We are pleased to share that a HEAS member, Muhammad Bilal Sharif, has successfully completed his PhD under the supervision of Dr. Elmira Mohandesan and Prof. Katrin Schaefer. He defended his thesis "The Threads of Time in Equine Management: A Genetic Exploration of Iron Age and Roman Equids, and New Zealand's Feral Horses" on January 5th, 2024. Congratulations to Dr. Sharif on this remarkable achievement!
Congratulations to HEAS member Pere Gelabert who was awarded the FWF Stand Alone grant titled " Social genomics in Late Antique and Early-Medieval societies" A Phd Position has been created due to this funding, for details see here
Caves have long served as critical habitats for both humans and carnivores during the Pleistocene. Traditionally, research has focused primarily on humans, often overlooking the role of carnivores in these ecosystems. Additionally, carnivores are frequently absent from the archaeological record as their activities may not leave behind remains indicating they perished in caves. Pere Gelabert’s SHADOWS project aims to broaden our understanding of how these carnivores coexisted with humans, competed for resources, and ultimately faced extinction. The project will utilize advanced techniques such as high spatiotemporal precision sampling for sediment DNA and paleoproteomics. This research will enhance our knowledge of the biological processes leading to extinction and offer crucial insights for the protection of critically endangered species today. The team will generate comprehensive data on these species, particularly focusing on their later occurrences, to detail the process of genetic erosion. Additionally, the team will develop models to better explain carnivore-human interactions and co-evolutionary patterns, aspects that are essential for understanding Paleolithic societies Pere Gelabert is a biologist who earned his PhD in Biomedicine from Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona, Spain, in 2018. Since 2019, he has been conducting research as a postdoctoral fellow at the Department of Evolutionary Anthropology of the University of Vienna. He has established himself as an author of several publications in the field of paleogenomics. In…
The landscape of present-day Austria was shaped by the ice ages, the last of which ended around 10,000 years ago. Modern scientific methods allow us to gain an insight into these processes long before historical records exist. One controversial question to date has been how long Lake Neusiedl has existed. Because there was no reliable evidence, estimates ranged from thousands to millions of years. In a joint endeavour, scientists from four Austrian universities have now succeeded in narrowing down the age of Lake Neusiedl to around 25,000 years. Stephanie Neuhuber from the Institute of Applied Geology at the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences (BOKU) Vienna, under whose leadership the study was carried out, is surprised by this age, which coincides with the peak of the last ice age, as it was actually particularly dry at that time. The age was determined by radiocarbon dating of carbonate minerals formed in the lake water and deposited in mud on the lake bed. Read more here Read full paper
On October 24, 2023 at Stony Brook University, the seventh Rohlf Medal for Excellence in Morphometric Methods and Applications will be awarded to Philipp Mitteroecker, Professor of Biostatistics and Biometrics in the Department of Evolutionary Biology at the University of Vienna, Austria. Since receiving his Ph.D. in 2007, Mitteroecker's research has spanned a remarkable range of today's biological questions from his broadly biostatistical-morphometric point of view. His contributions combine advances in the foundations of morphometric representations and inferences with applications across a great variety of examples in evolutionary and developmental biology. Recent work incorporates additional types of data (genomics, volume imaging, perceptions of faces) and, lately, one particularly salient bridge between human evolution and public health (the topic of Caesarian section and the "obstetrical dilemma''). His published work, widely cited in the field, and his appearances in broadcast and online media, have broadened the participation of morphometrics in the biological sciences. For these reasons, the committee has selected Professor Phillip Mitteroecker as the 2023 Rohlf Medal Recipient. Stony Brook University Provost's Lecture Series: Philipp Mitteroecker - YouTube
In a new study in Journal of Paleolithic Archaeology, HEAS member Philip R. Nigst together with an international team, presents on their fieldwork and laboratory research at Ollersdorf-Heidenberg, an Upper Palaeolithic open-air site in Lower Austria. The site was dated to the time leading up to the Last Glacial Maximum. The Middle Danube region is a key area for understanding Upper Palaeolithic hunter-gatherer behaviours in a climatic context due to its long loess–palaeosol sequences and rich archaeological record spanning from the onset of the Upper Palaeolithic to the Last Glacial Maximum and beyond. Recently, new approaches focusing on high-resolution studies of the stratigraphy, geoarchaeological studies at microscopic scale and investigations of organic matter at molecular scale (biomarker analyses) have shown great new insights in human behaviour. Many sites in the Middle Danube region have been excavated a long time ago without opportunity to apply such approaches. The aim of this paper is to introduce Ollersdorf-Heidenberg, a loess open-air site. The site is located ~ 26 km northeast of Vienna close to the Morava River valley and preserves several Upper Palaeolithic archaeological horizons. The site has been known since a pipeline construction in 1998. Here, we report the first results of new research at the site including new excavations in two trenches. We describe and analyse the stratigraphy, present a first radiocarbon date,…
