I am a PhD candidate in Biology (Evolutionary Anthropology). My background is in archaeology and biological anthropology. I am interested in non-destructive scanning methods to study palaeodiet, functional morphology, and taphonomy in ancient samples. I also have extensive experience excavating Palaeolithic sites.
Wang Naihui, Xu Yang, Tang Zhuowei, He Cunding, Hu Xin, Cui Yinqiu and Douka Katerina 2023 Large-scale application of palaeoproteomics (Zooarchaeology by Mass Spectrometry; ZooMS) in two Palaeolithic faunal assemblages from ChinaProc. R. Soc. B.2902023112920231129 read more
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
Sharif, M.B., Mohaseb, A.F., Orlando, L., Saliari, K., Kunst, G.K., Czeika, S., Mashkour, M., Cucchi, T., Peters, J., Trixl, S., Mohandesan, E., 2025. Late Iron Age and Roman equine breeding north of the Alps: Genetic insights and cultural implications. iScience 28. read more
Mas, B., Mangado, X., de la Torre, M.S., Tejero, J.-M., Fullola, J.M., Allué, E., 2023. Late Paleolithic hunter-gatherers’ resilience in the face of the transformation of the vegetation landscape and climate change in the Pre-Pyrenees. Quaternary Science Reviews 317, 108276. read more
McGrath, K., van der Sluis, L.G., Lefebvre, A., Charpentier, A., Rodrigues, A.S.L., Álvarez-Fernández, E., Baleux, F., Berganza, E., Chauvière, F.-X., Dachary, M., Duarte Matías, E., Houmard, C., Marín-Arroyo, A.B., de la Rasilla Vives, M., Tapia, J., Thil, F., Tombret, O., Torres-Iglesias, L., Speller, C., Zazzo, A., Pétillon, J.-M., 2025. Late Paleolithic whale bone tools reveal human and whale ecology in the Bay of Biscay. Nature Communications 16, 4646. read more
I am an archaeologist in the Department Prehistory and WANA Archaeology at the Austrian Archaeological Institute, and Associate Professor at the Free University of Berlin, Institute for Prehistoric Archaeology. I specialize in functional studies on stone tools and object biographies, with a focus on functional morphometric, use-wear and residue analyses, and experimental archaeology. My research focuses on Southwestern Asia to Central Europe, from Epipaleolithic to the Bronze Age, especially on the Neolithic and the process of the Neolithization.
I am a senior scientist in the team and laboratory of Tom Higham and Katerina Douka in the Department of Evolutionary Anthropology at the University of Vienna. My background is in archaeology, radiocarbon dating and stable isotope analysis on human and faunal remains for palaeodietary purposes. Previous projects I have worked on involved extinct giant tortoise bones from Mauritius, prehistoric human and faunal material from the Limfjord in Denmark, and Palaeolithic whale bone objects from France and Spain. I am interested in human-environmental interactions in the past, human evolution, and the effect of diagenetic alterations on isotopic signatures in bone and teeth.
I am a bioarchaeologist and palaeopathologist, specialising in interdisciplinary analyses of stress and health from human skeletal remains. My research is focused on the ‘stress’ hormone cortisol in living and past populations, and the impact of cultural, sociopolitical and environmental disparities on child and adult health. I am further interested in trauma, health and living conditions in 18th-20th century military settings. I have a BA from Columbia University, an MSc and PhD from Durham University, and I completed a postdoc at Masaryk University in 2023. I have also worked as a contract osteologist in Austria, Czechia, France, Italy, the UK and USA. I am currently a postdoctoral researcher at the department of Prehistory and WANA Archaeology in the Austrian Archaeological Institute, where I am investigating stress markers and cortisol in teeth. This research is supported by a FWF & OeAW “Disruptive Innovation - Early Career Seed Money” grant. In early 2025, I will begin a Marie Sklodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellowship also focusing on dental cortisol methods.
