Activities

HEAS member Michael Doneus received an award from the municipality of Mazara del Vallo in Sicily in recognition of his many years of archaeological research, which began in 2003. His former colleagues, Dr Erich Draganits (University of Vienna), Dr Christopher Severa (Newcastle University) and Cipriano Frazzetta (MA), were also honoured, as was Prof. Sebastiano Tusa, the former Sicilian Councillor for Cultural Heritage, posthumously. Links to some research results: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00934690.2020.1734898   https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10816-017-9348-9  

The Team at HEAS are delighted to announce the speakers for the 2025-2026 Seminar Series. Covering Human Evolution and the Palaeolithic, Ancient Genomics, and Archaeological Science the series weclomes from speakers from all over Europe, the US and Canada, and South America. All talks are hybrid while some will be online only. Registration is now open here. To look back on previous seminars, have a look at our YouTube channel for recording from the talks and podcast interviews with the speakers.  

Calling all Palaeolithic and prehistoric researchers using GIS! The Call for Papers for Computer Applications and Quantitative Methods in Archaeology (CAA) 2026 in Vienna is now open, with an October 26th deadline. We are running the second iteration of our Palaeo-GIS session (Session 39). The Palaeo-GIS session is intended to encourage contributions from authors applying GIS in Palaeolithic or later prehistoric contexts and research topics. We particularly encourage authors to submit papers that reflect on the unique characteristics and challenges of their prehistoric research context, and engage reflectively with those challenges. You can read the full session abstract here: https://2026.caaconference.org/conference-sessions/  

HEAS Deputy Head Ron Pinhasi along with the Minerva team have recently published a paper on 'Polymer Length Governs DNA Adsorption Dynamics on Mineral Surfaces'. This paper also included HEAS Members Veer Vikram Singh, Richard Kimber and Stephan M. Kraemer. https://pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10.1021/acs.est.5c08180 

During excavation work in Hallstatt (on the property of the Kocsar-Riezinger family in the Seestraße), archaeological layers of scientific importance were uncovered: Medieval terracing walls, a burnt layer with coins, bricks and fragments of vessels of the Roman period, as well as up to one meter thick layers from the Latène period (Late Iron Age, c 450-15 BC). Around 1,000 artefacts from different epochs have recently been recovered. The results will be presented to the public on the 12th August 2025 at the NHM Wien. More information in the press release here. Press Release   [gallery ids="4676,4677,4678,4675"]    

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…

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 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 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 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…

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/

In a new study in Journal of Paleolithic Archaeology, HEAS member Philip R. Nigst together with an international team, presents on their fieldwork and laboratory research at Ollersdorf-Heidenberg, an Upper Palaeolithic open-air site in Lower Austria. The site was dated to the time leading up to the Last Glacial Maximum. The Middle Danube region is a key area for understanding Upper Palaeolithic hunter-gatherer behaviours in a climatic context due to its long loess–palaeosol sequences and rich archaeological record spanning from the onset of the Upper Palaeolithic to the Last Glacial Maximum and beyond. Recently, new approaches focusing on high-resolution studies of the stratigraphy, geoarchaeological studies at microscopic scale and investigations of organic matter at molecular scale (biomarker analyses) have shown great new insights in human behaviour. Many sites in the Middle Danube region have been excavated a long time ago without opportunity to apply such approaches. The aim of this paper is to introduce Ollersdorf-Heidenberg, a loess open-air site. The site is located ~ 26 km northeast of Vienna close to the Morava River valley and preserves several Upper Palaeolithic archaeological horizons. The site has been known since a pipeline construction in 1998. Here, we report the first results of new research at the site including new excavations in two trenches. We describe and analyse the stratigraphy, present a first radiocarbon date,…

HEAS member Gerhard Weber starts a new FWF Project to study the 3D morphology of human postcanine teeth. Petra Simkova will be employed as PostDoc, Jana Pfneiszl will start a PhD in the project. In this project we undertake the first comprehensive 3D study of human teeth, more precisely of the tooth crowns of canines, premolars, and molars from the upper and lower dentition. We will also include milk teeth. Despite the long history of dental research in anthropology and medicine, progress in studying the three-dimensional geometry of teeth has only been made recently. How the 3D shape and size of individual tooth types are related to each other, how they vary between different human populations, and which individual regions of these teeth show more or less variation remains largely unknown. This project fills the gaps in our knowledge on human dental anatomy, provides comparable data, and lays the foundations for future work to unravel the associations between teeth and genes. We have defined four major aims: 1) Investigate the 3D shape and size variation of the upper and lower dentition in a geographically diverse sample of modern humans, 2) study the shape variation in different tooth regions, namely those regions that touch each other during chewing and those which do not touch, 3) examine the 3D shape relationships between…