HEAS Team Leader Sylvia Kirchengast (Department of Evolutionary Anthropology) has recently received new funding from the Austrian Science Fund (FWF)’s 1000 Ideas Program. Her research project, „Gender-associated infant mortality in archaeological samples“, will examine the still unexplained female deficit in prehistoric and historic cemeteries. The demographic interpretation of prehistoric and historic cemeteries is challenged by a frequent female deficit, with male skeletons often outnumbering female skeletons by a factor of two or more, contrary to expected natural sex ratios. Methodological issues such as inaccurate morphological sex diagnosis and possibly faster decomposition of female skeletons have been suggested but remain unproven. Additionally, gender stereotypes may influence the sex classification of human remains. Sylvia's interdisciplinary project posits a new explanation: the female deficit is not a methodological artifact but a result of the subordinate role of women in patriarchal societies. This deficit may stem from lower societal investment in female offspring or from deliberate neglect. The project explores this question through interdisciplinary collaboration between Roman Archaeology and Biological Anthropology. The team, consisting of HEAS members Sylvia Kirchengast, Dominik Hagmann, and other experts from HEAS and beyond, will analyze a Roman-era cemetery from today’s Wels, Austria, known for its female deficit. The research will include aDNA analysis of subadult individuals to detect excess female mortality, 14C dating, and material culture…
Leprosy is a chronic infectious disease that continues to sicken 200,000 people each year in many places around the world, according to the World Health Organization, spread through close contact over months with someone who has untreated leprosy. But new evidence from archaeological sites in the medieval English city of Winchester reported in Current Biology on May 3, 2024, shows that English red squirrels once served as an important host for the Mycobacterium leprae strains responsible for leprosy in people. The findings may have implications for understanding the spread of leprosy today, including why it has not been successfully eradicated, according to the researchers. In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, they also highlight the importance of a collaborative One Health approach for understanding infectious diseases and health outcomes more broadly. One Health refers to an approach that recognizes that the health of people is closely linked to the health of animals and the environment. Read Press Release Link to article
The oldest known genome of a bacterium from a family that causes diseases such as syphilis has been identified in prehistoric human remains from Brazil, a Nature paper reveals. The finding helps to shed light on the origins of this disease group. Closely related but distinct subspecies of Treponema pallidum bacteria cause different types of treponemal disease, such as venereal syphilis and a non-sexually transmitted disease known as bejel. The origins of these diseases are debated: some argue that the syphilis epidemic in late 15th century Europe arose after Columbus’ expeditions introduced the bacteria from the Americas. Previous theories of the emergence of these diseases have been based on studies of ancient bone pathology but definitive evidence to identify the causative subspecies has eluded researchers. Verena Schuenemann and colleagues extracted DNA from four individuals from a nearly 2,000-year-old Brazilian burial site and were able to reconstruct the genomes of T. pallidum bacteria that had infected them. Their analysis revealed that the pathogen responsible was most closely related to the modern species that causes bejel. The finding adds strength to previous suggestions that civilizations in the Americas experienced treponemal infections in pre-Columbian times, and that treponemal disease was already present in the New World at least 500 years before Columbus set sail. The study does not shed light on the emergence…
Congratulations to HEAS member Elmira Mohandesan on winning the first prize of the Photo Contest "Pictures of Life (Sciences)", featuring extraordinary and exciting snapshots of research at the Faculty of Life Sciences. Her photograph "Eat the Wind" (credit: Jan Maree Vodanovich) illustrates New Zealand feral Kaimanawa horses being mustered by helicopter, limiting the population size to protect the native ecosystem, in which several endangered species of plants live. The picture will be displayed in the Dean's office, and Elmira will be presented with a professional print of her photo.
