Aydık, F., Ertuğrul, B., Windhager, S., Özener, B., 2024. Associations of Facial Shape With Physical Strength and 2D:4D in a Turkish Male and Female Sample. American Journal of Human Biology 36, e24155. read more
Gelabert, P., Oberreiter, V., Straus, L.G., Morales, M.R.G., Sawyer, S., Marín-Arroyo, A.B., Geiling, J.M., Exler, F., Brueck, F., Franz, S., Cano, F.T., Szedlacsek, S., Zelger, E., Hämmerle, M., Zagorc, B., Llanos-Lizcano, A., Cheronet, O., Tejero, J.-M., Rattei, T., Kraemer, S.M., Pinhasi, R., 2025. A sedimentary ancient DNA perspective on human and carnivore persistence through the Late Pleistocene in El Mirón Cave, Spain. Nature Communications 16, 107. read more
Llanos-Lizcano, A., Hämmerle, M., Sperduti, A., Sawyer, S., Zagorc, B., Özdoğan, K. T., Guellil, M., Cheronet, O., Kuhlwilm, M., Pinhasi, R., & Gelabert, P. (2025). Intra-individual variability in ancient plasmodium DNA recovery highlights need for enhanced sampling. Scientific Reports, 15(1), read more
HEAS Team Leader Katerina Douka was recently awarded a Consolidator ERC grant. ERC Consolidator Grants are awarded to exceptional mid-career researchers who have established themselves as independent investigators and are ready to further solidify their role as research leaders. These grants support groundbreaking projects with the potential to significantly advance their field. New fossils expected to reveal more about how humans evolved Modern humans (Homo sapiens) evolved in Africa, dispersed into Eurasia, and by ~60,000 years ago they reached Sahul, the supercontinent that connected present-day Australia, Papua New Guinea and Tasmania. This remarkable human migration, from the East African Rift to the Pacific Rim, enabled the genetic admixture of Homo sapiens with other hominin species, such as Neanderthals and Denisovans, who evolved and lived outside Africa for millennia. The genetic exchanges between archaic hominins and Homo sapiens contributed to the diversity, resilience, and adaptive capacities of modern humans today. However, our knowledge of the human groups that inhabited Africa 100,000 years ago, and those who migrated and subsequently reached Sahul, remains limited due to the lack of fossil and molecular data. RIFT-to-RIM, the new ERC CoG project led by Assoc. Prof. Douka, aims to fill this gap. The project's principal objective is the discovery and analysis of new early modern human fossils from under-researched parts of the world. State-of-the-art paleoproteomic…
HEAS member Michaela Schauer was awarded the International Philippika Prize for her PhD on the 25th October 2024. More information on the prize and Michaela's work: https://www.harrassowitz-verlag.de/aktuell.ahtml https://www.archaeologie42.de/auszeichnung-award/internationaler-philippika-preis-2024-vergeben/5499/ https://www.uni-trier.de/universitaet/fachbereiche-faecher/fachbereich-iii/faecher/klassische-und-provinzialroemische-archaeologie/forschung-und-projekte/philippika-preis
Hackl, J. and X. Huang (2024). "Revisiting adaptive introgression at the HLA genes in Lithuanian genomes with machine learning." Infection, Genetics and Evolution: 105708. read more
Bernhard Fink received his PhD in Biological Anthropology from the University of Vienna (Austria). He then moved to the University of Göttingen (Germany) where he held prestigious grants from the German Science Foundation (DFG) to investigate the social perception of human facial/body morphology and body movements, such as dance and gait. His work comprises the study of cross-cultural similarities and differences in human social perception, including research in pre-industrialized (small-scale) societies. Bernhard has worked extensively on digit ratio (2D:4D), a supposed proxy for prenatal androgenization. Together with John Manning (Swansea University), he examines 2D:4D relationships with sex-dependent traits across nations in a large sample from the BBC internet study.
