Geoarchaeology

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

Thomas BEARD

I am a PhD candidate in the Department of Evolutionary Anthropology as part of Mareike Stahlschmidt’s team. I received my Masters degree from the University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa. For my MSc I worked at the site of Border Cave, South Africa, using the geoarchaeological techniques of fabric and facies analyses to understand the formation of the upper portion of the archaeological sequence. I am a geoarchaeologist, with a specific interest in investigating micro- to macroscale cave/rockshelter site formation processes and employing a multiproxy approach, using methods such as XRF, particle size analysis, and fabric analysis. I am also a multidisciplinary archaeologist and have a generalised knowledge of other archaeological fields. For my PhD I am pivoting into microarchaeology by using the technique of micromorphology to understand and contextualize the preservation of ancient DNA at the microscale at Upper Palaeolithic cave sites in Georgia.

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Department of Evolutionary Anthropology (DEA) Members

Mike STOROZUM

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.

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Department of Evolutionary Anthropology (DEA) Team Leaders

Mareike STAHLSCHMIDT

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.  

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Vienna Institute for Archaeological Science (VIAS) Team Leaders

Immo TRINKS

Deputy Head

I am a geophysicist interested in innovative research into efficient, high-resolution, geophysical prospection and digital documentation methods and their application to geosciences, archaeology and engineering problems. I am motivated by the potential of new techniques permitting the imaging of subsurface structures in unprecedented resolution, revealing hidden man-made and natural treasures. I enjoy sharing insights, findings and know-how with colleagues, students and the interested public.

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