Autor: Maeve Nic Samhradáin

Department of Evolutionary Anthropology (DEA) Members

Konstantina CHESHMEDZHIEVA

I am currently a PhD student in the Department of Evolutionary Anthropology at the University of Vienna. I hold a Bachelor's degree in Biotechnology Engineering from the University of Food Technologies in Plovdiv, Bulgaria. Driven by my interests in anthropology and genetics, I earned my MSc in Molecular Biology (Bioinformatics track) from the University of Padua in 2023. My master’s thesis centered on developing a novel method for estimating and detecting statistically significant levels of genetic assortative mating in contemporary European populations, utilizing large-scale data from the UK and Estonian biobanks.   Under the supervision of Katerina Douka and Martin Kuhlwilm, my current research focuses on identifying Denisovan presence in Island Southeast Asia and Oceania, generating ancient DNA data from the region and conducting bioinformatic analyses.

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Department of Evolutionary Anthropology (DEA) Members

Florian EXLER

I am a PhD student working on a cooperative project between the Department of Environmental Geosciences and the Department of Evolutionary Anthropology. With a background in chemistry, my research focuses on enhancing lab methods to refine and improve the recovery rates and quality of ancient DNA (aDNA) data. In this context, I also investigate the sources of aDNA and the factors that may influence its preservation. While my work is primarily focused on sedimentary ancient DNA (sedaDNA), my approach also contributes to the study of aDNA from a variety of sources, broadening its potential applications in environmental and archaeological research.  

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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 Evolutionary Anthropology (DEA) Members

Michelle HÄMMERLE

I am a PhD student at the Department of Evolutionary Anthropology at the University of Vienna. After a bachelor’s degree in Molecular Medicine, I completed the master's program in Evolutionary Anthropology here in Vienna. My research interests focus on ancient host and pathogen DNA and I work with both great apes and humans. For my master’s thesis, I investigated DNA viruses in great apes, where I am still doing more research. My PhD project deals with social genomics in underprivileged individuals from Northern Italy, where I will incorporate different datasets, including archaeological and osteological data, to get an insight into the living conditions of the populations studied.

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Department of Prehistoric and Historical Archaeology (IUHA) Members

Doris JETZINGER

I am a PhD candidate at the Department of Prehistoric and Historical Archaeology and a member of the Doctoral School of Historical and Cultural Studies at the University of Vienna. My PhD work is supervised by Michael Doneus and Roderick B. Salisbury. I am a landscape- and geoarchaeologist specialising in the interdisciplinary study of sediment archives and in landscape analysis. My main research interests are the study of landscape histories, human-landscape interactions, formation processes, and chronostratigraphic landscape contexts through interdisciplinary methods and approaches. For my dissertation project “Life of a Landscape”, I am working on the creation of an archaeological landscape biography of the Kreuttal microregion in Lower Austria that focuses on the development of the landscape over the millennia and the formation processes involved. In the course of my PhD project and associated research activities I am developing skills in (p)OSL profiling and dating, sedimentology, geochemistry, and Historic Landscape Characterisation (HLC).    

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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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The Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW) Members

Andrea MEJIA ACEVEDO

I am a PhD student at the University of Vienna, and I currently work for my project at the Austrian Archaeological Institute of the OeAW. I have a Bachelors degree in Chemistry from the National Autonomous University of Mexico, and an Erasmus Mundus Masters in Archaeological Material Sciences. My PhD research focuses on the study of ancient pigment provenance and production in the Mediterranean during the Hellenistic and Roman periods.

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Department of Evolutionary Anthropology (DEA) Members

Anastasia PAPADOGIANNI

I am a PhD candidate in the Department of Evolutionary Anthropology at the University of Vienna, working under the supervision of Katerina Douka (University of Vienna) and Barbara Horejs (Austrian Academy of Sciences). I received my BA in Archaeology and Art History from the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece and my MSc in Archaeological Science from the University of Oxford, UK. My research interests lie in bioarchaeology and biomolecular archaeology (especially palaeoproteomics), for the study of palaeodiet, disease prevalence, and population mobility, mostly in prehistoric contexts. Throughout my studies, I have gained experience both in field and laboratory settings, which I enjoy equally, and I have been trained in the application of various analytical techniques applied on archaeological remains. For my PhD, my research focuses on the study of the emergence of the Neolithic way of life in the Greek peninsula and the Aegean, as well as the broader region of the Balkans. With the application of a multimethod approach on skeletal remains, combining traditional (14C dating, isotopic analyses) and cutting-edge biomolecular methods (palaeoproteomics on dental calculus, ZooMS), my PhD will contribute to the investigation of questions concerning the timing, processes and impact of the Neolithisation processes and the different models of diffusion of the Neolithic across Greece and further afield.    