Barzilai, O., Marder, O., Tejero, J.-M., Ayalon, A., Bar-Matthews, M., Abulafia, T., Lavi, R., Goder-Goldberger, M., Shemer, M., Edeltin, L., Wiegmann, A., Frumkin, A., Karasik, A., Yasur, G., Yeshurun, R., Zohar, I., Berna, F., Hans, M., Goldberg, J.S., McDermott, Y., Spurlock, L., Pokhojaev, A., Habashi, W., May, H., Sarig, R., Hershkovitz, I., 2024. Early human collective practices and symbolism in the Early Upper Paleolithic of Southwest Asia. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 121, e2404632121. read more
Roland Filzwieser is a postdoctoral researcher in archaeological prospection, landscape archaeology, medieval history, and digital humanities at the Vienna Institute for Archaeological Science (VIAS). He is specialized in geophysical prospection and digital documentation methods in combination with historical written and cartographic sources
Hämmerle, M., Guellil, M., Trgovec-Greif, L., Cheronet, O., Sawyer, S., Ruiz-Gartzia, I., Lizano, E., Rymbekova, A., Gelabert, P., Bernardi, P., Han, S., Rattei, T., Schuenemann, V.J., Marques-Bonet, T., Guschanski, K., Calvignac-Spencer, S., Pinhasi, R., Kuhlwilm, M., 2024. Screening great ape museum specimens for DNA viruses. Scientific Reports 14, 29806. read more
Gelabert, P., Bickle, P., Hofmann, D., Teschler-Nicola, M., Anders, A., Huang, X., Hämmerle, M., Olalde, I., Fournier, R., Ringbauer, H., Akbari, A., Cheronet, O., Lazaridis, I., Broomandkhoshbacht, N., Fernandes, D.M., Buttinger, K., Callan, K., Candilio, F., Bravo Morante, G., Curtis, E., Ferry, M., Keating, D., Freilich, S., Kearns, A., Harney, É., Lawson, A.M., Mandl, K., Michel, M., Oberreiter, V., Zagorc, B., Oppenheimer, J., Sawyer, S., Schattke, C., Özdoğan, K.T., Qiu, L., Workman, J.N., Zalzala, F., Mallick, S., Mah, M., Micco, A., Pieler, F., Pavuk, J., Šefčáková, A., Lazar, C., Starović, A., Djuric, M., Krznarić Škrivanko, M., Šlaus, M., Bedić, Ž., Novotny, F., D. Szabó, L., Cserpák-Laczi, O., Hága, T., Szolnoki, L., Hajdú, Z., Mirea, P., Nagy, E.G., Virág, Z.M., Horváth M, A., Horváth, L.A., T. Biró, K., Domboróczki, L., Szeniczey, T., Jakucs, J., Szelekovszky, M., Zoltán, F., Sztáncsuj, S.J., Tóth, K., Csengeri, P., Pap, I., Patay, R., Putica, A., Vasov, B., Havasi, B., Sebők, K., Raczky, P., Lovász, G., Tvrdý, Z., Rohland, N., Novak, M., Ruttkay, M., Krošláková, M., Bátora, J., Paluch, T., Borić, D., Dani, J., Kuhlwilm, M., Palamara, P.F., Hajdu, T., Pinhasi, R., Reich, D., 2024. Social and genetic diversity in first farmers of central Europe. Nature Human Behaviour. read more
Blanz, M., Gröcke, D.R., Martin, P., Church, M., 2024. The effect of seaweed fertilisation on sulfur isotope ratios (δ³⁴S) and grain size in barley: Implications for agronomy and archaeological research. Frontiers in Environmental Archaeology 3, 1465082. read more
Bhavna Ahlawat is our first Junior Intern and is visiting HEAS currently working on exciting new research concerned with biomolecules from ancient Indian sites. I am a molecular biologist specializing in ancient DNA and population genetics, focusing on different archaeological sites in India. During my doctoral research at Panjab University and BSIP, India, I honed my skills in ancient DNA protocols while working in India's first dedicated aDNA facility, which specializes in analyzing degraded DNA from tropical samples. My expertise in diverse extraction and library preparation protocols was significant in generating high-quality data from critical human skeletal remains, including samples from the Vadnagar archaeological complex and the Indus Valley Civilization site at Lothal (∼2200 BCE). Currently, as a research intern with HEAS at the University of Vienna, I am exploring the application of Zooarchaeology by Mass Spectrometry (ZooMS) on a variety of bone remains of different species from South Asia—an under-researched region in this context. My work focuses on: 1. Species Identification: Utilizing peptide mass fingerprinting through MALDI-ToF-MS for South Asian samples. 