Willemijn Waal

Willemijn J.I. Waal (b. 1975 to Cornelis Jan Dirk Waal and Iris Schuddebeurs) is a Dutch Hittitologist and Classicist. She is known especially for her work on Hittite administrative practice and the development of early scripts, including Luwian hieroglyphic^[1] and the Greek alphabet.

Having taught at various universities, including the Ludwig Maximilian Universität München and the VU University Amsterdam, she currently is an associate professor at Leiden University^[2] and (from 1 January 2020 onwards) director of the Netherlands Institute for the Near East.^[3]

Waal received various grants for her research, including fellowships from Cambridge University's CREWS project,^[4] the Institute of Aegean Prehistory and the Swiss Foundation Luwian Studies.^[5]

Her doctoral thesis was published in 2015 as Hittite Diplomatics: Studies in Ancient Document Format and Record Management.^[6]

She is co-editor, along with Jorrit M. Kelder, of From 'Lugal.Gal' to 'Wanax': kingship and political organisation in the Late Bronze Age Aegean, a work discussing Hittite evidence for the nature of Myceanaen Greek society.^[7]