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Mareike Stahlschmidt, Susanna Sawyer and Omaima Zaki from the working group microarchaeology visited the Tischoferhöhle to sample for ancient sedaDNA analysis. SedaDNA could shed new light on homo sapiens and Neanderthal occupations of the cave. Recent excavation revealed lithics typically associated with homo sapiens, but also Neanderthals while no human fossil remains were discovered so far. A news sections by the ORF reports on these sensational new finds, including an interview with Sawyer on the potential of sedaDNA for identifying the makers of the lithic industries.   Interview (in German) https://on.orf.at/video/14285067/15919671/tischofer-hoehle-sensationsf  

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/      

Dominik Hagmann's latest research, "Home is Where my Villa Is: A Machine Learning-based Predictive Suitability Map for Roman Features in Northern Noricum (ca. 50–500 CE/Lower Austria/AUT)," was recently published in the Journal of Maps. The study applies the Maxent machine learning (ML) algorithm to identify suitable locations for Roman archaeological features in Lower Austria. It offers new insights into ancient Roman settlement patterns and provides valuable support for heritage management and archaeological research.   https://www.heas.at/research/publications/home-is-where-my-villa-is-a-machine-learning-based-predictive-suitability-map-for-roman-features-in-northern-noricum-ca-50-500-ce-lower-austria-aut/

The HEAS Keynote with Necmi Karul took place on the 26th June 2025 at the ÖAW Theatersaal in the first district of Vienna. The talk, titled 'The Land of Great Transformation. Karahantepe and The Last Hunter-Gatherers of The Şanliurfa Plateau' was delivered to a hybrid audience and was followed by the HEAS Summer Party.   Press Coverage (in German) https://www.derstandard.at/story/3000000275682/oesterreichische-archaeologieteams-werden-an-monumentaler-grabungsstaette-goebekli-tepe-mitarbeiten

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

HEAS Member Doris Jetzinger has recently been awarded a grant by the Austrian Academy of Sciences. I have been awarded a GO.INVESTIGATIO fellowship by the Austrian Academy of Sciences for a 6 months research stay at CERSA luminescence, the luminescence laboratories within the School of Earth and Environmental Sciences at the University of St Andrews, Scotland, for my research project “How old are these sediments? Promoting the use of pOSL profiling for archaeological features with unclear chronological contexts in Austria”. My aim is to study chronostratigraphic contexts, construction histories and (post-) depositional and formation processes of Austrian archaeological sites and features via portable optically stimulated luminescence profiling (pOSL profiling) and OSL dating of sediment samples. pOSL profiling generates relative chronostratigraphic data through stratigraphies as well as proxy data to interpret geomorphic contexts, formation processes, and variations in mineralogy. My project acts as a case study that will lay the groundwork for a larger research project and helps underline the potential of pOSL profiling and the benefits of further establishing this approach for archaeological applications in Austria.

HEAS Member Gerhard Weber was recently interviewed for a popular german language podcast on, among other things, the origin of the human species and the development of the human brain over the course of evolution. Is our brain getting bigger? Are we on the verge of a leap in our biological evolution? You can listen to the podcast on the following links: www.dguz.at Podigee-Blog: https://dguz.podigee.io/ Spotify https://open.spotify.com/episode/0fn6MzZ9RdGWK8HOH8UaSj?si=0c55549b32094eee Apple podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/at/podcast/die-geschichte-unserer-zukunft/id1800278307?i=1000703155950

HEAS members Philip R. Nigst and Marjolein D. Bosch published new paper on Fire Use during the Last Glacial Maximum at Korman' 9, Ukraine We are very pleased to announce our latest publication on our research on fire use and combustion activties during the Last Glacial Maximum in collaboration with William Chase Murphree, University of Algrave (Faro, Portugal). We analysed three combustion features at the Epigravettian site of Korman' 9 in the Middle Dnister valley, Ukraine. Our paper was published in Geoarchaeology. Open-access. The Last Glacial maximum (LGM), spanning from 26.5 to 19 thousand years before present (ka BP), is a period of extreme climatic degradation associated with reduced biomass production and resource stress throughout Eurasia. Arguably, one of the most fundamental tools for human survival during this cold and arid period was the ability to create, maintain and use fire. While fire is widely considered a ubiquitous tool in modern human behaviour, there are surprisingly few well‐described combustion features during the LGM in Europe. In this paper, we provide high‐resolution geoarchaeological research into three combustion features associated with Epigravettian occupations at the site of Korman' 9 (Ukraine) with ages falling in the LGM. Our results show distinct variations in the size and structure of the combustion features, potentially indicating multiple occupations within the same layer or reflect differences in…

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.

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 Member Magdalena Blanz (Vienna Institute for Archaeological Science and Austrian Archaeological Institute) was awarded an FWF Erwin Schrödinger grant to study compound-specific stable isotope ratios in bone collagen and plants for improved dietary modelling. FWF Erwin Schrödinger grants are awarded to highly qualified early-career postdocs to pursue career-enhancing stays at internationally renowned research institutions, and also provides them with support after their return to Austria.   Amino acid isotope ratios to explore past plant consumption Stable carbon and nitrogen isotope ratios (δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N) of bone collagen are frequently used to reconstruct past diets. However, bulk analyses of all extracted collagen suffer greatly from equifinality, whereby very different diets can result in the same bulk δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N values. By separating collagen (a protein) into its constituent amino acids, and separately analysing the δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N values of specific amino acids, much more nuanced palaeodietary information can be gained. In her Schrödinger project, Magdalena Blanz will be hosted at the University of Oxford, working with Prof. Amy Styring (Head of the Stable Isotope Ratio Laboratory) to gain more information has to how amino acid δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N values reflect past diets. On her return to Vienna, she will be working at the Vienna Institute for Archaeological Science in collaboration with Univ.-Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Wanek.   Magdalena Blanz obtained a…

We were very happy to welcome a group of early career researchers from the OeAW from the HEAS Partner Insitute the ÖAW to the University of Vienna Biology building (the UBB). The group had a tour of the UBB followed by a tour of the Vienna Micro-CT Lab by Gerhard Weber, a tour of the Higham and Douka labs by Tom Higham and of the Pinhasi Lab by Olivia Cheronet. We were happy to have such an enthuastic group visit us and we hope to have a lot more fruitful meetings in the future.    

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/