2. Degraded Collagen Analysis: Investigating the potential of ZooMS for analyzing fragile and degraded bone collagen from this region. Through this research, I aim to bridge gaps in South Asian archaeogenetics and develop methodologies for studying ancient remains in challenging environments and understand the hman animal interaction. I…
I am a palaeoanthropologist with a research focus on hominin dental morphology. Using a variety of methods, my research investigates the evolution of the hominin dentition, and explores the implications for important transitions in the course of human evolutionary history. I am particularly interested in the origins and evolution of the genus Homo, and have ongoing projects investigating internal dental structures in Homo habilis, Homo naledi, Homo floresiensis and Australopithecus sediba. My research uses microtomography to image internal tooth structures such as the enamel-dentine junction in fossil hominins, which can allow us to address questions that may not be possible from the outer surface of teeth. I also use geometric morphometrics to quantify the shape of teeth and bones. Currently I am a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Research Fellow working on the project ‘TOOTHROW’ – which aims to develop a novel methodological framework for the analysis of whole tooth rows using geometric morphometrics
Végh, E.I., Douka, K., 2024. SpecieScan: semi-automated taxonomic identification of bone collagen peptides from MALDI-ToF-MS. Bioinformatics 40. read more
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…
Webb, N.M., Fornai, C., Krenn, V.A., Watson, L.M., Herbst, E.C., Haeusler, M., 2024. Gradual exacerbation of obstetric constraints during hominoid evolution implied by re-evaluation of cephalopelvic fit in chimpanzees. Nature Ecology & Evolution. read more
I am a palaeolithic archaeologist specialised on human-environment interactions and lithic technology. My primary regions of study are the Levant and lately also central Europe, where I focus on homo sapiens settlement patterns, mobility, lithic technology and raw material use. I have studied at Cologne University in Germany until my PhD in 2019 on Levantine Upper Palaeolithic settlement patterns. From there I spend two years at the Rhenish Heritage Management focusing on copy editing and public relations. Then I moved to Israel for a Postdoc at the W.F. Albright Institute of Archaeology in Jerusalem, where I studied Levantine Aurignacian Carinated cores before spending another two years at the Department of Bible Studies, Archaeology and the Ancient Near East at Ben Gurion University in Beer Sheva. There I had a number of projects on Upper Palaeolithic flint raw material use. Since 2022 I am at the Austrian Academy of Science in the research group Quaternary Archaeology. Lately my projects focus on Lower Austria, the well-known site of Kammern-Grubgraben and my new site of Gobelsburg-Rossgraben, where we found a mammoth-killsite in a wine cellar.