HEAS Member Michelle Haemmerle recently won a poster prize for her work on the 'Monkeypox virus in museum samples of orangutans' at the VDSEE Symposium in the University of Vienna Biology Building (UBB). The publication the poster was based on was published earlier this month.
HEAS Team Leader Mario Gavranović was recently awarded an FWF grant for his project on Beyond the Burial where he will work with other HEAS Team Leaders Ron Pinhasi and Mathias Mehofer. Beyond the burial: Contextualizing the first Late Bronze and Iron Age graves in central Bosnia Research context This project focuses on the intensive evaluation of the recently uncovered inhumation graves in a mountain region of the Balkans in the central part of Bosnia. In contrast to investigated settlements that indicate a dense occupation in the Late Bronze and Iron Age (1200–200 BC), intact burials were never documented in the area. Hence, our knowledge was based on sporadic, destroyed finds with no information about interred individuals, mortuary practices or graves. The situation fundamentally changed with our work in the Zenica Basin of the Bosna River and, in particular, with the excavation of the Kopilo cemetery that offers data for this interdisciplinary project. Research questions For the first time, there is an exceptional opportunity to gain a profound insight into the funerary customs of the prehistoric population in this part of the Balkans. Particularly, the fact that the local communities did not practice prevailing cremation at that time in Europe raises questions about their role in the framework of the transition from the Bronze to Iron Age between Central…
HEAS deputy head Ron Pinhasi, has been awarded an FWF grant for his project on Geochemical ENhancEment of Ancient DNA from SedImentS along with Stephan Kraemer, Richard Kimber and Benjamin Vernot. More information here.
HEAS members Karina Grömer and Katharina Rebay-Salisbury recently had their work featured in the Austrian Newspaper Der Standard. Read full article (in German) here
HEAS Team leaders Michaela Schauer and Irmgard Hein et al. have recently published a Cambridge Elements booklet on Ceramic Analysis: Laboratory Methods. Link to the publication is here. This Element, authored by a team of specialist researchers, provides an overview of the various analytical techniques employed in the laboratory for the examination of archaeological ceramic materials. Pottery represents one of the earliest technical materials used by humans and is arguably the most frequently encountered object in archaeological sites. The original plastic raw material, which is solidified by firing, exhibits a wide range of variations in terms of production methods, material, form, decoration, and function. This frequently presents significant challenges for archaeologists. In modern laboratories, a variety of archaeometric measurement methods are available for addressing a wide range of archaeological questions. Examples of these include determining the composition of archaeological materials, elucidating the processes involved in manufacturing and decoration, estimating the age of archaeological material, and much more. The sections present available methods for analysing pottery, along with an exploration of their potential application.
