Vienna Institute for Archaeological Science (VIAS) Team Leaders

Günther Karl KUNST

Trained as a palaeontologist working on Ice-Age mammals, I made a change for the “younger stuff” with the founding of VIAS/IDEA in 1994. Since then, I have been involved in various excavation projects in Central Europe, Egypt and Turkey. I prefer excavation projects comprising  complicated archaeological situations, like multiphase buildings or settlements. Here, I like to collaborate with colleagues studying archaeological features and other find groups, especially pottery. I have been a lecturer for archaeozoology for almost three decades on various departments of the University of Vienna (Prehistory and Historic archaeology, Palaeontology, Anthropology). Special interests: taphonomy of buildings and complex settlements; butchery studies; relationships between animal bones and pottery remains

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Department of Palaeontology (PAL) Team Leaders

Jürgen KRIWET

I am Professor of Palaeobiology and head of the Evolutionary Morphology Research Group at the Department of Palaeontology of the University of Vienna since September 2010. Prior to coming to Vienna I was curator at the Natural History Museum Berlin and State Museum of Natural History Stuttgart (Germany). My research is at the interface of palaeobiology and evolutionary developmental biology of vertebrates. For this I integrate living and fossil organisms, knowledge of their evolutionary relationships and past diversity patterns, and developmental biology, to provide a holistic understanding of their evolutionary history.

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