Kirchengast, S., Bühler, B., Hagmann, D., 2026. Sexual Dimorphism in the Association Between Status Symbols and Body Height in the Early Medieval Avar Population from the Csokorgasse Burial Ground (Vienna, Austria). Nature & Anthropology2026, 4, 10004 read more
Menéndez, L.P., Luisi, P., López-Sosa, M.C., Da Silva, S.M., Buck, L.T., Kuzminsky, S.C., Sánchez, M.Q., Le Maître, A., Chappard, C., Rios, C., 2026. µCT scanning effects on aDNA and a multi-step workflow for archaeological petrous portions. PLoS One 21, e0334682. read more
Akbari, A., Perry, A., Barton, A.R., Kariminejad, M., Gazal, S., Li, Z., Zeng, Y., Mittnik, A., Patterson, N., Mah, M., Zhou, X., Price, A.L., Lander, E.S., Pinhasi, R., Rohland, N., Mallick, S., Reich, D., 2026. Ancient DNA reveals pervasive directional selection across West Eurasia. Nature. read more
HEAS Network Associate José-Miguel Tejero is the Principal Investigator of the Spanish Consolidator Research Grant PHUMA (First Human Population of the Peruvian Andean Plateau), developed under the scientific co-direction of Leslye Valenzuela (French National Centre for Scientific Research, CNRS, and Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú, PUCP). The project brings together several HEAS members, including Pere Gelabert, Olivia Cheronet, Tom Higham, Katerina Douka, and Mareike C. Stahlschmidt, alongside researchers from partner institutions: Xavier Mangado, Julien Le Guirriec, and Santiago Riera (University of Barcelona), Dagmara Socha (University of Warsaw), Ximena Suárez (University of São Paulo), Alessandra Caballero and Gerardo Vega Toscano (PUCP, Peru), Nick Taylor (Stony Brook University), and Lola Larssonneur (Paris 1 Panthéon Sorbonne University). PHUMA is a pioneering project combining archaeological and biomolecular approaches, including ancient DNA (aDNA), sedimentary ancient DNA (sedaDNA), and paleoproteomics, to investigate the cultural and biological adaptations of the first human populations to settle permanently on the Peruvian Andean Plateau at altitudes exceeding 3,500 metres above sea level. The project addresses the formidable environmental pressures these populations faced, including hypoxia, extreme cold, intense solar radiation, and scarce food resources, during the transition between the Late Pleistocene and the Early Holocene. PHUMA will generate extensive genomic and archaeological datasets from some of the oldest known Pleistocene sites in the region, contributing to a more comprehensive understanding…
HEAS Team Leaders Pere Gelabert and Benjamin Vernot were recently interviewed for Nature Magazine for their work in sediment DNA. The two researchers are pushing the boundaries of what we can learn from ancient dirt. Benjamin Vernot built a 1.6‑million‑probe capture panel to enrich for nuclear DNA in sediments - targeting Neanderthals, Denisovans, early modern humans, and even unknown archaic lineages. Such sediments typically contain very small amounts of human DNA, and lots of DNA from other species, and so Vernot also devised new computational methods to handle these challenges. He has applied these methods to sediments at caves like Galería de las Estatuas, where Neandertals lived for nearly 50,000 years. In this work, Vernot identified two distinct Neanderthal populationsm, with one replacing the other about 100,000 years ago. On the other side, Pere Gelabert showed you can brute‑force nuclear DNA from cave dirt with shotgun sequencing, and analyzed human, bison and wolf DNA from a single 25,000 year old sediment sample from Satsurblia cave. As Gelabert puts it, without sediment DNA, many of these human‑history clues would be impossible to uncover. Read Full Article
Within the Initiative Future Archaeology, the Austrian Archaeological Institute (OeAI–OeAW) is pleased to announce the workshop "The Long History of Inequality: Resources, Control, and Social Power", to be held in Vienna on 7–8 May. The event brings together international scholars to explore how access to resources—its extraction, circulation, and control—has shaped social and economic inequalities from the Neolithic to the present. Organisers: Pamela Fragnoli, Michael Brandl, and Mario Gavranović. Invitation_WORKSHOP-The Long History of Inequality_Zukunftarchäologie_Fragnoli-Jung-Brandl-Gavranovic_7-8 May 2026 Program_WORKSHOP-The Long History of Inequality_Zukunftarchäologie_Fragnoli-Jung-Brandl-Gavranovic_7-8 May 2026
Blanz, M., Balasse, M., Mainland, I., 2026. Tracing Seaweed as Food and Fodder in Archaeology: A Review of Current Methods. Journal of Island and Coastal Archaeology, 1-29. read more
Congratulations to PhD Emily Pigott, who defended her doctoral thesis on Monday 30th March. Emily published two papers during her PhD research and has two more in review/submission. Her main paper was in PNAS and was about a small Neanderthal bone that she found using ZooMS from a site in the Crimea called Starosele. Her other paper was in the Journal of Palaeolithic Archaeology. She worked incredibly hard to finish in just under 3 years. An hour after the defence she found that she had been successful in her application for a 2 year post doc position working in Tubingen, Germany on Palaeolithic sites in Armenia. Congrats Dr Emily Pigott from everyone in HEAS!