In the article recently published in Nature Communications, the team looked at the dynamics of Late Neolithic and Copper Age (4,800-3,900 BCE) Carpathian populations. The study revealed that, despite contemporaneity and geographical proximity, individual communities can display very different patterns. The site of Tiszapolgár-Basatanya (present-day Hungary) was represented by numerous, close familial relationships with high levels of consanguinity, whereas the cemetery of Urziceni-Vamă (present-day Romania), located only about 100 km away, was represented by a genetically diverse population, with indications of a matrilocal society. https://www.heas.at/research/publications/ancient-dna-reveals-diverse-community-organizations-in-the-5th-millennium-bce-carpathian-basin/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wl0eefznpyw&t=4s
A new study by HEAS members Nicole Grunstra, Philipp Mitteroecker and Anne Le Maître, published in Nature Communications, showed clear evidence of convergent evolution over phylogenetic signal in the inner ear of mammals. The shape of the bony labyrinth - the osseous moulding of the inner ear - remains intensively studied in humans and extinct hominins in order to study adaptation and phylogenetic relationships. This macroevolutionary study of different evolutionary signals in the mammalian inner ear provides a relevant evolutionary context for human inner ear variation. https://www.heas.at/research/publications/convergent-evolution-in-afrotheria-and-non-afrotherians-demonstrates-high-evolvability-of-the-mammalian-inner-ear/ [caption id="attachment_3905" align="alignnone" width="300"] credit: Nikolay Usik[/caption]
HEAS members Ron Pinhasi and Olivia Cheronet et al. published a paper in Nature on High continuity of forager ancestry in the Neolithic period of the eastern Maghreb. The study published in Nature and co-led by Ron Pinhasi, University of Vienna, David Reich and Mark Lipson, Harvard Medical School, Alfredo Coppa, Sapienza University of Rome, and Giulio Lucarini, National Research Council of Italy, analyzed genome-wide data for nine individuals from the Later Stone Age through the Neolithic period from the eastern Maghreb (Algeria and Tunisia). Their results challenge the assumption that the region was merely a passive recipient of Neolithic influences - instead, they identified a striking pattern of continuity. Read More https://www.heas.at/research/publications/high-continuity-of-forager-ancestry-in-the-neolithic-period-of-the-eastern-maghreb/
In a new study in Current Biology, HEAS members So Jung Han and Martin Kuhlwilm together with an international team, improve our understanding of bonobos. Bonobos are, together with chimpanzees, our closest living relatives, but the genetic structure of their population was so far not well understood. They show that three genetically distinct bonobo groups of inferred Central, Western and Far-Western geographic origin exist within the bonobo range. Their split times are up to ~145,000 years ago, which similar to that of some chimpanzee subspecies. This highlights the need of attention to bonobo substructure, which is fundamental both to understand their evolutionary past and preserve their future. https://www.heas.at/research/publications/deep-genetic-substructure-within-bonobos/ Press Release (In German) More information
We are very happy to celebrate the achievements of our HEAS PhD candidates. In the Department of Evolutionary Anthropology alone we have had three defenses in the past few months with one more due to take place in the coming months. Constanze Schattke is currently in the last stages and wrapping up her PhD, aiming for her defense to take place later this year/ summer. It is about violence in osteological human remains collections in museums. Supervisors are Sabine Eggers (NHM Wien) and Harald Wilfing (Uni Wien). Victoria Oberreiter's defense was on Dec 18th and the title of her thesis is „Mineralogical Preservation of the Human Biome from the Depth of Time“, supervised by Ron Pinhasi and Thomas Rattei. Dr Oberreiter is currently working at the Genetics Lab at VetMed having previously hosted and produced the HEAS Podcast. Petra Šimková defended her theis on the 21st October 2024. The title of her thesis was Morphological variation and covariation in the human postcanine dentition. Her supervisor was Gerhard Weber. Dr Šimková is now working on an FWF Project on 3D morphology of human permanent and deciduous dentition Brina Zagorc 's defense was on the 7th January 2025 and her thesis title was: Tracing Life in Antiquity and Early Medieval Times: Paleogenomics, Dietary Stable Isotopes and Bioarchaeological Approaches in Central European Populations …