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Department of Evolutionary Anthropology (DEA) Members

Jana Naomi VOGLMAYR

I am currently a PhD student at the Department of Evolutionary Anthropology at the University of Vienna. After completing my bachelor’s degree in biology with focus on physical anthropology, I obtained my master’s degree at the University of Vienna, specializing in dental anthropology combined with 3D imaging and geometric morphometrics. During my master’s studies, I spent four years working for an excavation company and took part in various archaeological excavations across multiple time periods. In my PhD project, I am focusing on dental morphology using virtual anthropology techniques and geometric morphometric methods, with a particular emphasis on tooth shape types and their relationship to sex and origin.

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Department of Evolutionary Anthropology (DEA) Members

Emily PIGOTT

I am a PhD student at the Department of Evolutionary Anthropology, The Higham lab. My background is in Archaeological Sciences, which I obtained a bachelor’s degree at the University of Bradford, before being a commercial archaeologist for a few years in England, Ireland and Germany. My master’s degree is from Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, in Paleobiology and Geobiology. My master’s thesis was concentrated on using microfossils and isotopes for further understanding the paleo-environment on Paleolithic sites in Lower Austria. My PhD with the Higham lab will involve using different dating techniques and methods to further understand hominins movements, interactions and extinctions in the Middle to Upper Paleolithic across Eurasia.

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Department of Evolutionary Anthropology (DEA) Members

Aigerim RYMBEKOVA

I am a biologist and obtained a Master degree working on population genomics of multiple species including horses, dogs and date palms at University of Bologna. Currently, I am a PhD student in Computational Admixture Genomics group at the University of Vienna. My research interests involve computational approaches to study population history in humans and great apes, particularly admixture between populations.

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Department of Environmental Geosciences (EDGE) Members

Veer Vikram SINGH

I am a Ph.D. candidate at the Department of Environmental Geosciences (EDGE), University of Vienna. I completed my M.Sc. at the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, India, where I studied clay chemistry and mineralogy to understand the formation of bole beds (clay-rich horizons) present in Deccan basaltic flows. My doctoral research is a part of the research platform MINERVA (Mineralogical Preservation of the Human Biome from the Depth of Time), a collaboration between EDGE and the Department of Evolutionary Anthropology of the University of Vienna. In my doctoral research, I am focusing on understanding the roles of environmentally relevant minerals such as clays, iron oxides, hydroxyapatite and calcite in preserving the DNA against the common degradational agents such as nucleases, reactive oxygen species and ionizing radiation. My work will help develop a better understanding of the role of minerals in the long-term preservation of the human genome in the environment.  

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Natural History Museum Vienna (NHM) Members

Kayleigh SAUNDERSON

I am a textile archaeologist primarily conducting research at the Archaeological Textiles Lab at the Natural History Museum Vienna from a wide variety of periods and regions. My focus ranges from fibres to reconstructions, meaning that I investigate raw materials of fibres and using scanning electron microscopy as well as possible trace elements of mordants for dyes. By researching thousands of textiles up to now in the Lab, we have been able to create massive datasets on the technological data of textiles, which allow for relevant statistical analyses. Furthermore, I work with experimental and public archaeology, reconstructing textiles/clothing and presenting our research and our knowledge of past identities to the public, whereby communicating current topics of the textile industry with its environmental and social impacts are of importance.

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Department of Evolutionary Anthropology (DEA) Members

Muhammad Bilal SHARIF

I am a Ph.D. candidate at the Department of Evolutionary Anthropology, University of Vienna. My research interest includes genomic analysis of historical and ancient populations to understand their evolutionary and demographic history. Over the course of my Master's thesis at CIRAD Montpellier France, I specialized in analyzing genomic data using bioinformatical tools especially in estimating ploidy levels, signatures of selection, kinship, and demographic history using coalescent simulations. In my current project, I am working on Roman and Celtic Equids populations using a multidisciplinary approach that involves paleogenomics, standard morphology and geometric morphometrics.