Miko, S., Doneus, N., Brunović, D., Hasan, O., Doneus, M., Kinnaird, T., Hus, P., Šegović, F., Ilijanić, N., Miko, M.Š., 2025. Dip Your Finger in the Sea... Geoarchaeological View on Coastal Setting and Maritime Accessibility of the Coastal Town of Osor, Northern Adriatic. Studia universitatis hereditati 13, 13-40. read more
We are delighted to announce the results of the HEAS Seed Grants February 2026 round. The following projects by HEAS members will be funded: Applicant Project Amount Granted Mario Gavranović, Olivia Cheronet, Gábor Sánta Ágnes Somogyvári Genetic and Isotope Tests of a Tumulus Culture Population in Southern Hungary: Newcomers or Locals? 4400 Doralice Klainscek, Pamela Fragnoli ,Johannes H. Sterba Looking at the Ground Raw Material Suitability in the Desert Landscape of NW Arabia 4920 Mareike Stahlschmidt, Laura van der Sluis, Peter Steier, Lyndelle Webster Radiocarbon dating of bones and charcoal preserved in resin impregnated sediment blocks 5000 Carla Gómez-Montes and Timothy Canessa Clarifying the Nature of Human-Animal Occupations in Chufín Cave with Chronological and Paleoproteomic Data 5000 https://www.heas.at/research/seed-grants/
We are pleased to announce that Dr. Alejandra Sánchez-Polo has been awarded a prestigious Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellowship (MSCA). Starting in early 2027, she will carry out her project under the joint supervision of two HEAS team leaders, Pamela Fragnoli (OEAI–OEAW) and Mareike Stahlschmidt (Department of Evolutionary Anthropology, University of Vienna). Her project, “Architectures of Earth during the Transition to the Iron Age in Iberia (2nd–1st Millennium BC): Technologies, Traditions and Knowledge Transmission” (IBEARTH), investigates how earthen architecture—particularly mudbrick construction—both shaped and reflected social transformations between the Late Bronze Age and the Early Iron Age (c. 1200–400 BC) in inland Iberia. Adopting an integrated approach that combines petrographic, micromorphological, microbotanical, and biomolecular analyses with ethnographic perspectives, the project examines the transmission of construction knowledge, the organisation of labour, and the social meanings embedded in building practices. In doing so, it offers new insights into often-overlooked dimensions of past societies, including gender roles and the diversity of labour contributions.