by Prof. Tom Higham, head of HEAS. The visit of the world-famous Lucy skeleton to Prague in October 2025 led to the idea of a HEAS fieldtrip to the Czech Republic. “Lucy” is the remarkably complete Australopithecus afarensis skeleton discovered in 1974 at Hadar, Ethiopia, and dated to about 3.2 million years ago. Her partial skeleton, 25% preserved, provided clear evidence of habitual bipedalism—walking upright long before the evolution of large brains. She is a cornerstone discovery in understanding human evolution. In October, her remains were loaned to the National Museum in Prague; the first time she has been to Europe. In addition, the remains of the famous Dikika child “Selam” were also loaned. These are the remains of another A. afarensis hominin, this time a 3 year old child, slightly older than Lucy. Twenty-one HEAS members made the trip. We divided into two groups; the first went for the day to see Lucy and the National Museum. The second group went for two days, to visit the scientific laboratories at the Nuclear Physics Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences (NPI), where the Czech Radiocarbon Lab is based, and then the National Museum the following day. The science labs are located outside Prague on a very picturesque site along the river Vitava. It was a…
Congratulations to HEAS member Laura van der Sluis and HEAS Team Leader Pere Gelabert on being awarded the Young Investigator Award 2023. The Young Investigator Award is an initiative of the Faculty of Life Sciences at the University of Vienna designed to honour young postdoctoral scientists publishing in the top journals of their field. Award recipients are selected based on their publication output.
In August 2023, the Late Bronze Age gold finds from Ebreichsdorf, Austria, will be donated to the Natural History Museum Vienna by the Austrian Federal Railways. Within this framework, a conference on prehistoric gold finds will take place at the NHM on August 18-20, 2023. It would be nice to welcome you at this. Below you will find the program and the registration form for participation. Please send in the registrations by 15st June 2023 here Ahead of the symposium, the Federal Monuments Authority Austria hosts their annual expert round table on the topic "Finds – Reports – Treasures. Archaeological preservation of monuments in the pandemic years" at Mauerbach, Lower Austria, on Thursday, 17th August 2023. Contact for the expert talk Eva Steigberger With best regards from the Natural History Museum Vienna Karina Grömer Alexandra Krenn-Leeb Michaela Binder Einladung zum Internationalen Symposium The Gold Treasure of Ebreichsdorf Registration Save the date
HEAS Partner Institution, the Department of Prehistoric and Historical Archaeology/Urgeschichte und Historische Archäologie Wien (IUHA) has new social media accounts. Please follow them for updates on events going on within the Department Twitter: UHAunivienna, https://twitter.com/UHAunivienna Instagram: uhaunivienna, https://www.instagram.com/uhaunivienna/ Facebook: Urgeschichte und Historische Archäologie Wien, https://www.facebook.com/people/Urgeschichte-und-Historische-Arch%C3%A4ologie-Wien/100092946472657/
Starting in October 2023, VIAS will host for the next three years the FWF ESPRIT project “Standardising portable X-ray fluorescence for archaeometry” led by early career researcher Michaela Schauer. Having recently completed her award-winning doctoral thesis on Linearband and La Hoguette pottery at Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich, she will now study p-XRF instruments and the specifics of their application to archaeological material with a focus on understanding the influence of different environmental conditions. An archaeologist by training, she has gained in-depth knowledge by applying this chemical analysis method mainly to pottery and soils in more than 30 projects over the past seven years. During this time she has encountered a wide range of unresolved issues relating to the equipment, its application to ancient ceramics, data processing and interpretation. Her research project focuses on experiments to improve our understanding of the former and to develop solutions to the latter, defining standards for the application of the method. Her results will be discussed within a network of experts who also contribute to the creation of appropriate training programmes for researchers and students interested in the method. She will introduce herself and her research in the HEAS Pecha Kucha Series in the upcoming weeks. Read more