Swami, V., Stieger, S., Voracek, M., Aavik, T., Abdollahpour Ranjbar, H., Adebayo, S.O., Afhami, R., Ahmed, O., Aimé, A., Akel, M., Al Halbusi, H., Alexias, G., Ali, K.F., Alp-Dal, N., Alsalhani, A.B., Álvarez-Solas, S., Amaral, A.C.S., Andrianto, S., Aspden, T., Argyrides, M., Aruta, J.J.B.R., Atkin, S., Ayandele, O., Baceviciene, M., Bahbouh, R., Ballesio, A., Barron, D., Bellard, A., Bender, S.S., Beydaǧ, K.D., Birovljević, G., Blackburn, M.-È., Borja-Alvarez, T., Borowiec, J., Bozogáňová, M., Bratland-Sanda, S., Browning, M.H.E.M., Brytek-Matera, A., Burakova, M., Çakır-Koçak, Y., Camacho, P., Camilleri, V.E., Cazzato, V., Cerea, S., Chaiwutikornwanich, A., Chaleeraktrakoon, T., Chambers, T., Chen, Q.-W., Chen, X., Chien, C.-L., Chobthamkit, P., Choompunuch, B., Compte, E.J., Corrigan, J., Cosmas, G., Cowden, R.G., Czepczor-Bernat, K., Czub, M., da Silva, W.R., Dadfar, M., Dalley, S.E., Dany, L., Datu, J.A.D., de Carvalho, P.H.B., Coelho, G.L.d.H., De Jesus, A.O.S., Debbabi, S.H., Dhakal, S., Di Bernardo, F., Dimitrova, D.D., Dion, J., Dixson, B., Donofrio, S.M., Drysch, M., Du, H., Dzhambov, A.M., El-Jor, C., Enea, V., Eskin, M., Farbod, F., Farrugia, L., Fian, L., Fisher, M.L., Folwarczny, M., Frederick, D.A., Fuller-Tyszkiewicz, M., Furnham, A., García, A.A., Geller, S., Ghisi, M., Ghorbani, A., Gomez Martinez, M.A., Gradidge, S., Graf, S., Grano, C., Gyene, G., Hallit, S., Hamdan, M., Handelzalts, J.E., Hanel, P.H.P., Hawks, S.R., Hekmati, I., Helmy, M., Hill, T., Hina, F., Holenweger, G., Hřebíčková,…
Hämmerle, M., Rymbekova, A., Gelabert, P., Sawyer, S., Cheronet, O., Bernardi, P., Calvignac-Spencer, S., Kuhlwilm, M., Guellil, M., Pinhasi, R., 2024. Link between Monkeypox Virus Genomes from Museum Specimens and 1965 Zoo Outbreak. Emerging Infectious Disease journal 30, 815. read more
Slimak, L., Vimala, T., Seguin-Orlando, A., Metz, L., Zanolli, C., Joannes-Boyau, R., Frouin, M., Arnold, L.J., Demuro, M., Devièse, T., Comeskey, D., Buckley, M., Camus, H., Muth, X., Lewis, J.E., Bocherens, H., Yvorra, P., Tenailleau, C., Duployer, B., Coqueugniot, H., Dutour, O., Higham, T., Sikora, M., 2024. Long genetic and social isolation in Neanderthals before their extinction. Cell Genomics 4. read more
Gyuris, B., Vyazov, L., Türk, A., Flegontov, P., Szeifert, B., Langó, P., Mende, B.G., Csáky, V., Chizhevskiy, A.A., Gazimzyanov, I.R., Khokhlov, A.A., Kolonskikh, A.G., Matveeva, N.P., Ruslanova, R.R., Rykun, M.P., Sitdikov, A., Volkova, E.V., Botalov, S.G., Bugrov, D.G., Grudochko, I.V., Komar, O., Krasnoperov, A.A., Poshekhonova, O.E., Chikunova, I., Sungatov, F., Stashenkov, D.A., Zubov, S., Zelenkov, A.S., Ringbauer, H., Cheronet, O., Pinhasi, R., Akbari, A., Rohland, N., Mallick, S., Reich, D., Szécsényi-Nagy, A., 2025. Long shared haplotypes identify the southern Urals as a primary source for the 10th-century Hungarians. Cell 188, 6064-6078.e6011. read more
I am a postdoctoral researcher at the Department of Prehistoric and Historical Archaeology and at the Department of Prehistory and WANA Archaeology, of the Austrian Archaeological Institute. I am a biological and forensic anthropologist with a research focus on cremated human remains, trauma analyses, and palaeopathology. I have a master's degree in Forensic Osteology (Bournemouth University, UK) and a PhD in Life Sciences (University of Vienna) performed in the framework of the ERC-project »VAMOS – The value of mothers to society« (ÖAW, PI: Katharina Rebay-Salisbury). Currently, I am spokesman of the working group »Palaeoanthropology and Prehistoric Anthropology« of the Anthropological Society (GfA).
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.
Based at the Department of Prehistory and WANA Archaeology at the Austrian Archaeological Institute, my research focuses on radiocarbon dating and soil micromorphology. Developing radiocarbon-based chronologies for Neolithic through Iron Age sites across a wide geographic area, from the Levant and Near East to Europe and the Balkans, has enabled me to contribute to key chronological debates. My current FWF ESPRIT project employs an integrated approach using soil micromorphology and other micro-scale techniques, as well as radiocarbon dating, to study earliest settlements along a major corridor for Neolithisation in the central Balkans.
I am a postdoctoral researcher at the Vienna Institute for Archaeological Science (VIAS) and the Austrian Archaeological Institute, 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.
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.
