Members

Members

 Lonneke DELPEUT

I am a PhD candidate at the Institute for Egyptology as well as the Vienna Institute for Archaeological Science (VIAS) at the University of Vienna. I got my bachelor degree in Egyptology at the University of Leiden, where I wrote my BA thesis on the role of the horse as a status symbol in elite private tombs. My MA degree was also in Egyptology at Leiden University, where I further specialised in art history and visual culture. My MA thesis was about how we can use images as a source of information, and the unresolved questions led me to write a project proposal for the dissertation I am currently writing. I am a horse girl at heart, and have been able to approach the topic ‘’horses’’ from multiple different angles, namely sociologically (status), historically and art historically. My PhD is studying the creation of meaning, using images of horses as a case study. What started as a personal curiosity, namely ‘’what makes a horse a horse?’’ has developed into a new approach as to how we should images as a source of information, dividing the image into  what is depicted, how it is depicted, and who is depicted.    

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The Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW) Members

Caroline PARTIOT

I am a biological anthropologist and archaeo-anthropologist, currently a postdoctoral researcher at the Austrian Archaeological Institute of the Austrian Academy of Sciences. I hold a PhD in Biological Anthropology from the University of Bordeaux (France), as well as a Master’s degree in Biological Anthropology from the University of Bordeaux and a Master’s degree in Egyptology from Sorbonne University (Paris IV). My research focuses particularly on the life course (vitality at birth, paleopathology, stress) and the social status of children in the past through osteobiographical analysis, as well as on the study of burial practices through archaeothanatology. I work on a wide range of chrono-cultural contexts, from the Upper Paleolithic to the Modern period, both in the laboratory and in the field. This includes the Byzantine period in Ephesos (Turkey), Late Antiquity in Carinthia, Punic Carthage, the medieval period in southwestern France, pre-contact Amerindian Caribbean populations in Guadeloupe, and the Kerma period in Sudan. I am the founder of the ARTHA network, which focuses on developing archaeothanatology in Central Europe.    

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Department of Prehistoric and Historical Archaeology (IUHA) Members

Domnika VERDIANU

I am a bioarchaeologist and currently a university assistant (predoctoral researcher) in the Department of Prehistory and Historical Archaeology at the University of Vienna. Since 2021, I have also been part of the “Prehistoric Identities” research group, led by Katharina Rebay-Salisbury at the Austrian Archaeological Institute (Austrian Academy of Sciences). I hold a Master's degree in Prehistory and Historical Archaeology from the University of Vienna. My research focuses on mortuary practices during the Bronze Age in Central Europe, as well as osteology, palaeopathology, and archaeothanatology. My PhD project investigates the bioarchaeology of children and adolescents, with a particular emphasis on sex-specific burial practices during the Early Bronze Age.  

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Department of Prehistoric and Historical Archaeology (IUHA) Members

Hannah SKERJANZ

I am a prehistoric archaeologist and PhD candidate at the Department of Prehistoric and Historical Archaeology at the University of Vienna, where I am currently also involved in teaching as Katharina Rebay-Salisbury's University Assistant. I am affiliated with the Prehistoric Identities group at the Austrian Archaeological Institute, where I have been involved in past projects and have gained laboratory experience in osteological analysis, peptide-based analysis, and strontium isotope analysis. My research focuses on funerary archaeology, material culture and chronology of the Central European Metal Ages. In the framework of my dissertation project “In the midst of change” I investigate the transformation from inhumation to cremation and changes in funerary behaviour during the Middle Bronze Age (c. 1600-1300/1200 BCE) in Upper and Lower Austria. I follow an interdisciplinary approach by combining archaeological and bioarchaeological data in order to gain insights into past communities and their lives.