Organisation: Dr. Ing. Mathias Mehofer, VIAS, University Vienna In the year 2004 the scanning electron microscopy laboratory was funded at the Vienna Institute for Archaeological Science, University of Vienna. Initiated within the FWF project (P 16489) "The Gold Treasure from Sannicolau Mare (Nagyszentmiklós)" under the direction of Gen. Dir. Prof. Dr. F. Daim, it was used to conduct technological and material analysis of this outstanding early medieval gold treasure, which is nowadays housed in the Antikensammlung, Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna (KHM). The scanning electron microscope played a pivotal role in this work and has since been utilized in many other research projects addressing various scientific questions. Anorganic and organic materials of all kind were analysed, contributing to archaeometric research and numerous publications. The planned anniversary event on November 14, 2024 aims to reflect on the scientific activities of the past 20 years and present outstanding research results. We warmly invite you to join us in celebrating this anniversary. Where: Department of Prehistoric and Historical Archaeology University Vienna Franz Klein Gasse 1/3rd floor 1190 Vienna lecture room 7 (HS7) When: 14.11.2024, 15-17 pm, followed by a get-together with a buffet and good vine. We kindly ask you to register by 07.11.2024 at mathias.mehofer@univie.ac.at Jubiläum_20_Jahre-REM_VIAS_Universität_Wien_
Schauer, Michaela: Datenkontrolle, -aufbereitung und -auswertung portabler Röntgenfluoreszenzanalysen (p-RFA) mit dem Bruker Tracer 5i No 900F398 an silikatischem Material des Brandopferplatzes bei Farchant, Lkr. Garmisch-Partenkirchen. 31. Juli 2024. Open Data LMU. 10.5282/ubm/data.536 read more
Han, S., de Filippo, C., Parra, G., Meneu, J.R., Laurent, R., Frandsen, P., Hvilsom, C., Gronau, I., Marques-Bonet, T., Kuhlwilm, M., Andrés, A.M., Deep genetic substructure within bonobos. Current Biology. read more
In a new study in Current Biology, HEAS members So Jung Han and Martin Kuhlwilm together with an international team, improve our understanding of bonobos. Bonobos are, together with chimpanzees, our closest living relatives, but the genetic structure of their population was so far not well understood. They show that three genetically distinct bonobo groups of inferred Central, Western and Far-Western geographic origin exist within the bonobo range. Their split times are up to ~145,000 years ago, which similar to that of some chimpanzee subspecies. This highlights the need of attention to bonobo substructure, which is fundamental both to understand their evolutionary past and preserve their future. https://www.heas.at/research/publications/deep-genetic-substructure-within-bonobos/ Press Release (In German) More information
Sawyer, S., Gelabert, P., Yakir, B., Llanos-Lizcano, A., Sperduti, A., Bondioli, L., Cheronet, O., Neugebauer-Maresch, C., Teschler-Nicola, M., Novak, M., Pap, I., Szikossy, I., Hajdu, T., Moiseyev, V., Gromov, A., Zariņa, G., Meshorer, E., Carmel, L., Pinhasi, R., 2024. Improved detection of methylation in ancient DNA. Genome Biology 25, 261. read more