Schaefer, K., Seiser, V.M., Prucha, S., Kerschbaumer, V., Fink, B., Windhager, S., 2024. Male facial cues to physical strength in Europe: Medium‐strength preference and higher aggressiveness attribution to the weakest. American journal of human biology, e24040. read more
I am an archaeological scientist specialising in paleoproteomics, primarily focusing on the recovery and analysis of proteins from archaeological bones and ceramic remains. I am interested in the use of proteomics to understand a range of archaeological questions, including faunal identification, the exploitation of various natural resources, ancient diet and diseases, and how ancient diet and patterns in resource consumption can be used to study socio-economic stratification and various forms of inequality and social structure in antiquity. I am also interested in the various post-translational modifications in proteins as a result of the various diagenetic processes involved, and the study of the fundamental processes involved in the preservation of proteins in archaeological substrates. A chemist by training, I graduated from St. Stephen’s College, University of Delhi with a BSc Hons. degree in Chemistry and was awarded a MSc in Chemistry from The University of Manchester. In 2023, I completed my PhD in Bioarchaeology from the University of Manchester, and am currently a postdoctoral researcher in the Douka Paleoproteomics and ZooMS laboratory in the Department of Evolutionary Anthropology at the University of Vienna.
I am a geoarchaeologist and apply microscopic techniques to the sedimentary archaeological record. I view and analyze sediments, deposits and features as archives of paleoenvironments as well as of human behavior. I am particularly interested in how archaeological sites form and preserve over time, in the evolution of human use of fire and in archaeological sediments and speleothems as paleogenetic archives.
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
I am a Palaeolithic zooarchaeologist investigating a range of hominin behaviours through the lens of zooarchaeology including, organic technology, habitat exploitation, mobility and subsistence strategies. I am a post-doctoral researcher in the Department of Prehistoric and Historical Archaeology at the University of Vienna and an associated scientist at the Austrian Archaeological Institute and the NHM Vienna. After formal training in zooarchaeology at Leiden University, I have specialised in human-animal interactions and dietary adaptation across East Africa, the Eastern Mediterranean and Europe throughout the Pleistocene. My research further focusses on innovative ways to study organic technology including beads and personal ornaments, domestic tools and projectile technology. I obtained my PhD at the Max Plank Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig and Leiden University and held post-doc positions at Cambridge University and the Austrian Academy of Sciences.
Schahbasi, A., Huber,S., Fieder, M., (2022). "Marriage in the Melting Pot: An Evolutionary Approach to European Ancestry, Homogamy, and Fertility in the United States." Frontiers in Psychology 13. read more
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.
I specialize in archaeological prospection and cultural heritage documentation, with extensive experience in interdisciplinary projects across Europe and North Africa. My roles include serving as technical field director for the long-term VIAS project at the Bronze and Iron Age settlement in Schwarzenbach and overseeing fieldwork at a New Kingdom pharaonic town and cemetery on Sai Island, Sudan. In international collaborations, I have contributed to pioneering new methods in landscape archaeology, focusing on remote sensing and geographic information systems (GIS). I aim to integrate geoarchaeological methods, bridging the micro and macro scales from landscape analysis to detailed excavation work. As a lecturer at the University of Vienna, I teach courses in geomatics and data management, equipping students with essential skills for modern archaeological research.
Martin Steskal is Head of the Department of Historical Archaeology at the Austrian Archaeological Institute of the OeAW and Director of the excavations of Ephesos. He is a trained classical archaeologist with a research focus on Mediterranean archaeology. He has been studying the mortuary landscape and practices in Ephesos for many years and is trying to reconstruct the living environment of the inhabitants of one of the great ancient metropolises. His research includes archaeological, historical and scientific methods. In addition to his work at the OeAW, he is also a lecturer at the University of Vienna.
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.
Maximilian Piniel is a university assistant (Praedoc) at the University of Vienna. As a prehistorian and archaeobotanist, his research focuses on the material culture of the European metal ages and on the human-environment relationships of prehistoric societies. He completed his Bachelor and Master studies at the University of Vienna. In his doctorate, he is currently working on agriculture and plant-based diet during the Early and Middle Bronze Age on the Upper and Middle Danube.
