Olivier Nieuwenhuyse (1966-2020) was an archaeologist and expert in the field of Western Asian prehistoric ceramics. At the time of his untimely death, he was a Humboldt Fellow at the Institut für Vorderasiatische Archäologie (Freie Universität Berlin). He was the author of numerous articles on Late Neolithic ceramics and (co-)editor of Climate and Cultural Change in Prehistoric Europe and the Near East (2016), Painting Pots, Painting People (2017) and Relentlessly Plain (2018). Olivier conducted fieldwork in Syria, Lebanon, Turkey, and, most recently, Iraqi Kurdistan.