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The Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW) Department of Prehistoric and Historical Archaeology (IUHA) Members

Sofie-Kristin SCHENDZIELORZ

I am a bioarchaeologist and a PhD candidate in the Department of Prehistoric and Historical Archaeology at the University of Vienna. I hold a master’s degree in Forensic Archaeology and Anthropology from the University of Dundee (UK). My research focuses on advanced imaging methods and biomechanical musculoskeletal modelling, as well as the study of commingled remains and ossuary archaeology. I am currently employed as a predoctoral researcher at the Austrian Archaeological Institute (Austrian Academy of Sciences) and am part of the “Prehistoric Identities” research group, led by Katharina Rebay-Salisbury. Within the framework of my dissertation project, “Muscle Synergies and Sexual Division of Labour in the Early Central European Bronze Age: A Multivariate Analysis of Body and Technology,” I investigate the health, lifestyle, and activities of individuals from Early Bronze Age cemeteries in Lower Austria. I apply innovative 3D surface modelling techniques for entheseal analysis to reconstruct sex-specific divisions of labour, as well as body–artifact relationships.    

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Department of Evolutionary Anthropology (DEA) Members

Francesc MARGINEDAS MIRÓ

I am an anthropologist and archaeologist specialising in the study of human remains from archaeological contexts. I am currently a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Vienna, in the Department of Evolutionary Anthropology. I hold a PhD in Quaternary and Prehistory from Rovira and Virgili University (Tarragona, Spain), as well as a Master’s degree in Quaternary Archaeology jointly awarded by the same institution and the Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle (Paris, France). My research focuses on mortuary practices involving the manipulation of human remains, alongside evidence for interpersonal violence and cannibalism in past societies. I work across a broad range of chrono-cultural contexts, from the Upper Palaeolithic to the Bronze Age. This includes the analysis of human bone assemblages from sites such as Maszycka Cave (Kraków, Poland), Txispiri Cave (Gipuzkoa, Spain) and El Mirador Cave (Atapuerca, Spain), among others. I am also an active member of the Atapuerca Project, contributing both in the field and in the laboratory. My work combines a range of taphonomic and analytical approaches, including classical osteological methods, residue analysis, and detailed studies of bone surface modifications.  

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The Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW) Members

Sabina CVEČEK

I am a socio-cultural anthropologist and archaeologist, currently a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Global Postdoctoral Fellow jointly appointed at the Field Museum of Natural History (Chicago) and the Austrian Academy of Sciences (Vienna). I hold a PhD in Social and Cultural Anthropology from the University of Vienna. My research explores kinship, households, and social organization in the eastern Mediterranean and southeastern Europe, with a particular focus on the Neolithic and Early Bronze Age. Bridging socio-cultural anthropology, archaeology, bioarchaeology, and ancient DNA research, my work critically examines how social relations were constituted beyond biological relatedness, including practices of care, co-residence, commensality, and non-biological kin-making. Through comparative and theoretically informed approaches, I seek to challenge genetic determinism in archaeogenetic interpretations and to foreground everyday practices as central to understanding past social worlds.  

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Department of Evolutionary Anthropology (DEA) Members

Audrey LIN

I am an APART-USA Fellow in the Department of Evolutionary Anthropology at the University of Vienna. My research utilizes recovering ancient biomolecules from archaeological and museum specimens and objects to answer diverse questions on human-mediated evolutionary processes, including domestication, extinction, and mechanisms of zoonoses. My multidisciplinary approach integrates tools and theories from the life sciences (palaeogenomics, biology, zoology), the humanities (history), and social sciences (archaeology and cultural anthropology).    

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Department of Evolutionary Anthropology (DEA) Members

Chen DUAN

I am a PhD student in paleogenomics focusing on the study of medical genetics and ancient genomic data. I am primarily interested in analyzing pathogenic variants from past populations to answer questions linked to health status assessment and the evolutionary history of cancer predisposition. I am currently working on projects related to ancient oncogenetics, specifically the identification of both germline and somatic mutations and investigating how population dynamics shaped the oncogenetic landscape in antiquity.  