What is a Pecha Kucha? The PechaKucha 20x20 presentation format is a slide show of 20 images, each auto-advancing after 20 seconds. It’s non-stop and you've got 400 seconds to tell your story, with visuals guiding the way. PechaKucha was created in Japan in 2003 by renowned architects, Astrid Klein and Mark Dytham. The word “PechaKucha” is Japanese for “chit chat.” The HEAS Pecha Kucha series is a bi- monthly online meeting of HEAS members. Here are the talks which have taken place so far: Name Topic Doris Nagel MIS 3 Gerhard Weber Why Neanderthals are not essentially a European story Karl Kunst Bones - the other Pots? Peter Steier C-14 from the more technical side Martin Fieder Behavior genetics of social status and group behavior Martin Kuhlwilm Admixture in genomes - how to find it and what it means Michael Doneus Landscape archaeology at the interface between natural science and humanities. Sylvia Kirchengast, Dominik Hagmann The Bioarchaeology of Ovilava/Wels (AUT): Osteoarchaeological and spatio-temporal analysis of Roman and Early Medieval burials from the ‚Gräberfeld Ost‘ Thomas Higham The chronology of the Middle and Upper Palaeolithic: reliable radiocarbon dating using compound specific approaches Alexandra Krenn-Leeb People, their Habitat and Environment from the Neolithic Period to the Bronze Age Harald Wilfing The role of human ecology and old bones. Synergies or only incompatibilities. Immo Trinks Geophysical archaeological prospection Maria Ivanova-Bieg Pioneer farmers and…
A recent publication by HEAS member Berhard Fink et al. on 'Perceptions of female age, health and attractiveness vary with systematic hair manipulations' was covered in PsyPost. https://www.psypost.org/hair-shine-linked-to-perceptions-of-youth-and-health-in-women/ https://www.heas.at/research/publications/perceptions-of-female-age-health-and-attractiveness-vary-with-systematic-hair-manipulations/
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 2025 are 28th 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…
The recipients of the February 2023 HEAS Seed Grants are: Applicant Round Project Amount Granted Victoria Oberreiter and Florian Exler February 2023 Analyzing Altamira: The first aDNA analyses of the renowned cave paintings from northern Spain €3.000,00 Annette Oertle, Katerina Douka, Frank Zachos February 2023 Using museum collections for ZooMS marker development of New Guinea taxa €3.000,00 Dominik Hagmann, Sylvia Kirchengast February 2023 Undiscovered Ancient Deathscapes“: Archaeothanatological Analysis Of Roman and Early Medieval Inhumations from Cemeteries in the Southeastern Upper Danube River Basin (sUDRB) during the Roman Climate Optimum (RCO) and Late Antique Little Ice Age (LALIA) €3.000,00 Olivia Cheronet, Maria Teschler-Nicola, Daniel Fernandes, Adrian Daly February 2023 Confirmation of the presence of Mucopolysaccharidosis in the Medieval population of Pottenbrunn (Lower Austria) €3.000,00 Richard Kimber, Susanna Sawyer,Florian Exler February 2023 A density separation approach for improved ancient DNA yields from sediments €3.000,00 Due to due to the positive development in terms of quality and available budget, we were able to grant 5 proposals in this round For more information about the HEAS Seed Grants please see here
We are delighted to announce the results of the HEAS Seed Grants February 2025 round. They are: AI-Assisted Full-Spectrum p-XRF Analysis: A New Approach to Decoding Graphite Provenance Michaela Schauer and Georg Tiefengraber Refining dentine extraction methods for detecting metabolites indicative of tobacco use in archaeological teeth Leslie Quade, Laura van der Sluis , Manasij Pal Chowdhury, Thomas Köcher Genetic Excavation of Pathogens: Insights from the Bürgerspital Cesspit (17th-18th Century Vienna) Sojung Han, Ron Pinhasi, Andreas G. Heiss More information on the HEAS Seed Grants can be found here: https://www.heas.at/research/seed-grants/