The Early Upper Palaeolithic of Iberia remains an actively debated record of human occupation, yet quantitative approaches to lithic assemblage variability are still lacking, especially among large-scale datasets that span the entire period and region. In this study, we utilised a newly compiled dataset of Aurignacian assemblages to explore techno-typological variability and test its spatial and temporal dimensions. Our work has been able to show that variability has a spatial – rather than temporal – character to the effect that assemblage dissimilarities increase with spatial distance. Our findings thus challenge the application of the classic Aquitaine model of techno-typological change and suggest that temporal change in the Aurignacian may be more unstructured than otherwise deemed. This has wider implications for the detection and characterisation of the technocomplex at large, corroborating previous claims of mosaicism and an inconsistent representation of diagnostic traits. https://www.heas.at/research/publications/unpacking-lithic-assemblage-variability-in-the-early-upper-palaeolithic-a-multivariate-approach-to-the-structure-of-the-iberian-aurignacian/
Canessa, T., de la Peña, P., 2026. Unpacking lithic assemblage variability in the Early Upper Palaeolithic: A multivariate approach to the structure of the Iberian Aurignacian. PLOS ONE 21, e0345202. read more
HEAS member Michaela Schauer has received FWF funding for the open-access publication Methodological Innovations in pXRF Studies. Supported through the FWF programme Buchpublikation with 14,000 euros, the volume grows out of the 2024 Vienna conference on portable X-ray fluorescence "Methodological Innovations in pXRF Studies" and brings together international research on methodological standards, data quality, and reproducibility in pXRF studies. The publication is the result of collaboration between the Vienna Institute for Archaeological Science, the CNRS International Research Network pXRF Ceramic Users Network, and additional partners including the Natural History Museum Vienna and the Institute for Prehistoric and Historic Archaeology at the University of Vienna. It will be published in the Études Alexandrines series by the Centre d’Études Alexandrines (CEAlex) and is intended as a practical reference work for researchers, students, and professionals in archaeological and heritage science. Link to funding
I am a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Austrian Archaeological Institute, director of the excavations at the Amzabegovo Neolithic settlement, and coordinator of the associated “Birth of Europe” field school program. I am also an Assistant Professor in Prehistory at the Goce Delchev University in Shtip (N. Macedonia). My current focus is on the neolithization process between the Aegean and Central Europe – detecting and timing the discreet mechanisms behind the transition from a Mediterranean towards a Continental environment. In the past I have done research on Neolithic pottery, organic residue and past diet, as well as investigations on the Middle Palaeolithic of the South-Central Balkans.
Doneus, N., Fera, M., Doneus, M., Branković, D., Benvin, V., 2025. Up and down the hill: Hillforts and dry stone wall enclosures on the Kvarner Islands of Cres and Lošinj in remote sensing data. Studia universitatis hereditati. read more
I am a psychologist, a PhD candidate in Social Complexity Sciences at Universidad del Desarrollo (Chile), and a Visiting PhD Candidate at the Vienna Doctoral School of Cognition, Behavior and Neuroscience (VDS CoBeNe) – Cognitive Biology, University of Vienna. My research focuses on the behavioral foundations of interpersonal conflict, integrating evolutionary game theory, causal inference, and computational social science methods. My PhD dissertation consists of two empirical articles. Drawing on sexual selection theory, the first examines how sex differences and socially aversive personality traits (the Dark Triad) shape aggressive dispositions, using latent variable models to analyze how individual differences relate to conflict escalation. The second examines how interpersonal conflict is dynamically inferred and regulated during real-time bargaining interactions, focusing on how emergent patterns of emotional coordination—such as affiliative signaling and mimicry—influence perceptions of conflict and negotiation outcomes.
I am a PhD researcher in the Department of Evolutionary Anthropology at the University of Vienna. My research focuses on ancient DNA recovered from sediments. I am interested in exploring patterns of social organization, mobility, and human-animal interactions using archeogenomic methods.
Stahlschmidt, M.C., Power, R.C., Heinrich, S., Poggenpoel, C., Parkington, J., 2025. A microcontextual investigation of Later Stone Age ash deposits and associated interment of human remains at Faraoskop Rock Shelter, South Africa. Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences 17, 23. read more
Krenn-Leeb, A., Grömer, K., Schuh, U., 2025. 35 Jahre “Archäologie Österreichs”. Ein Rück-und Ausblick auf die Wissensvermittlung durch Printmedien der ÖGUF. Archaologie Osterreichs 36, 4-13. read more
I am a PhD student in paleogenomics focusing on the study of medical genetics and ancient genomic data. I am primarily interested in analyzing pathogenic variants from past populations to answer questions linked to health status assessment and the evolutionary history of cancer predisposition. I am currently working on projects related to ancient oncogenetics, specifically the identification of both germline and somatic mutations and investigating how population dynamics shaped the oncogenetic landscape in antiquity.
