Looking at Lithics
Autor: Maeve Nic Samhradáin
The Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW) Team Leaders
Alexandra S. RODLER-RØRBO
I am an archaeological scientist at the Austrian Archaeological Institute of the Austrian Academy of Sciences with a PhD in Geosciences. My research focuses on the organization of ancient colorant networks in view of economic, political and technological changes, currently from late Bronze Age to late Antiquity in the Mediterranean, southwest Asia and Europe. This includes materials of various industries such as mineral pigments, glasses/glazes, metals, and earths, and includes geological fieldwork, experiments, and mineralogical/petrographic and geochemical analyses with a focus on mass spectrometry.
Department of Prehistoric and Historical Archaeology (IUHA) Team Leaders
Peter C. RAMSL
Peter C. Ramsl (Priv. Doz., Mag. Dr.) is university assistant specialising in the European Iron Age and is currently leading the FWF project ‘Celts Across The Alps’ (CATA). His research on the European Iron Ages focusses on the identities and social relationships of people, their mobility and possible migrations as well as dietary habits. This is achieved through a combination of interdisciplinary methodological approaches. Current research is also focussing on insights into social and biological gender and the effects of violence and war on societies. As part of the current FWF project, he and his research team are analysing the relationships between La Tène cemeteries from the Traisen valley in Lower Austria and those from northern Italy near Bologna and Mantova. Another interest is landscape archaeology, focussing on the use of the various landscapes of the Iron Age.
News
Last terrapins – first turkeys – humans out of place
500 years of building history mirrored by rubble layers, artefacts, bones and documents It started with a rescue excavation of a few weeks in 2004, when the centre of the Nationalpark Donauauen was established in one of the most unique of our Renaissance castles; 17 years later, and coordinated by Nikolaus Hofer from the Federal Monuments Authority Austria, a team of historians, art historians, archaeologists, stratigraphers and osteologists together assemble a colourful picture, mutually benefitting from each others results; for the first time in Austria, the history of a monumental building could be traced over such a long period - inderdisciplinarity more than an out-dated phrase
Network Associates Department of Evolutionary Anthropology (DEA)
Verena SCHÜNEMANN
My research is centered around ancient DNA retrieved from a wide range of samples to better understand pathogen-host-environment interactions across time and to trace back the evolutionary history of pathogens. Furthermore, I also work on ancient genomics of domesticated plants and animals from various time periods as well as on ancient microbiomes.
Vienna Institute for Archaeological Science (VIAS) Team Leaders
Michaela SCHAUER
I’m an archaeologist by training, specialised in the chemical analysis of archaeological and geological materials using portable X-ray fluorescence (p-XRF). Recently, I have finished my PhD on LBK and La Hoguette pottery at Ludwig-Maximilians-University (LMU) in Munich, and won the LMU Dissertations Prize of Faculty 9. With more than seven years of experience and over 30 p-XRF related research projects under my belt, I will now continue methodological R&D into the p-XRF technique at VIAS in the framework of a three-year FWF ESPRIT fellowship on “Standardising portable X-ray fluorescence for archaeometry”. My main focus will be on experiments to improve our understanding of instrument handling, particularly in relation to environmental conditions. I will also carry out a series of tests on their application to ancient pottery and sediments. I enjoy discussing methods and approaches, as well as being involved in pottery studies and projects around the world.
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.
Vienna Environmental Research Accelerator (VERA) Team Leaders
Peter STEIER
Peter Steier is assistant professor at the Faculty of Physics and member of the research group Isotope Physics. Working with accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) techniques he is interested in very heavy ions (actinides), time-of-flight detectors, energy loss and straggling, isobar identification, the 14C dating for archaeology, and application of Bayesian statistics to calibration.
The Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW) Team Leaders
Lyndelle WEBSTER
Based at the Department of Prehistory and WANA Archaeology at the Austrian Archaeological Institute, my research focuses on radiocarbon dating and soil micromorphology. Developing radiocarbon-based chronologies for Neolithic through Iron Age sites across a wide geographic area, from the Levant and Near East to Europe and the Balkans, has enabled me to contribute to key chronological debates. My current FWF ESPRIT project employs an integrated approach using soil micromorphology and other micro-scale techniques, as well as radiocarbon dating, to study earliest settlements along a major corridor for Neolithisation in the central Balkans.
Archive News
The earliest Denisovans and their cultural adaptation
A new article co-authored by HEAS members Tom Higham and Katherina Douka sheds light on the Denisovan remains in Siberia. The team found and sequenced 5 new human bones using ZooMS dating back to 200,000 yrs in East Chamber. To read the article in full click here Press Coverage Anthropologie: Älteste Überreste des Denisova-Menschen - science.ORF.at
Department of Evolutionary Anthropology (DEA) Members
Magdalena T. SRIENC-ŚCIESIEK
I am a PhD candidate and the Anthropology Lab Manager at the Austrian Archaeological Institute- Austrian Academy of Sciences. My doctoral research focuses on the early medieval Eastern Alpine region and will look at how the transitional period influenced health and diet as well as mobility in southern Austria and northern Slovenia. I am interested in palaeopathology and recreating the life history of individuals and communities.
Department of Evolutionary Anthropology (DEA) Vienna Institute for Archaeological Science (VIAS) Members
Brina ZAGORC
I am an archaeologist and currently a PhD student in Ron Pinhasi's Lab group. My research areas include studying relationships between and within past societies, and I am especially interested in the field of bioarchaeology of children. The main focus of my PhD project is to observe sex-specific variations in subadult health status during Antiquity and Early Medieval times. My work includes aDNA analysis and other bioarchaeological methods where I compare the occurrence of physiological stress indicators, and other paleopathological indicators of bad health, in relation to the biological sex of the studied individuals. This will help me address questions on upbringing, weaning patterns, and overall health of the subadult population in the past.