HEAS Head Gerhard Weber today announced funding for three grants for HEAS member under the HEAS Seed Grant scheme. The successful applicants were: Applicant Project Amount Granted Susanna Sawyer, Pere Gelabert, Mareike Stahlschmidt Tissue source determination of ancient DNA in sediment €3.000,00 Laura van der Sluis, Georg Tiefengraber Early Bronze Age clothing bone pins from the Natural History Museum archive €3.000,00 Tom Higham, Emese Végh HUMEVCOL – Human Evolution Beyond Collagen €2.955,47 For more information about the HEAS Seed Grant scheme see here
We are delighted to announce the results of the June 2025 Seed Grants: They are: Time is of the essence Establishing combined (p)OSL profiling and dating of archaeological features with unclear chronological contexts in Austria Doris Jetzinger and Martin Fera Dental calculus as a palaeodietary tool: application to the Early Neolithic of Greece Anastasia Papadogianni, Katerina Douka and Barbara Horejs Tracing Lead Provenance in Inland Basilicata: First Isotope Analysis of Lucanian Lead Objects from the Agri Valley Alexandra Rodler-Rørbo, Mathias Mehofer and Matthias Hoernes A Flexible Open-Access In-Solution Capture Design for Paleogenomics Pere Gelabert, Viola Schmid and Susanna Sawyer You can learn more about the HEAS Seed Grants here: https://www.heas.at/research/seed-grants/
The Team at HEAS are delighted to announce the speakers for the 2025-2026 Seminar Series. Covering Human Evolution and the Palaeolithic, Ancient Genomics, and Archaeological Science the series weclomes from speakers from all over Europe, the US and Canada, and South America. All talks are hybrid while some will be online only. Registration is now open here. To look back on previous seminars, have a look at our YouTube channel for recording from the talks and podcast interviews with the speakers.
HEAS Team Leader Günther Karl Kunst et al. contributed a chapter to the recent publication 'Exploring the History of Turkey Management and Domestication'. The turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) is an iconic bird, widely associated with festive dishes in Europe, North America, and Central America, and extensively raised worldwide. Yet, its long-term interactions with human societies remain poorly synthesized, with significant regional imbalances in research. The role of turkeys in North America has been extensively studied, while their post-colonial dispersal and evolving cultural significance globally have received far less attention. This volume brings together specialists to explore the paleontology of Meleagris, the early stages of turkey management and domestication in North America, and its subsequent global expansion. Following a chronological structure, the first part examines turkey-human interactions in the Americas before European contact (~500 years ago), with chapters on well-studied regions (Southwestern USA, Northern Mexico, and Mesoamerica) alongside lesser-known areas (Southern Central America and Eastern USA). The second part traces the last 500 years of turkey history, exploring artistic depictions, historical accounts, and archaeozoological evidence from multiple European countries, spanning Western Europe to the Baltic and Central Europe. It also examines the global spread of domestic turkeys, their reintroduction to the Americas through the colonial economy, and their further dispersal across the Pacific. Blending comprehensive syntheses with original case studies, this volume…
An international team led by The University of Vienna and the Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology in collaboration with the National Museum of Korea has successfully sequenced and studied the whole genome of eight 1.700-year-old individuals dated to the Three Kingdoms period of Korea (approx. 57 BC-668 AD). The Team was led by Pere Gelabert and Prof. Ron Pinhasi with Victoria Obbreiter of HEAS together with Prof. Jong Bhak and Asta Blazyte from the UNIST and Prof. Kidong Bae from the National Museum of Korea. These are the first published genomes from this period in Korea and bring key information for the understanding of Korean population history. Links: University of Vienna Website Full article