Swami, V., White, M.P., Voracek, M., Tran, U.S., Aavik, T., Ranjbar, H.A., Adebayo, S.O., Afhami, R., Ahmed, O., Aimé, A., Akel, M., Al Halbusi, H., Alexias, G., Ali, K.F., Alp-Dal, N., Alsalhani, A.B., Álvarez-Solas, S., Soares Amaral, A.C., Andrianto, S., Aspden, T., Argyrides, M., Aruta, J.J.B.R., Atkin, S., Ayandele, O., Baceviciene, M., Bahbouh, R., Ballesio, A., Barron, D., Bellard, A., Bender, S., Beydaǧ, K.D., Birovljević, G., Blackburn, M.-È., Borja-Alvarez, T., Borowiec, J., Bozogáňová, M., Bratland-Sanda, S., Browning, M.E.M., Brytek-Matera, A., Burakova, M., Çakır-Koçak, Y., Camacho, P., Camilleri, V.E., Cazzato, V., Cerea, S., Chaiwutikornwanich, A., Chaleeraktrakoon, T., Chambers, T., Chen, Q.-W., Chen, X., Chien, C.-L., Chobthamkit, P., Choompunuch, B., Compte, E.J., Corrigan, J., Cosmas, G., Cowden, R.G., Czepczor-Bernat, K., Czub, M., Roberto da Silva, W., Dadfar, M., Dalley, S.E., Dany, L., Datu, J.A.D., Berbert de Carvalho, P.H., Lins de Holanda Coelho, G., De Jesus, A.O.S., Debbabi, S.H., Dhakal, S., Di Bernardo, F., Dimitrova, D.D., Dion, J., Dixson, B., Donofrio, S.M., Drysch, M., Du, H., Dzhambov, A.M., El-Jor, C., Enea, V., Eskin, M., Farbod, F., Farrugia, L., Fian, L., Fisher, M.L., Folwarczny, M., Frederick, D.A., Fuller-Tyszkiewicz, M., Furnham, A., García, A.A., Geller, S., Ghisi, M., Ghorbani, A., Gomez Martinez, M.A., Gradidge, S., Graf, S., Grano, C., Gyene, G., Hallit, S., Hamdan, M., Handelzalts, J.E., Hanel, P.P., Hawks, S.R., Hekmati, I., Helmy, M.,…
I am an evolutionary anthropologist and morphometrician by training, with consolidated experience in Dental Anthropology. Over the course of my PhD program in Biology through the Department of Evolutionary Anthropology, University of Vienna (concluded in 2015), I have specialized in the use of virtual image techniques and geometric morphometrics for the exploration of hominin dental variation (http://othes.univie.ac.at/38865/1/2015-07-11_0963308.pdf). My postdoctoral research through the within the Evolutionary Morphology group of the Institute of Evolutionary Medicine, University of Zurich, focused on the evolutionary aspects of human birth and the investigation of the pelvis in hominoids. Currently affiliated with the Department of Evolutionary Anthropology, I continue research in Dental Anthropology, while being the scientific coordinator of the Vienna School of Interdisciplinary Dentistry www.viesid.com, where I focus on topics relevant to oral medicine such as functional morphology of the stomatognathic system and its clinical implications.
I am an expert in ancient microbial phylogenomics and metagenomics, particularly of human pathogens. I am particularly interested in the study of diseases that are invisible in the archaeological and osteological record, and the study of their evolution throughout human history. My previous research includes studies on microbial species such as Yersinia pestis, Haemophilus influenzae, Borrelia recurrentis and Herpes simplex 1. The focus of my laboratory work is the design of target enrichment strategies and kits, as well as their applications. Computationally, I have developed workflows for pathogen detection in ancient DNA datasets and work on developing analytical frameworks to reconstruct ancient genomes and maximize the information they can give us when studied within modern diversity. I was awarded a BA in Prehistoric Archaeology from the University of Vienna, an MSc in Human Osteology from the University of Sheffield and a PhD in Genomics from the University of Oslo. I joined the Department of Evolutionary Anthropology at the University of Vienna in September 2022 as an ESPRIT FWF project leader and senior postdoctoral researcher.