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Members

Valentina LAAHA

I am a prehistoric archaeologist specialising in geoarchaeology and am currently working as a predoc at the Austrian Archaeological Institute (‘Prehistoric Identities’ Group) of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, where I am part of the ‘Mining and Dining’ and the ‘Alpine Interdependencies’ projects. My focus lies on soil and sediment archives and their assessment for archaeological questions and the reconstruction of human-environment relationships through the Holocene. I hold a Master´s degree in Prehistory and Historical Archaeology from the University of Vienna. In my research I work on the establishment and evaluation of a geoarchaeological and bioarchaeological toolboxes for (high) mountain areas, integrating archaeological science approaches with traditional archaeological data, material, and excavation to especially areas with sparse archaeological record. My main interest here are the complex interactions of ecosystems – including anthropogenic and ‘natural’ factors – over time, and how these shape the landscape and environment that we know today.    

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Department of Evolutionary Anthropology (DEA) Members

Larissa BARTSCH

I am a PhD candidate in the Department of Evolutionary Anthropology at the University of Vienna. In my current project, I use ancient DNA from sediments to investigate human and animal presence beyond the visible (zoo-)archaeological record. In particular, I am interested in applying biomolecular methods to archaeological and evolutionary questions. By combining sedaDNA with microarchaeological data, I look for patterns of co-occupation and interaction between humans and other animals, such as large carnivores. I hold a BSc in Biomedicine and an MSc in Evolutionary Anthropology and am currently co-supervised by Pere Gelabert and Mareike Stahlschmidt, with affiliations to the BEAM lab and the Microarchaeology group.  

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The Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW) Members

Darko STOJANOVSKI

  I am a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Austrian Archaeological Institute, director of the excavations at the Amzabegovo Neolithic settlement, and coordinator of the associated “Birth of Europe” field school program. I am also an Assistant Professor in Prehistory at the Goce Delchev University in Shtip (N. Macedonia). My current focus is on the neolithization process between the Aegean and Central Europe – detecting and timing the discreet mechanisms behind the transition from a Mediterranean towards a Continental environment. In the past I have done research on Neolithic pottery, organic residue and past diet, as well as investigations on the Middle Palaeolithic of the South-Central Balkans.    

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Department of Evolutionary Anthropology (DEA) Members

Nicolás GONZÁLEZ RAPOSO

I am a psychologist, a PhD candidate in Social Complexity Sciences at Universidad del Desarrollo (Chile), and a Visiting PhD Candidate at the Vienna Doctoral School of Cognition, Behavior and Neuroscience (VDS CoBeNe) – Cognitive Biology, University of Vienna. My research focuses on the behavioral foundations of interpersonal conflict, integrating evolutionary game theory, causal inference, and computational social science methods. My PhD dissertation consists of two empirical articles. Drawing on sexual selection theory, the first examines how sex differences and socially aversive personality traits (the Dark Triad) shape aggressive dispositions, using latent variable models to analyze how individual differences relate to conflict escalation. The second examines how interpersonal conflict is dynamically inferred and regulated during real-time bargaining interactions, focusing on how emergent patterns of emotional coordination—such as affiliative signaling and mimicry—influence perceptions of conflict and negotiation outcomes.    

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The Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW) Vienna Institute for Archaeological Science (VIAS) Members

Magdalena BLANZ

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.

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Members

Marjolein D. BOSCH

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.  

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Department of Evolutionary Anthropology (DEA) Members

Olivia CHERONET

I am a post-doctoral researcher in the department of Evolutionary Anthropology at the University of Vienna, and the lab manager of Ron Pinhasi's ancient DNA lab. Following an undergraduate training in Paleobiology and a PhD in physical anthropology, I have a particular interest in using this knowledge to improve and optimise ancient DNA sampling methods, by making them more efficient and less destructive to invaluable archaeological skeletons.