A HEAS Team, led by Gerhard Weber, recently published a paper in Scientific Reports on a comprehensive analysis of a cranium found in Octagon in Ephesos. This was speculated to belong to Arsinoë IV, daughter of Ptolemy XII, and younger (half-)sister of Cleopatra VII. The analyses, however, show that these remains, stored in the collection of the Department of Evolutionary Anthropology, belong to a boy between the ages of 11 and 14 who suffered from pathological developmental disorders. This was one of the first true HEAS joint publications with an involvement of many members and workgroups through HEAS. More information: https://www.heas.at/research/publications/the-cranium-from-the-octagon-in-ephesos/ https://www.heas.at/press/cleopatras-sister-remains-missing/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lbrYTEBBYwA https://medienportal.univie.ac.at/en/media/recent-press-releases/detailansicht-en/artikel/cleopatras-sister-remains-missing/
It is with profound shock and sadness that we have learned of the passing of our esteemed and highly respected colleague, Sabine Ladstätter. As the head of the Austrian Archaeological Institute and the first female Director of the Ephesos excavations, Sabine was an outstanding archaeologist and a gifted science communicator. Sabine was integral to HEAS as one of the central team leaders in that she shared the HEAS approach of interdisciplinary research. She spearheaded the integration of archaeological sciences methods and approaches with Classical Archaeology. Her contributions have left an indelible mark on Austrian archaeology and touched the lives of everyone who had the pleasure of knowing her, both peers and the public alike. Sabine shared our vision for excellence in archaeological research in Vienna and beyond. We knew her as an enthusiastic, captivating, hardworking, devoted, caring, and down-to-earth colleague. Her passing creates a significant void in Austrian archaeology, both nationally and internationally. Sabine will be deeply missed. Additional Tributes: https://www.oeaw.ac.at/oeai/medien/newsarchiv/news-detail/das-oeai-trauert-um-sabine-ladstaetter
Workshop on Explosive ordnance identification for archaeologists Archaeological fieldwork often takes place in areas that were the scene of historical conflicts. This increases the probability of encountering explosive ordnance during excavations. It can be assumed that on average 10% of all explosive devices fired in conflicts did not explode. These unexploded ordnance (UXO) pose a risk to the safety of excavating archaeologists. Currently, many lack the necessary awareness and training to identify and properly handle ordnance found during fieldwork. This workshop aims to raise risk awareness and to close knowledge gaps in order to increase safety. Participants should be able to recognise potentially dangerous explosive ordnance, ammunition and ammunition parts during field work and react appropriately. This workshop is funded by the HEAS research network and supported by the Vienna Institute for Archaeological Science, the Institute for Prehistory and Historical Archaeology, and the Austrian Archaeological Institute. Date and location: Saturday June 8th 2024, 9:30 until ca. 15:00, Franz-Klein-Gasse 1, HS7, 1190 Vienna Speaker: Vice-Lieutenant Jürgen Zeitlhofer Workshop language: German For registrations please email immo.trinks@univie.ac.at Download flyer
The virtual reconstruction of the Ethiopian Australopithecus afarensis specimen A.L. 444-2 from Hadar was now released for free use in the digital@rchive of fossil hominoids https://www.virtual-anthropology.com/3d-data/free-data/ The reconstruction was made in the Virtual Anthropology Lab at University of Vienna by Sascha Senck, Stefano Benazzi, Gerhard Weber, and others. It is described in detail in the supplement of “Ledogar, J. A., Senck, S., Villmoare, B. A., Smith, A. L., Weber, G. W., Richmond, B. G., Dechow, P. C., Ross, C. F., Grosse, I. R., Wright, B. W., Wang, Q., Byron, C., Benazzi, S., Carlson, K. J., Carlson, K. B., McIntosh, L. C., Van Casteren, A., & Strait, D. S. (2022). Mechanical compensation in the evolution of the early hominin feeding apparatus [Article]. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 289(1977), Article 20220711. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2022.0711 The surface file of the reconstructed cranium and the endocast are available.
HEAS is delighted to welcome the Naturhistorisches Museum Wien (NHM) as a new partner in the research network. Gerhard Weber, head of HEAS said “This collaboration will mean that we broaden our expertise and extend our possibilities. We started to bridge between institutions in Vienna (University and Museum), to create an even more effective European hub for human evolution research”