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The Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW) Team Leaders

Mario GAVRANOVIĆ

Mario Gavranović is a prehistoric archeologist with research focus on Metal Ages in Europe and the Balkans in particular. He is Deputy Scientific Director of the Austrian Archaeological Institute at the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Department for Prehistory & WANA Archaeology and leader of the research group “Urnfield Culture Networks”.  In his projects, he explores the interactions, resource managements and burial practices of prehistoric communities by applying the fieldwork and interdisciplinary analytic approach. He is currently running several projects on metallurgy of Bronze Ages and copper distribution networks, radiocarbon dating of urn cemeteries and mobility patterns pf prehistoric groups in southeastern Europe.     Publications Mario Gavranović

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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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Natural History Museum Vienna (NHM) Team Leaders

Karina GRÖMER

I am the  head of the Department of Prehistory, Natural History Museum Vienna. As an archaeologist, I study the material culture of the Neolithic, Bronze and Iron Age in Central Europe, including theoretical aspects like identity, innovation and creativity, functional design theory, visual coding, design concepts, sociological and semiotic studies.  My focus research is on technological, economic and social aspects of  textiles with interdisciplinary research on artefacts from graves, settlements and saltmines, covering a timespan from 2500 BC till 1000 AD and a geographical area from Central Europe to Iran.. I have also the aim  to bridge gaps between research institutions (Universities, Academies) and cultural heritage institutions and am active in various dissemination activities.

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Natural History Museum Vienna (NHM) Team Leaders

Mathias HARZHAUSER

I’m the head of the Geological-Paleontological Department of the Natural History Museum Vienna. My research deals with the paleogeography and the biotic development of the circum-Mediterranean Region and the early Indo-Pacific during the Cenozoic Era with strong focus on integrated stratigraphy. My main taxonomic tool to tackle these questions are marine and terrestrial molluscs. In addition, I’m very active in the popularization of science.  

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The Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW) Team Leaders

Andreas G. HEISS

I am an archaeobotanist, holding a PhD in Biology from the University of Innsbruck. The primary focus of my research is the exploration of the interactions between human cultures and plants, with a particular emphasis on the history of agriculture and food cultures. My research interests also extend to a range of other topics, including but not limited to mining, dyeing, wood use, and ritual practices. Throughout the years of my professional life, I have participated in a considerable number of research projects across Europe and the Mediterranean region. These projects have played a pivotal role in the development of my expertise.   During my academic career I have had the privilege of teaching at three institutions: the University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences, Vienna (BOKU), the University of Vienna, and the University of Applied Arts, Vienna. In 2012 I was honoured with the BOKU Teaching Award and in 2020 I received the Venia Docendi (habilitation) for Archaeobotany at the same university.   As a founding member of the Austrian Bioarchaeological Society (BAG) in 2015 and a current board member, I have been actively contributing to the development of zooarchaeology, archaeobotany, and biological anthropology in Austria. This experience has been both rewarding and fulfilling.   In 2016, I was awarded the opportunity to establish an Archaeobotany Laboratory at…

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Department of Prehistoric and Historical Archaeology (IUHA) Team Leaders

Marta LUCIANI

Marta Luciani is associate professor of Archaeology and History of Western Asia, spokesperson of the Cluster “Archaeology and Material Culture” of the Vienna Doctoral School of Historical and Cultural Studies and UNESCO world heritage list consultant. After heading excavations and surveys in Syria, Turkey and Italy, since the 2010s she directs the Joint Archaeological Project at Qurayyah in Saudi Arabia, the Northwest Sulaimaniyah Survey and excavations at Chemchemal in Iraqi Kurdistan and investigations on finds holdings of the Harvard Museum of the Ancient Near East (Tell el-Kheleifeh, Nuzi). As specialist of the Bronze and Iron Ages, passionate about human (as opposed to artificial) intelligence, she focuses her current research on investigating the formation of complex societies and urbanism in desert environments; through an FWF-funded interdisciplinary project (with OeAI/OeAW, TU Wien and University of Innsbruck) establishing with a multi-site approach ceramic production, use and circulation in NW Arabia and the Greater Levant; through metabolic analysis of ancient residues (with the Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology) reconstructing ancient smellscapes and uses of medicinal and aromatic plants in the past; with BOKU, Wien, FU Berlin, DAI and OeAI/OeAW understanding human-nature (ancient fauna and flora) interplay in the genesis of anthropic landscapes, geomorphology and water resources in arid environments.

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Vienna Institute for Archaeological Science (VIAS) Team Leaders

Günther Karl KUNST

Trained as a palaeontologist working on Ice-Age mammals, I made a change for the “younger stuff” with the founding of VIAS/IDEA in 1994. Since then, I have been involved in various excavation projects in Central Europe, Egypt and Turkey. I prefer excavation projects comprising  complicated archaeological situations, like multiphase buildings or settlements. Here, I like to collaborate with colleagues studying archaeological features and other find groups, especially pottery. I have been a lecturer for archaeozoology for almost three decades on various departments of the University of Vienna (Prehistory and Historic archaeology, Palaeontology, Anthropology). Special interests: taphonomy of buildings and complex settlements; butchery studies; relationships between animal bones and pottery remains

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The Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW) Team Leaders