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The Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW) Members

Jessica Mendes CARDOSO

She holds a doctorate in Archaeology from the University of São Paulo, Brazil, and a doctorate in Geosciences from the University of Toulouse, France. Her research focused on the geochemical applications of isotope analysis in archaeological materials, primarily human and faunal bones and teeth, to reconstruct diet and determine the geological provenance of pre-colonial coastal Brazilian populations. She has extensive experience in zooarchaeology, particularly in South American Brazilian shellmounds, which was the focus of her bachelor's and master's research. She has worked as an archaeologist in several preventive archaeology projects, gaining experience in both field and laboratory work, as well as cultural heritage education. She was also one of the creators of Sambaquis: A History Before Brazil, the first Brazilian archaeology-themed game. Currently, she is a postdoctoral researcher in the ERC Starting Grant HUE project, working in the new geochemical laboratory with mass spectrometry and isotope analysis of ancient pigments.

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Department of Evolutionary Anthropology (DEA) Members

Manasij Pal CHOWDHURY

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.

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Vienna Institute for Archaeological Science (VIAS) Members

Martin FERA

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.

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Department of Evolutionary Anthropology (DEA) Members

Bernhard FINK

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

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Vienna Institute for Archaeological Science (VIAS) Members

Roland FILZWIESER

Roland Filzwieser is a postdoctoral researcher in archaeological prospection, landscape archaeology, medieval history, and digital humanities at the Vienna Institute for Archaeological Science (VIAS). He is specialized in geophysical prospection and digital documentation methods in combination with historical written and cartographic sources

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The Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW) Members

Hannah Stephanie ROHRINGER

I am a palaeolithic archaeologist specialised on human-environment interactions and lithic technology. My primary regions of study are the Levant and lately also central Europe, where I focus on homo sapiens settlement patterns, mobility, lithic technology and raw material use. I have studied at Cologne University in Germany until my PhD in 2019 on Levantine Upper Palaeolithic settlement patterns. From there I spend two years at the Rhenish Heritage Management focusing on copy editing and public relations. Then I moved to Israel for a Postdoc at the W.F. Albright Institute of Archaeology in Jerusalem, where I studied Levantine Aurignacian Carinated cores before spending another two years at the Department of Bible Studies, Archaeology and the Ancient Near East at Ben Gurion University in Beer Sheva. There I had a number of projects on Upper Palaeolithic flint raw material use. Since 2022 I am at the Austrian Academy of Science in the research group Quaternary Archaeology. Lately my projects focus on Lower Austria, the well-known site of Kammern-Grubgraben and my new site of Gobelsburg-Rossgraben, where we found a mammoth-killsite in a wine cellar.  

Department of Evolutionary Anthropology (DEA) Members

Cinzia FORNAI

I am an evolutionary anthropologist and morphometrician by training, with consolidated experience in Dental Anthropology. Over the course of my PhD program in Biology through the Department of Evolutionary Anthropology, University of Vienna (concluded in 2015), I have specialized in the use of virtual image techniques and geometric morphometrics for the exploration of hominin dental variation (http://othes.univie.ac.at/38865/1/2015-07-11_0963308.pdf). My postdoctoral research through the within the Evolutionary Morphology group of the Institute of Evolutionary Medicine, University of Zurich, focused on the evolutionary aspects of human birth and the investigation of the pelvis in hominoids. Currently affiliated with the Department of Evolutionary Anthropology, I continue research in Dental Anthropology, while being the scientific coordinator of the Vienna School of Interdisciplinary Dentistry www.viesid.com, where I focus on topics relevant to oral medicine such as functional morphology of the stomatognathic system and its clinical implications.

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Department of Evolutionary Anthropology (DEA) Members

Meriam GUELLIL

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.

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Natural History Museum Vienna (NHM) Members

Nicole GRUNSTRA

I am an evolutionary anthropologist and morphometrician. I obtained a PhD in Biological Anthropology from the University of Cambridge and am currently based at the Department of Evolutionary Biology at the University of Vienna as an ESPRIT fellow. I am interested in which sense the human lineage is unique and in which sense we are “just another unique species.” Central to my research, therefore, is placing human evolution in a wider comparative and theoretical biology context. I study complex traits such as the pelvis, cranium, inner ear, and the entire dentition. Currently, my main research focus is on the study of evolutionary trade-offs in the human and non-human placental mammalian pelvis in pursuit of understanding what constrains human pelvic canal size and flexibility, leading to a tight fit and difficult childbirth (an "obstetrical dilemma"). I lead an FWF-funded project devoted to this question, in which I aim to disentangle the relative contributions of reproduction, locomotion, posture, body mass support, and phylogenetic heritage in hard and soft tissue anatomy of the mammalian, including human, pelvis.  