I am an APART-USA Fellow in the Department of Evolutionary Anthropology at the University of Vienna. My research utilizes recovering ancient biomolecules from archaeological and museum specimens and objects to answer diverse questions on human-mediated evolutionary processes, including domestication, extinction, and mechanisms of zoonoses. My multidisciplinary approach integrates tools and theories from the life sciences (palaeogenomics, biology, zoology), the humanities (history), and social sciences (archaeology and cultural anthropology).
We are proud to announce that our HEAS member Dr. Elmira Mohandesan and her postDoc (Siavash Salek Ardestani) have published a new open-access paper in BMC Genomics introducing GENOVIS, a user-friendly Python tool for population genomics visualization.GENOVIS integrates six key analysis modules into one flexible framework, available via both command-line and graphical interfaces.Developed at the University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna and the University of Vienna, it enables fast, reproducible, publication-ready figures for researchers worldwide. https://www.heas.at/research/publications/genovis-a-python-package-for-the-visualization-of-population-genetic-analyses/
Salek Ardestani, S., Mohandesan, E., 2026. GENOVIS: a Python package for the visualization of population genetic analyses. BMC Genomics 27, 190. read more
I am a socio-cultural anthropologist and archaeologist, currently a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Global Postdoctoral Fellow jointly appointed at the Field Museum of Natural History (Chicago) and the Austrian Academy of Sciences (Vienna). I hold a PhD in Social and Cultural Anthropology from the University of Vienna. My research explores kinship, households, and social organization in the eastern Mediterranean and southeastern Europe, with a particular focus on the Neolithic and Early Bronze Age. Bridging socio-cultural anthropology, archaeology, bioarchaeology, and ancient DNA research, my work critically examines how social relations were constituted beyond biological relatedness, including practices of care, co-residence, commensality, and non-biological kin-making. Through comparative and theoretically informed approaches, I seek to challenge genetic determinism in archaeogenetic interpretations and to foreground everyday practices as central to understanding past social worlds.
Higham, C., Higham, T., 2026. Dealing With Inbuilt Age: A Bayesian Approach to Radiocarbon Dating of Rice, Bamboo and Charcoal From Non Ban Jak, Thailand. Archaeometry. read more
I am an anthropologist and archaeologist specialising in the study of human remains from archaeological contexts. I am currently a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Vienna, in the Department of Evolutionary Anthropology. I hold a PhD in Quaternary and Prehistory from Rovira and Virgili University (Tarragona, Spain), as well as a Master’s degree in Quaternary Archaeology jointly awarded by the same institution and the Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle (Paris, France). My research focuses on mortuary practices involving the manipulation of human remains, alongside evidence for interpersonal violence and cannibalism in past societies. I work across a broad range of chrono-cultural contexts, from the Upper Palaeolithic to the Bronze Age. This includes the analysis of human bone assemblages from sites such as Maszycka Cave (Kraków, Poland), Txispiri Cave (Gipuzkoa, Spain) and El Mirador Cave (Atapuerca, Spain), among others. I am also an active member of the Atapuerca Project, contributing both in the field and in the laboratory. My work combines a range of taphonomic and analytical approaches, including classical osteological methods, residue analysis, and detailed studies of bone surface modifications.
Schmid, V.C., Sifogeorgaki, I., Abruzzese, T., Blik, S., Huang, L., Dusseldorp, G.L., 2026. Wind(ow) of change: The end of the Middle Stone Age and the beginning of the Later Stone Age at Umhlatuzana rockshelter showcasing concurrent technological and techno-economic shifts. Quaternary Science Reviews 377, 109806. read more
I am a population geneticist who specializes in the study of ancient human DNA, using this DNA to reconstruct the lives of people in the past. My current focus is on ancient DNA extracted from sediments, and we use these sediments to trace the presence of ancient people where they lived and worked, and in the absence of skeletal remains. My group is also heavily involved in the development of computational methods for the analysis of challenging aDNA datasets.
