart, S., Tagliacozzo, A., Tasić, N., Trantalidou, K., Tresset, A., Valdiosera, C., Hurk, Y. van den, Van Poucke, S., Vigne, J-D., Yanevich, A., Zeeb-Lanz, A., Triantafyllidis, A., Gilbert, M.T.P., Schibler, J., Rowley-Conwy, P., Zeder, M., Peters, J., Cucchi, T., Bradley, D.G., Dobney, K., Burger, J., Evin, A., Girdland-Flink, L. and Larson, G., 2019. Ancient pigs reveal a near-complete genomic turnover following their introduction to Europe. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 116(35), 17231-17238. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1901169116 

Hurk, Y. van den, Spindler, L., Post, K., Prummel, W. and Speller, C., 2018. Eerste melding van middeleeuwse interactie tussen mens en grijze walvis (Eschrichtius robustus). Cranium, 35(2), 18-32.

Prummel, W., de Vries, L., Laarman, F. and Hurk, Y. van den, 2018. Een gehoorkapsel van een grijze walvis (Eschrichtius robustus) uit Wijster (Dr.). Paleo-aktueel, 29, 43-50. https://doi.org/10.21827/PA.29.43-49 

Groene, D. de, Zidarov, P., Elenski, N., Hurk, Y. van den, Kolfschoten, T. van and Çakirlar, C., 2018. Pigs and humans in Early Neolithic Southeastern Europe: New zooarchaeological and stable isotopic data from late 7^th to early 6^th millennium BC Dzuljanica-Smardes, Bulgaria. Documenta Praehistorica, XLV, 38-60. https://doi.org/10.4312/dp.45.4 

Speller, C., Hurk, Y. van den, Charpentier, A., Rodrigues, A., Gardeisen, A., Wilkens, B., McGrath, K., Rowsell, K., Spindler, L., Collins, M. and Hofreiter, M., 2016. Barcoding the largest animals on earth; on-going challenges and molecular solutions in the taxonomic identifications of ancient cetaceans. Philosophical Transactions B, 371. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2015.0332.