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Department of Evolutionary Anthropology (DEA) Members

Dominik HAGMANN

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

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Department of Evolutionary Anthropology (DEA) Members

Sojung HAN

I am a postdoctoral researcher in the Computational Admixture Genomics group. My primary interests are understanding the evolutionary history and the genetic background of species-specific traits of primates, in particular of chimpanzees and bonobos, the closest extant species of humans. I am using bioinformatics approaches, and am trying to investigate not only the host genomic materials but also pathogens and environmental context in this endeavor.

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Department of Evolutionary Anthropology (DEA) Members

Xin HUANG

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

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Department of Evolutionary Anthropology (DEA) Members

Constanze SCHATTKE

Constanze Schattke is a bioarchaeologist who studied biology and evolutionary anthropology in Kiel, Mainz, and Vienna. Her professional expertise includes ancient DNA and paleopathologies as well as the history of anthropology. Her current research focus is on the interconnection of different fields such as history and bioarchaeology to study the provenance of human remains in osteological collections. Here, she has worked together closely with communities from New Zealand and Tierra del Fuego, Chile. One of her main objectives is to help strengthen Indigenous’ identities through the careful study and analysis of ancestral human remains. Since 2021, Constanze is a PhD student in the Vienna Doctoral School of Ecology and Evolution. Her interdisciplinary dissertation focuses on different contexts of violence found in osteological museum collections at the Natural History Museum Vienna, Department of Anthropology. Here she will combine bioarchaeological and forensic methods with historical approaches to create a comprehensive picture of collections with diverse provenance. To that end, she also looks at what constitutes a museum object, how human remains fall into that category, and how to deal with such legacies in a conscious and responsible manner.    

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The Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW) Department of Prehistoric and Historical Archaeology (IUHA) Members

Ana M. HERRERO CORRAL

Dr. Ana M. Herrero Corral is a Marie-Curie postdoctoral researcher at the Department of Prehistory and WANA Archaeology, of the Austrian Archaeological Institute. She has a master's degree in Physical Anthropology and a PhD in Prehistory from Universidad Complutense de Madrid (Spain). Her main research focuses on the social role that children of recent prehistory would have within their communities through the bioarchaeological analysis of the funerary record. During her Marie-Curie project she will explore biological and non-biological kinship relationships between children and adults buried together in multiple graves of recent prehistory Iberia. Since 2017 has been part of the Humanejos research project, one of the most important cemeteries of the III and II millennium BC in Iberia, financed by the Spanish Ministry of Culture. Out of an output of over 30 academic publications, those more relevant include: Herrero et al. 2019 The Inheritors: Bell Beaker Children’s Tombs in Iberia and their Social Context, Cintas and Herrero 2020 Missing prehistoric women? Sex ratio as an indicator for analyzing the population of Iberia from the 8th to the 3rd millennia B.C, or the recently published book (Herrero 2022) Bioarchaeological analysis of child burials from the III and II millennium BC in the upper and middle basins of the Tagus.

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Vienna Institute for Archaeological Science (VIAS) Members

Emily J. KATE

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

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Department of Prehistoric and Historical Archaeology (IUHA) Members

Tom MALTAS

I am a Postdoctoral Researcher in Environmental Archaeology on the 'Migration and the Making of the Ancient Greek World' (MIGMAG) project at the Institute for Classical Archaeology, University of Vienna. My research uses archaeobotany and stable isotope analysis to understand the roles of farming in societal change in the prehistoric Mediterranean. For MIGMAG, I am investigating changes in land use and agricultural production strategies that may have accompanied mobility, demographic change and urbanisation in the Iron Age Mediterranean. I recently completed a DPhil (PhD) at the University of Oxford, where I analysed archaeobotanical assemblages from Chalcolithic and Bronze Age western Anatolia.