On Friday, October 4th, 2024, 17 members of the Human Evolution and Archaeological Science (HEAS) research network from the University of Vienna set off for a remarkable two-day excursion to Hallstatt, a UNESCO World Heritage Site famous for its prehistoric salt mines. The group, split into two rented vans, arrived in Hallstatt in the afternoon, where they were warmly welcomed by Dr. Georg Tiefengraber and Daniel Brandner, along with Bernd Paulowitz, the UNESCO Site Manager, and the head of the Hallstatt Museum. The first day unfolded with a guided tour through the museum, where the group marveled at exceptional archaeological finds from the Hallstatt prehistoric cemetery and the salt mines. The artifacts, meticulously preserved, offered a window into the life and practices of the region’s ancient inhabitants. Following the museum tour, the group visited the iconic photographic viewpoint of Hallstatt, capturing views of the beautiful village, before continuing to the church Mariä Himmelfahrt and the famous ossuary, known for its collection of painted skulls. After a joint dinner, the group embarked on an evening hike, led by Daniel Brandner, up the mountain to the research center. Along the way, they encountered numerous fire salamanders, which added an extra touch to the excursion. The second day began with the remaining members of the group, who had stayed in Obertraun, joining via…
Caves have long served as critical habitats for both humans and carnivores during the Pleistocene. Traditionally, research has focused primarily on humans, often overlooking the role of carnivores in these ecosystems. Additionally, carnivores are frequently absent from the archaeological record as their activities may not leave behind remains indicating they perished in caves. Pere Gelabert’s SHADOWS project aims to broaden our understanding of how these carnivores coexisted with humans, competed for resources, and ultimately faced extinction. The project will utilize advanced techniques such as high spatiotemporal precision sampling for sediment DNA and paleoproteomics. This research will enhance our knowledge of the biological processes leading to extinction and offer crucial insights for the protection of critically endangered species today. The team will generate comprehensive data on these species, particularly focusing on their later occurrences, to detail the process of genetic erosion. Additionally, the team will develop models to better explain carnivore-human interactions and co-evolutionary patterns, aspects that are essential for understanding Paleolithic societies Pere Gelabert is a biologist who earned his PhD in Biomedicine from Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona, Spain, in 2018. Since 2019, he has been conducting research as a postdoctoral fellow at the Department of Evolutionary Anthropology of the University of Vienna. He has established himself as an author of several publications in the field of paleogenomics. In…
HEAS Member Katerina Douka was recently interviewed by 'Die Presse' on her work identifying previously unclassified tooth and bone samples and her methods for decontaminating archaeological material. "Just two decades ago, people had a fairly simple picture of why modern humans were the only ones of the Homo genus to survive." This picture was based on theories about hunting techniques and tools and fed the idea of superior modern humans who conquered the world victoriously. "But that's not how it happened." We have known that there were other forms of humans since the discovery of the first Neanderthal skull - recognized as such - in 1856, three years before Charles Darwin's "On the Origin of Species." Read full article (in German) below: https://www.diepresse.com/18905736/die-geschichte-der-menschheit-muss-umgeschrieben-werden Douka_Die_Presse_Die Geschichte der Menschheit muss umgeschrieben werden _ DiePresse.com_compressed dp.dp_die_presse.28_09_2024
Fornai, C., 2023. Why Anthropologists and Dentists Should Work in Synergy to Improve Oral Health (in Latin America). Revista Argentina de Antropología Biologica. read more
Pigott, E.M., Uthmeier, T., Chabai, V., Higham, T.F.G., 2024. The Late Middle and Early Upper Palaeolithic in Crimea (Ukraine)—A Review of the Neanderthal Refugium Hypothesis. Journal of Paleolithic Archaeology 7, 27. read more