On the 12th December 2025 the 2nd Annual HEAS Gräzlfest: The Annual Meeting took place at the HEAS Partner Institute the Natural History Museum, Vienna. The focus for this year was on the early career researchers within the network and on HEAS Seed Grant recipients. Overall we had ten tables showcasing some of the research being conducted within HEAS. Kayleigh Saunderson Archaeological textiles Manasij Pal Chowdhury and Emese Végh Paleoproteomics Analysis and FWF grant 'HUMEVCOL’ Ginevra Di Bernardo, Petra Šimková and Emily Rajchl Virtual Anthropology and Morphology Stefan Krojer and Immo Trinks High-resolution underwater archaeological photogrammetric 3D documentation of the entire UNESCO World Heritage site Station See, Lake Mondse Maximilian Piniel and Valentina Laaha From Pasturing to Dining - Interdisciplinary Approaches in the Alps Arne Bielke and Meriam Guellil Ancient Pathogen Genomics and Horses Laura van der Sluis and Maddalena Gianni radiocarbon group/lab Thomas Beard and Larissa Bartsch Microarchaeology station Susanna Sawyer and Olivia Cheronet Non-destructive aDNA methods Michaela Schauer and Tabea Truntschnig ESPRIT Project During the afternoon we also had a photo competition, a stamp card with science questions and refreshments. [gallery ids="5575,5574,5572,5570,5568,5579,5580,5581,5582"]
HEAS Member Michelle Hämmerle, a PhD candidate in the Department of Evolutionary Anthropology, won the Annual HEAS Photo competition for her picture of louse nits from the species Pediculus humanus americanus on the head of a 500-year old Inca mummy. Michelle was presented with a €100 book voucher at the Gräzlfest, the HEAS Annual Meeting, by the Head of HEAS, Tom Higham. Other pictures from the competition can be seen in the gallery below. [gallery ids="5552,5553,5554,5555,5556,5557,5558,5559,5560,5561,5562,5563,5564"]
In November 2025, Pere Gelabert, Mareike Stahlschmidt, and Benjamin Vernot from the DEA, organized a symposium on integrating the new field of Paleoenvironmental DNA within Human Evolution studies, bringing together leading international researchers to exchange perspectives on current challenges and future directions in sedaDNA. [caption id="attachment_5544" align="alignnone" width="300"] Photo Credit Carla Gomez[/caption] You can see a talk from one of the speakers, Karina Sand, on the HEAS YouTube channel. [yotuwp type="videos" id="PX49CBUIQF4" ]
I am a bioarchaeologist and a PhD candidate in the Department of Prehistoric and Historical Archaeology at the University of Vienna. I hold a master’s degree in Forensic Archaeology and Anthropology from the University of Dundee (UK). My research focuses on advanced imaging methods and biomechanical musculoskeletal modelling, as well as the study of commingled remains and ossuary archaeology. I am currently employed as a predoctoral researcher at the Austrian Archaeological Institute (Austrian Academy of Sciences) and am part of the “Prehistoric Identities” research group, led by Katharina Rebay-Salisbury. Within the framework of my dissertation project, “Muscle Synergies and Sexual Division of Labour in the Early Central European Bronze Age: A Multivariate Analysis of Body and Technology,” I investigate the health, lifestyle, and activities of individuals from Early Bronze Age cemeteries in Lower Austria. I apply innovative 3D surface modelling techniques for entheseal analysis to reconstruct sex-specific divisions of labour, as well as body–artifact relationships.