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Department of Evolutionary Anthropology (DEA) Members

Lumila Paula MENÉNDEZ

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

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Department of Evolutionary Anthropology (DEA) Members

Annette OERTLE

I am a postdoctoral fellow with the Douka Palaeoproteomics and ZooMS laboratory in the Department of Evolutionary Anthropology at the University of Vienna. As an archaeological scientist (zooarchaeologist) I specialise in collagen peptide fingerprinting (ZooMS) and archaeomalacology. My research interests lie in tropical, coastal and island archaeology with particular focus on Australia, the Pacific Islands and Island South East Asia (ISEA). I am interested in questions regarding human evolution, changes in subsistence behaviours, and site formation processes. I completed my PhD in 2019 from the University of Sydney, Australia, and was a postdoctoral researcher on the ERC FINDER project based at the Max Planck Institute SHH Jena, Germany. I am currently a Marie-Skłodowska Curie Postdoctoral Fellow leading project DENI-CESTOR (DENIsovan anCESTORs in Sahul: deciphering human evolution through molecular techniques) and PI on a Leaking Foundation Grant (Using ZooMS to identify new human fossils in archaeological deposits in Papua New Guinea). Marie-Skłodowska Curie Postdoctoral Fellow (2022-2024) Principal Investigator: Leakey Foundation Grant (2022-2023)

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Natural History Museum Vienna (NHM) Members

Konstantina SALIARI

Konstantina Saliari is the curator of the Archeological Zoological Collection at the Natural History Museum Vienna. She took her Master´s degree in archaeology with the specialization in archaeozoology from the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens in 2012 and her PhD in archaeozoology from the University of Vienna in 2017. Konstantina Saliari has carried out archaeozoological analysis of animal remains from the Palaeolithic, Neolithic, Bronze and Iron Ages, as well as from the Roman, Early Medieval and Medieval periods. Her main research topics include husbandry strategies, socio-economic and environmental aspects, aiming at connecting different research fields and the dissemination of archaeozoological methods and results to academic and public audience.

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Department of Evolutionary Anthropology (DEA) Members Allgemein

Susanna SAWYER

Susanna is a Lise Meitner Postdoctoral Researcher at the Department of Evolutionary Anthropology at the University of Vienna. She completed her PhD under Svante Pääbo on genomic insights into Denisovans and Neandertals of Denisova Cave. She joined the department in 2018 and has focused on a wide range of ancient DNA questions. She is particularly interested in ancient epigenetics and the effect of maternal behavior on methylation signals during gestation in ancient human populations. In 2023 she will begin a new project on human ancient DNA analyses from sediments.

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Department of Evolutionary Anthropology (DEA) Members

Petra ŠIMKOVÁ

I am an evolutionary anthropologist and trained morphometrician. I obtained my PhD in Evolutionary Anthropology from the Department of Evolutionary Anthropology at the University of Vienna, where I specialized in the use of 3D virtual imaging techniques combined with geometric morphometrics to study modern human dental variation. My research interests include hominin evolution, dental and functional morphology, and paleopathology. Currently, I am a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Vienna, continuing my research in dental anthropology. I focus on examining morphological variation within and between the dentitions of modern human populations, as well as those of prehistoric populations and other hominins.

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Vienna Institute for Archaeological Science (VIAS) Members

Gabriele SCHARRER-LIŠKA

Gabriele Scharrer-Liška was educated at the University of Vienna (M.A. in 1994, PhD in 1999). Since 19959 she has been employed at the Vienna Institute for Archaeological Sciences (VIAS) focusing at social, economic and landscape archaeological issues of the Mediaeval Period in Central Europe.    

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Department of Prehistoric and Historical Archaeology (IUHA) Members

Maximilian PINIEL

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.    

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