Monat: Januar 2022

Vienna Institute for Archaeological Science (VIAS) Members

Magdalena BLANZ

I am a postdoctoral researcher at the Vienna Institute for Archaeological Science (VIAS), where I work on stable isotope ratios of bioarchaeological remains. Originally trained as an environmental analytical chemist, my interests have always been in analysing archaeological remains. For my PhD I focussed on the identification and interpretation of seaweed consumption by terrestrial mammals in archaeological contexts. During my postdoc, I am researching the first introductions of domesticated animals and plants into Europe, focussing on dietary patterns and plant growth conditions. I am particularly interested in method development and acquiring modern reference data for stable isotope ratio studies.

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Department of Evolutionary Anthropology (DEA) Members

Bernhard FINK

Bernhard Fink received his PhD in Biological Anthropology from the University of Vienna (Austria). He then moved to the University of Göttingen (Germany) where he held prestigious grants from the German Science Foundation (DFG) to investigate the social perception of human facial/body morphology and body movements, such as dance and gait. His work comprises the study of cross-cultural similarities and differences in human social perception, including research in pre-industrialized (small-scale) societies. Bernhard has worked extensively on digit ratio (2D:4D), a supposed proxy for prenatal androgenization. Together with John Manning (Swansea University), he examines 2D:4D relationships with sex-dependent traits across nations in a large sample from the BBC internet study.

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Department of Evolutionary Anthropology (DEA) Members

Dominik HAGMANN

Dominik Hagmann is currently working on several projects, primarily focusing on Roman archaeology in Austria, and is a lecturer at the Department of Evolutionary Anthropology (University of Vienna). Since 2023, Dominik has been a principal investigator in the ÖAW-funded Go!Digital 3.0 long-term-archiving project IUENNA at the kärnten.museum, together with his colleague Franziska Reiner (ÖAI). In 2022, he obtained a Ph.D. degree (with honors) from the University of Vienna (Doctoral School for Cultural and Historical Studies) on his thesis "Roman Rural Landscapes in Noricum. Archaeological Studies on Roman Settlements in the Hinterland of Northern Noricum." As an archaeologist, Dominik focuses on Roman studies in terms of settlement and landscape archaeology in the Danube Basin, implementing state-of-the-art digital and interdisciplinary methods in his research. He participated in numerous field campaigns in Central and Southern Europe and the Middle East during third-party-funded international and national research projects.

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Department of Evolutionary Anthropology (DEA) Members

Xin HUANG

I am an evolutionary biologist and has been working on method development for solving different problems with population genomic data, including detecting positive selection, estimating strength of natural selection, quantifying time-varying selective pressures, inferring the distribution of fitness effects, and detecting archaic admixture. I will continue to investigate many other interesting topics in the future.

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Vienna Institute for Archaeological Science (VIAS) Members

Emily J. KATE

Emily J. Kate is bioarchaeologist specializing in radiocarbon dating, isotopic studies of paleodiet and migration, human osteology and paleodemography, and has worked with projects from Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, and in Europe. Her interests include the manner in which paleodietary variation and changing trends can be used to assess shifts in social structure, political organization, and resilience, the effects of long-distance migration on the social and political landscape of societies, and the refinement of regional chronologies through targeted radiocarbon programs and Bayesian modeling. Emily is currently the Project Coordinator for the ERC funded SUSTAIN project at the Vienna Institute for Archaeological Science and is also an editor for the Cambridge University Press book series, Elements in Ancient and Premodern Economies.

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Department of Evolutionary Anthropology (DEA) Members

Lumila Paula MENÉNDEZ

I am a biological anthropologist specialized in human evolution and biocultural diversity in the Americas. I was born in Argentina, where I also conducted my studies and most of my training. Currently, I am leading two projects, one funded by the German Foundation for Scientific Research (DFG), aims to study cranial variation in individuals from South America, for evaluating the role of evolutionary and ecological factors during the human diversification across the whole Holocene; and the other, funded by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), points to validate virtual anthropology protocols for contributing in the forensic human identification in Mexico. To tackle these issues, I apply imagining techniques, geometric morphometrics methods, as well as multivariate statistics, and I work interdisciplinary collaborating with archaeologists, geneticists, forensic experts, biologists, linguists, and philosophers of science.