The book with contributions from many HEAS members examines questions about body adornments and its link to identity in archaeology, looking at theoretical and interpretive frameworks that are relevant to the study of different categories of personal ornaments. Identity is a crucial topic in archaeology where its concept is investigated through the study of many categories of material culture. As self-representation, identity constitutes a choice through which an individual or a group want to be seen by others. The volume covers a wide geographical and chronological frame from the Upper Paleolithic era to Medieval times, examining North, Central, and Southern Europe as well as regions in Southwest Asia and North Africa. Contributions by Marjolein Bosch, Karina Grömer, Birgit Bühler, Mathias Harzhauser, Philip Nigst, Kayleigh Saunderson
Furtwängler, A., Rebay-Salisbury, K., Neumann, G.U., Kanz, F., Ringbauer, H., Bianco, R.A., Schmidt, T., Semerau, L., Radzevičiūtė, R., Barquera, R., Rohland, N., Stewardson, K., Workman, J.N., Curtis, E., Zalzala, F., Callan, K., Iliev, L., Qiu, L., Cheronet, O., Wagner, A., Bravo Morante, G., Spannagel, M., Teschler-Nicola, M., Novotny, F., Verdianu, D., Pinhasi, R., Reich, D., Krause, J., Stockhammer, P.W., Mittnik, A., 2025. Tracing social mechanisms and interregional connections in Early Bronze Age Societies in Lower Austria. Nature Communications 17, 131. read more
Congratulations to VIAS-HEAS Member Mathias MEHOFER on being awarded a standalone project titled “Bronze metallurgy during the Babenberg period, A – Medieval bronze casting in a Natural Science Context”. Within this 3-year research project, an international, transdisciplinary team investigates the famous seven-branched medieval “Agnes” candelabrum from Klosterneuburg Abbey, donated around 1130 AD by Duke Leopold III of Babenberg and his wife Agnes. Standing 4.3 m high and composed of 57 decorated copper-alloy elements, the candelabrum is studied to reconstruct its object biography, including production techniques, material provenance, later modifications, and use within its ecclesiastical context. Combining humanities-based research with scientific methods such as pXRF, SEM-EDS, photogrammetry, X-ray tomography and isotope studies, the project examines alloy compositions, identifies modern restorations, and explores medieval exchange networks. Archival studies and comparative analyses with related objects further contextualize this exceptional work of medieval bronze art. Funding: The project is funded by the Province of Lower Austria (Land NÖ). Project Homepage: Medieval Bronzes Project - MMag. W. C. Huber, Custos, Klosterneuburg Abbey, Austria – M. Haltrich, Forschungsstelle, Klosterneuburg Abbey, Austria – Dipl.-Restaurator C. Tinzl, DI Dr. techn. R. Linke, Dept. of conservation and restoration, Federal Monuments Authority Austria – Prof. Dr. E. Pernicka, Curt Engelhorn Centre f. Archaeometry Mannheim – PD Dr. Andreas Zajic, IMAFO, Austrian Academy of…
I am a prehistoric archaeologist and PhD candidate at the Department of Prehistoric and Historical Archaeology at the University of Vienna, where I am currently also involved in teaching as Katharina Rebay-Salisbury's University Assistant. I am affiliated with the Prehistoric Identities group at the Austrian Archaeological Institute, where I have been involved in past projects and have gained laboratory experience in osteological analysis, peptide-based analysis, and strontium isotope analysis. My research focuses on funerary archaeology, material culture and chronology of the Central European Metal Ages. In the framework of my dissertation project “In the midst of change” I investigate the transformation from inhumation to cremation and changes in funerary behaviour during the Middle Bronze Age (c. 1600-1300/1200 BCE) in Upper and Lower Austria. I follow an interdisciplinary approach by combining archaeological and bioarchaeological data in order to gain insights into past communities and their lives.
Guellil, M., van Dorp, L., Saag, L., Beneker, O., Bonucci, B., Sasso, S., Saupe, T., Solnik, A., Kabral, H., Allmäe, R., Bates, J., Dittmar, J.M., Ge, X.J., Inskip, S., Jonuks, T., Karmanov, V.N., Khartanovich, V.I., Larmuseau, M.H.D., Aneli, S., Cessford, C., Kriiska, A., Mägi, M., Malve, M., De Winter, N., Metspalu, M., Pagani, L., Robb, J.E., Kivisild, T., Houldcroft, C.J., Scheib, C.L., Tambets, K., 2026. Tracing 2500 years of human betaherpesvirus 6A and 6B diversity through ancient DNA. Science Advances 12, eadx5460. read more
Oertle, A., Peters, C., Summerhayes, G., O'Connor, S., Gillespie, R., Douka, K., 2025. New collagen peptide markers from New Guinea fauna: identifying archaeological bone in the tropics. Royal Society Open Science 12. read more
Kitagawa, K., Tejero, J.-M., Yeshurun, R., Walter, R., Huber, H., Andrews, R., Magliozzi, N., Doyon, L., Homo sapiens could have hunted with bow and arrow from the onset of the early Upper Palaeolithic in Eurasia. iScience. read more
