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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The Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW) Team Leaders

Andreas G. HEISS

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

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Department of Prehistoric and Historical Archaeology (IUHA) 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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