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Department of Evolutionary Anthropology (DEA) Members

José-Miguel TEJERO

José-Miguel Tejero is an archaeologist specialising in Upper Palaeolithic hunter-gatherer societies and their osseous raw material exploitation. He is currently Ramón Y Cajal Program Senior Researcher at the University of Barcelona (Spain) and Senior Research Fellow at the Department of Evolutionary Anthropology of the University of Vienna. His current research, funded by the FWF, focuses on bone and antler hunting weapons and their significance in adaptative environmental strategies of the first anatomically modern humans colonising Eurasia by combining archaeological, palaeogenetic, palaeoproteomics, and radiodating methods. His work also involves the bone equipment of the Western-European societies at the late Upper Palaeolithic (Magdalenian) and the last Levantine hunter-gatherer groups, beginning to practice the sedentarism (Natufian). He is the research leader of the interdisciplinary and international team for the study and publication of one of the most critical Near East Natufian sites: Einan–Ain-Mallaha (Jordan Valley, Israel), funded by the Shelby White and Leon Levy Foundation.

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Archive Events

HEAS Workshop

The HEAS Workshops are intended to introduce basics of techniques/methods in a concise format to other colleagues, no matter if they come from the same discipline or from completely different fields. The typical workshop is a one-day event (but can be longer) and includes a theoretical part (mostly to make participants familiar with terms and procedures), and importantly, much practical work. After a workshop one should have a good idea what can be achieved with a particular technique or method, what the main inputs and outputs are, and where it links to other fields.   HEAS Workshops can be organized in an online or hybrid format and are offered within our network without costs. For external participants we charge a fee of € 100/day. All workshops come with a maximum number of attendees. It is necessary to register in advance.     One example for a HEAS workshop would be:   Title                                                                                             Location              Max. no. of participants 3D shape and form analysis (EVAN Toolbox)                          Online                     15    

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Research

HEAS Seed Grants

Our HEAS Seed Grant initiative will support pilot projects that will induce more collaborative work in our network. We want to keep it simple and unbureaucratic. Applications for the HEAS Seed Grants will be accepted three times a year. The deadlines for 2024 are 29th February, 30th June and 31st October. Applications are open to all HEAS PhDs, Postdocs, and PIs. Each seed grant will be for a sum up to € 3,000. There will be a minimum of three Seed Grants offered each time. You may submit up to two submissions if: You don't already have an active HEAS Seed Grant from a previous round You are not the lead on both (i.e. you can be a lead on one and a collabarator on another) Proposals will be evaluated by all members of the HEAS Management Board, the best three proposals will be funded. Grantees will be announced in the NEWS Section of the HEAS website. Guidelines The short proposals should have: 1 or 2 pages maximum, provide a summary of what will be done, what the target of the pilot project is (e.g., preparation for grant applications, proof of concept, etc.), and particularly should make clear the bridging aspect of the intended interdisciplinary work in the framework of HEAS. Budget: Please include a breakdown of items in the budget part of…

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Department of Evolutionary Anthropology (DEA) Members

Sonja WINDHAGER

Sonja Windhager is a trained biologist and lecturer in Evolutionary Anthropology at the University of Vienna. Her research focus is on geometric morphometric approaches to human facial shape and interpersonal perception. This includes an interest in modern imaging techniques to study human facial form in two and three dimensions. The emphasis is on the use of calibrated morphs in intra- and cross-cultural research. Furthermore, she investigates human social behavior in the context of biophilia and the urban environment.

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Department of Evolutionary Anthropology (DEA) Members

Tobias GÖLLNER

Tobias Göllner investigates the peopling of Asia via genetic ancestry, population structure, demography and selection. Currently he works together with the Maniq, a primary hunter-gatherer community of Southeast Asia to uncover their genetic history, admixture, and archaic introgression. Further topics of investigation will be selection and adaptation to a hunter-gatherer lifestyle in the rainforest. (PhD Supervisors: Martin Fieder and Helmut Schaschl)

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Department of Prehistoric and Historical Archaeology (IUHA) Members

Doris JETZINGER

I am a PhD student working as a University Assistant at the Department of Prehistory and Historical Archaeology. In 2021, I received my master’s degree from the University of Vienna, analysing two block-excavated child burials from the Middle Neolithic Lengyel Culture. Apart from human remains, my main research interests include landscape archaeology and geoarchaeology as well as human-landscape interactions. My PhD project focuses on modelling and reconstructing landscape change, erosion, and preservation conditions of and around Middle Neolithic sites from their construction until the present. I enjoy fieldwork and desktop-based work in equal measures and like to collaborate with colleagues from different (sub-)disciplines, which is a great way for continuously broadening my horizon.