Kerstin KOWARIK

I am a prehistoric archaeologist and coordinator of the research group Prehistoric Identities at the Department of Prehistory & West Asian/Northeast African Archaeology at Austrian Archaeological Institute of the ÖAW. My research focuses on human-environment interaction, prehistoric dietary patterns, risk management and crisis and coping (natural hazards, physical stress), and Alpine archaeology. I enjoy working in interdisciplinary networks and am especially interested in and developing new innovative research frameworks using bioarchaeological and geoarchaeological approaches to gain new insights the living conditions of Europe’s Metal Ages communities.     Kerstin Kowarik Publications

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Department of Prehistoric and Historical Archaeology (IUHA) Team Leaders

Naoíse MAC SWEENEY

My research focuses on the ancient Greek world and Anatolia, and I am particularly interested in questions concerning migration, mobility, and cultural interaction. My current project (https://www.migmag-erc.eu/) investigates how multi-scalar mobilities contributed to the formation of ancient Greek communities in the first millennium BCE, comparing narrative of migration with evidence from landscape survey for population circulation and regional mobilities. I am working on a project to develop mew digital approaches to modelling regional mobilities using environmental, archaeological, and historical data. Since 2020 I have been a Professor of Classical Archaeology (Greek) at the University of Vienna.

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Department of Evolutionary Anthropology (DEA) Team Leaders

Philipp MITTEROECKER

I am a theoretical biologist, anthropologist, and biostatistician in the Department of Evolutionary Biology at the University of Vienna. I have studied the development and evolution of human and primate anatomy, with medical applications to orthodontics and gynecology. I am particularly interested in the interaction of developmental, environmental, and evolutionary processes. Another current research focus is on human childbirth: an evolutionary conundrum involving biological, environmental, and sociocultural dynamics. My methodological work comprises contributions to geometric morphometrics, multivariate biostatistics, and quantitative genetics.    

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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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The Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW) Team Leaders

Alexandra S. RODLER-RØRBO

I am an archaeological scientist at the Austrian Archaeological Institute of the Austrian Academy of Sciences with a PhD in Geosciences. My research focuses on the organization of ancient colorant networks in view of economic, political and technological changes, currently from late Bronze Age to late Antiquity in the Mediterranean, southwest Asia and Europe. This includes materials of various industries such as mineral pigments, glasses/glazes, metals, and earths, and includes geological fieldwork, experiments, and mineralogical/petrographic and geochemical analyses with a focus on mass spectrometry.  

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Department of Prehistoric and Historical Archaeology (IUHA) Team Leaders

Peter C. RAMSL

Peter C. Ramsl (Priv. Doz., Mag. Dr.) is university assistant specialising in the European Iron Age and is currently leading the FWF project ‘Celts Across The Alps’ (CATA). His research on the European Iron Ages focusses on the identities and social relationships of people, their mobility and possible migrations as well as dietary habits. This is achieved through a combination of interdisciplinary methodological approaches. Current research is also focussing on insights into social and biological gender and the effects of violence and war on societies. As part of the current FWF project, he and his research team are analysing the relationships between La Tène cemeteries from the Traisen valley in Lower Austria and those from northern Italy near Bologna and Mantova. Another interest is landscape archaeology, focussing on the use of the various landscapes of the Iron Age.  

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News

Last terrapins – first turkeys – humans out of place

500 years of building history mirrored by rubble layers, artefacts, bones and documents It started with a rescue excavation of a few weeks in 2004, when the centre of the Nationalpark Donauauen was established in one of the most unique of our Renaissance castles; 17 years later, and coordinated by Nikolaus Hofer from the  Federal Monuments Authority Austria, a team of historians, art historians, archaeologists, stratigraphers and osteologists together assemble a colourful picture, mutually benefitting from each others results; for the first time in Austria, the history of a monumental building could be traced over such a long period - inderdisciplinarity more than an out-dated phrase  

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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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Vienna Institute for Archaeological Science (VIAS) Team Leaders

Michaela SCHAUER

I’m an archaeologist by training, specialised in the chemical analysis of archaeological and geological materials using portable X-ray fluorescence (p-XRF). Recently, I have finished my PhD on LBK and La Hoguette pottery at Ludwig-Maximilians-University (LMU) in Munich, and won the LMU Dissertations Prize of Faculty 9. With more than seven years of experience and over 30 p-XRF related research projects under my belt, I will now continue methodological R&D into the p-XRF technique at VIAS in the framework of a three-year FWF ESPRIT fellowship on “Standardising portable X-ray fluorescence for archaeometry”. My main focus will be on experiments to improve our understanding of instrument handling, particularly in relation to environmental conditions. I will also carry out a series of tests on their application to ancient pottery and sediments. I enjoy discussing methods and approaches, as well as being involved in pottery studies and projects around the world.

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