Oberreiter, V., Gelabert, P., Brück, F., Franz, S., Zelger, E., Szedlacsek, S., Cheronet, O., Cano, F.T., Exler, F., Zagorc, B., Karavanić, I., Banda, M., Gasparyan, B., Straus, L.G., Gonzalez Morales, M.R., Kappelman, J., Stahlschmidt, M., Rattei, T., Kraemer, S.M., Sawyer, S., Pinhasi, R., 2024. Maximizing efficiency in sedimentary ancient DNA analysis: a novel extract pooling approach. Scientific Reports 14, 19388. read more
I am an expert in ancient microbial phylogenomics and metagenomics, particularly of human pathogens. I am particularly interested in the study of diseases that are invisible in the archaeological and osteological record, and the study of their evolution throughout human history. My previous research includes studies on microbial species such as Yersinia pestis, Haemophilus influenzae, Borrelia recurrentis and Herpes simplex 1. The focus of my laboratory work is the design of target enrichment strategies and kits, as well as their applications. Computationally, I have developed workflows for pathogen detection in ancient DNA datasets and work on developing analytical frameworks to reconstruct ancient genomes and maximize the information they can give us when studied within modern diversity. I was awarded a BA in Prehistoric Archaeology from the University of Vienna, an MSc in Human Osteology from the University of Sheffield and a PhD in Genomics from the University of Oslo. I joined the Department of Evolutionary Anthropology at the University of Vienna in September 2022 as an ESPRIT FWF project leader and senior postdoctoral researcher.
Huber, B., Luciani, M., Abualhassan, A.M., Giddings Vassão, D., Fernandes, R., Devièse, T., 2025. Metabolic profiling reveals first evidence of fumigating drug plant Peganum harmala in Iron Age Arabia. Communications Biology 8, 1-8. read more
I am a Prehistoric archaeologist, geo-scientist and coordinator of the Archaeological Sciences at the Austrian Archaeological Institute of the ÖAW. My research focusses on lithic raw material economy and questions relating to past human behaviour. For this task, I develop innovative protocols for provenance analyses of lithic raw materials and economic models. My geographical and chronological frame is broadly laid out to achieve a large comparative database and enable intercultural comparisons. Consequently, I am involved in extended international research networks and pursue the promotion of young scholars. Publications Michael Brandl
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.
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.
I received my Ph.D. from Washington University in St. Louis, USA, in 2017 and since then I have held post-doctoral research fellowships at the Earth Observatory of Singapore, Fudan University, the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and Newcastle University. I am interested in questions related to human-environmental interactions, site formation processes, and climate change.
by HEAS Team Leader Kerstin Kowarik The FWF-funded project Mining and Dining investigates the dietary habits of Bronze and Iron Age miners through the analysis of exceptionally well-preserved human excrement recovered from the prehistoric salt mines of Hallstatt, Austria. The aim is to produce high-resolution, individual dietary profiles, offering new insights into nutrition, health, and everyday life in the Metal Ages. By combining archaeobotanical, parasitological, genetic, and proteomic analyses, the project examines 50 individual palaeofaeces to explore: • the diversity and complexity of prehistoric miners' diets, • long-term dietary patterns via gut microbiome composition, • the consumption of fermented and dairy products, • and possible correlations between diet and biological sex. This integrated, multi-method approach opens up a new perspective on prehistoric food culture – from cooking and consumption practices to health and social structures – and highlights the unique scientific potential of salt-preserved palaeofaeces. Project Details Mining and Dining is funded by the FWF Joint Projects Programme (Austria–South Tyrol) and carried out under the joint leadership of the Austrian Archaeological Institute (OeAI, Austrian Academy of Sciences) and the Institute for Mummy Studies (Eurac Research, Bolzano). Research partners include: • Natural History Museum Vienna • Department of Evolutionary Anthropology, University of Vienna • Geosphere Austria • Institute for Systems Biology, Seattle (USA) • MedUni Vienna • University of Trento…
Monograph published by HEAS member Mathias Mehofer HEAS member Mathias Mehofer recently published his monograph “Çukuriçi Höyük 3, Ein frühbronzezeitliches Metallhandwerkerzentrum in Westanatolien, OREA 22, Vienna 2022” on EBA metallurgy found in Western Turkey. The site was investigated within several FWF, START and ERC grants under the direction of HEAS´ co-operationpartner Prof. Dr. Barbara Horejs Austrian Archaeological Institute, Austrian Academy of Science. The book itself focuses on the interdisciplinary examination of the metallurgical remains from Çukuriçi Höyük (western Turkey), which date from the Late Chalcolithic to Early Bronze Age (c. 3300–2700 BC). The exceptionally rich ensemble includes almost all parts of the technological chain (chaîne opératoire), from tools, casting moulds, furnaces, ores, raw metal and ingots to finished products, tin bronzes and precious metals (Au, Ag). On the one hand, these remains were classified according to archaeological typological criteria, and on the other hand, they were analysed using various scientific methods (metallography, SEM-EDS, ED-XRF and lead isotope analysis). The arsenical copper production can be regarded as an outstanding result of the research; to date, there are only very few Bronze Age sites where evidence for this is present. The produced As-copper was fed into the East Aegean-West Anatolian networks. Precious metal and weapons additionally demonstrate that not only everyday objects but also prestige goods were produced. The fact that…
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.