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Vienna Institute for Archaeological Science (VIAS) Members

Nisa Iduna KIRCHENGAST

Nisa Kirchengast studied Classical Archaeology, Prehistory and Historical Archaeology, and Biology at the University of Vienna. Since 2017 she has been working freelance on zooarchaeological material in Austria and Italy. Since 2021 she is a PraeDoc assistant and fellow at the Doctoral School of Historical and Cultural Studies at the University of Vienna. Her PhD project is about Roman food supply and distribution systems of animal products in the Danubian provinces. Nisa's research focuses on butchery studies, taphonomy, animal husbandry practices, foodways, Human-Animal interactions, trade and supply networks.

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Department of Evolutionary Anthropology (DEA) Members

Victoria OBERREITER

I have completed my master’s program in Evolutionary Anthropology at the University of Vienna and I am currently a PhD student in Ron Pinhasi’s group. My research is part of the research platform MINERVA (Mineralogical Preservation of the Human Biome) which studies the interactions of ancient DNA (aDNA) with and protection by diverse mineral phases. I am currently specializing in extracting aDNA from archeological sediments with a specific focus on paleolithic cave sites. The obtained metagenomic data allow me to study human population history and occupations even at sites lacking human remains.  

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Department of Evolutionary Anthropology (DEA) Team Leaders

Pere GELABERT

I am a Researcher in paleogenomics focusing on the study of genetic data from different sources. I am primarily interested in analyzing genomic data from past environments or populations that can be co-analyzed together with other disciplines to answer questions linked to cultural evolution and health status assessment of ancient populations. I am currently working on projects related to past microbiomes and populations as well on the analysis of ancient environmental genomic data of human-related environments

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Department of Evolutionary Anthropology (DEA) Members

Magdalena T. SRIENC-ŚCIESIEK

I am a PhD candidate and the Anthropology Lab Manager at the Austrian Archaeological Institute- Austrian Academy of Sciences. My doctoral research focuses on the early medieval Eastern Alpine region and will look at how the transitional period influenced health and diet as well as mobility in southern Austria and northern Slovenia. I am interested in palaeopathology and recreating the life history of individuals and communities.

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Department of Evolutionary Anthropology (DEA) Team Leaders

Elmira MOHANDESAN

I am a principal investigator at the Department of Evolutionary Anthropology (University of Vienna). My research interests mainly cover the topics related to population and conservation genomics, phylogenetics and animal domestication. Particularly, in my research group, we generate and analyze non-human paleogenomic data to address various evolutionary, and socio-cultural questions, many of which cannot be well-addressed by ancient DNA studies of humans alone. I have been working on ancient specimens from various species, such as human, cave bear, chimpanzee, iconic New Zealand Tuatara, Arabian camels and horses. In my current project, we are researching on the Palaeogenomics of Roman Equids, using a multidisciplinary approach.

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Network Associates Department of Evolutionary Anthropology (DEA)

Verena SCHÜNEMANN

My research is centered around ancient DNA retrieved from a wide range of samples to better understand pathogen-host-environment interactions across time and to trace back the evolutionary history of pathogens. Furthermore, I also work on ancient genomics of domesticated plants and animals from various time periods as well as on ancient microbiomes.    

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Department of Evolutionary Anthropology (DEA) Members

Petra ŠIMKOVÁ

I am a PhD student at the Department of Evolutionary Anthropology at the University of Vienna. After finishing my bachelor's studies focused on skeletal morphology and paleopathology at Comenius University in Bratislava, I obtained my Master's degree at the University of Vienna, with the main focus on dental anthropology in combination with 3D imaging and geometric morphometrics. In my PhD research, I continue focusing on dental anthropology and morphology of hominids, working by means of virtual anthropology and geometric morphometrics.

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Department of Evolutionary Anthropology (DEA) Vienna Institute for Archaeological Science (VIAS) Members

Brina ZAGORC

I am an archaeologist and currently a PhD student in Ron Pinhasi's Lab group. My research areas include studying relationships between and within past societies, and I am especially interested in the field of bioarchaeology of children. The main focus of my PhD project is to observe sex-specific variations in subadult health status during Antiquity and Early Medieval times. My work includes aDNA analysis and other bioarchaeological methods where I compare the occurrence of physiological stress indicators, and other paleopathological indicators of bad health, in relation to the biological sex of the studied individuals. This will help me address questions on upbringing, weaning patterns, and overall health of the subadult population in the past.

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