A new study by HEAS members Nicole Grunstra, Philipp Mitteroecker and Anne Le Maître, published in Nature Communications, showed clear evidence of convergent evolution over phylogenetic signal in the inner ear of mammals. The shape of the bony labyrinth - the osseous moulding of the inner ear - remains intensively studied in humans and extinct hominins in order to study adaptation and phylogenetic relationships. This macroevolutionary study of different evolutionary signals in the mammalian inner ear provides a relevant evolutionary context for human inner ear variation. https://www.heas.at/research/publications/convergent-evolution-in-afrotheria-and-non-afrotherians-demonstrates-high-evolvability-of-the-mammalian-inner-ear/ [caption id="attachment_3905" align="alignnone" width="300"] credit: Nikolay Usik[/caption]
Gerhard Weber recently had his publication on 'Quantum Leaps in Human Biocultural Evolution and the Relationship to Cranial Capacity' cited in a New Scientist article on 'Why did humans evolve big brains? A new idea bodes ill for our future'. The article considers his suggestions that the rise of artificial intelligence might become even less important for humans to maintain large brains.. Barras.C.2024.New.Scientist.Brain.Evolution https://www.heas.at/research/publications/quantum-leaps-in-human-biocultural-evolution-and-the-relationship-to-cranial-capacity/ https://homepage.univie.ac.at/gerhard.weber/selected-publications/
Grunstra, N.D.S., Hollinetz, F., Bravo Morante, G., Zachos, F.E., Pfaff, C., Winkler, V., Mitteroecker, P., Le Maître, A., 2024. Convergent evolution in Afrotheria and non-afrotherians demonstrates high evolvability of the mammalian inner ear. Nature Communications 15, 7869. read more
Slimak, L., Vimala, T., Seguin-Orlando, A., Metz, L., Zanolli, C., Joannes-Boyau, R., Frouin, M., Arnold, L.J., Demuro, M., Devièse, T., Comeskey, D., Buckley, M., Camus, H., Muth, X., Lewis, J.E., Bocherens, H., Yvorra, P., Tenailleau, C., Duployer, B., Coqueugniot, H., Dutour, O., Higham, T., Sikora, M., 2024. Long genetic and social isolation in Neanderthals before their extinction. Cell Genomics 4. read more
Fornai, C., 2024. Anthropology meets Dentistry in Central America: Research and education in oralbiology. REVISTA ARGENTINA DE ANTROPOLOGÍA BIOLÓGICA 26. read more
Moreno-Mayar, J.V., Sousa da Mota, B., Higham, T., Klemm, S., Gorman Edmunds, M., Stenderup, J., Iraeta-Orbegozo, M., Laborde, V., Heyer, E., Torres Hochstetter, F., Friess, M., Allentoft, M.E., Schroeder, H., Delaneau, O., Malaspinas, A.-S., 2024. Ancient Rapanui genomes reveal resilience and pre-European contact with the Americas. Nature. read more
Rapa Nui (Easter Island) with its gigantic statues and treeless landscape has fascinated researchers for centuries. A new genetic study published in this week’s Nature disproves the popular theory that the Rapanui population collapsed as a result of an “ecocide”—a human-caused environmental suicide—and shows that the Rapanui admixed with Indigenous Americans centuries before Europeans arrived on the island. https://www.heas.at/research/publications/ancient-rapanui-genomes-reveal-resilience-and-pre-european-contact-with-the-americas/ Press Release Media Coverage ORF
Rapa Nui (Easter Island) with its gigantic statues and treeless landscape has fascinated researchers for centuries. A new genetic study published in this week's Nature disproves the popular theory that the Rapanui population collapsed as a result of an "ecocide"—a human-caused environmental suicide—and shows that the Rapanui admixed with Indigenous Americans centuries before Europeans arrived on the island. Rapa Nui or Te Pito o Te Henua (the navel of the world), also known as Easter Island, is one of the most isolated inhabited places in the world. Located in the Pacific, it lies over 1,900 km east of the closest inhabited Polynesian island and 3,700 km west of South America. Although the island, its inhabitants and their rich culture have been extensively studied by archaeologists, anthropologists and geneticists, two key elements of Rapanui history remain very controversial to this day. One of these is the theory of population collapse through "ecocide" or "ecological suicide" in the 1600s, thought to be the result of overpopulation and resource mismanagement. The other major contention is whether the Polynesian ancestors of the Rapanui interacted with Indigenous Americans before contact with Europeans in 1722. This week's issue of Nature features a genetic study that sheds light on these two debates related to Rapanui history by examining the genomes of 15 Rapanui individuals who lived…
Oberreiter, V., Gelabert, P., Brück, F., Franz, S., Zelger, E., Szedlacsek, S., Cheronet, O., Cano, F.T., Exler, F., Zagorc, B., Karavanić, I., Banda, M., Gasparyan, B., Straus, L.G., Gonzalez Morales, M.R., Kappelman, J., Stahlschmidt, M., Rattei, T., Kraemer, S.M., Sawyer, S., Pinhasi, R., 2024. Maximizing efficiency in sedimentary ancient DNA analysis: a novel extract pooling approach. Scientific Reports 14, 19388. read more
