Sharif, M.B., Fitak, R.R., Wallner, B., Orozco-terWengel, P., Frewin, S., Fremaux, M., Mohandesan, E., 2022. Reconstruction of the Major Maternal and Paternal Lineages in the Feral New Zealand Kaimanawa Horses. Animals 12, 3508. read more
Tom Higham's inaugural lecture "Neanderthals, Denisovans and Homo sapiens: How new science is changing our understanding of human evolution" took place on Monday, December 12, 2022, 5 p.m. in the Great Hall of the University of Vienna. A recording of the lecture is available on the University of Vienna Website here
Ran Barkai will be guest editing a special issue of the open access journal Quaternary entitled "Interdisciplinary Research into Cultural and Biological Transformations in the Paleolithic Period". Hewill be more than happy to advance bold, innovative and outside of the box analyses, hypothesis, data analysis and interpretations. However, any relevant perspective, thought, data presentation or model will be welcomed. All papers will be of course peer reviewed. In some cases he can assist in negotiating the costs of open access publishing, so please do not let that be a major obstacle. The incredibly long Paleolithic period is still considered by some as a stagnant phase in human cultural and biological evolution prior to the appearance of our direct ancestors. However, extensive interdisciplinary research in recent years has clearly demonstrated that this is not the case. Starting from the earliest stages of human presence on the planet some three million years ago, an impressive series of transformations, innovations, modifications and adaptations characterise our lineage. These changes in behaviour and culture took place alongside biological adaptations in human physical properties; faunal turnovers and extinctions as well as climatic fluctuations. This makes the Old Stone Age a hectic, dynamic and lively epoch worthy of investigation both in the diachronic and synchronic levels, in order to decipher the nature of transformations that characterize…
HEAS Members Magdalena Blanz and Doris Jetzinger have been awarded the BAG-Förderpreis, the promotional award of the Bioarchäologische Gesellschaft Österreich, for their PhD thesis and Master thesis, respectively. In the course of the award ceremony they will both give online talks about their thesis topics on Tuesday, December 13th, starting at 18:30. All information on the talks can be found on the BAG events homepage here
Blanz, M., Balasse, M., Card, N., Ascough, P., Fiorillo, D., Taggart, M.A., Feldmann, J., Mainland, I., 2022. Life, Death and Teeth of Late Neolithic Sheep and Red Deer Excavated at Ness of Brodgar, Orkney Islands (UK). Environmental Archaeology, 1-13. read more
Skov, L., Peyrégne, S., Popli, D., Iasi, L.N.M., Devièse, T., Slon, V., Zavala, E.I., Hajdinjak, M., Sümer, A.P., Grote, S., Bossoms Mesa, A., López Herráez, D., Nickel, B., Nagel, S., Richter, J., Essel, E., Gansauge, M., Schmidt, A., Korlević, P., Comeskey, D., Derevianko, A.P., Kharevich, A., Markin, S.V., Talamo, S., Douka, K., Krajcarz, M.T., Roberts, R.G., Higham, T., Viola, B., Krivoshapkin, A.I., Kolobova, K.A., Kelso, J., Meyer, M., Pääbo, S., Peter, B.M., 2022. Genetic insights into the social organization of Neanderthals. Nature 610, 519-525. read more
An interview with HEAS Head Gerhard Weber has been featured in numerous Austrian publications. Read full articles (in German) here https://www.wienerzeitung.at/nachrichten/wissen/forschung/2165361-Forschungsverbund-der-Uni-Wien-widmet-sich-Evolutionsfragen.html https://www.studium.at/evolution-des-menschen-wie-wien-zum-forschungs-schwergewicht-wurde
HEAS Head Gerhard Weber was honored with the Niederösterreich Wissenschaftspreis (Science Prize from Lower Austria) for his research and in particular his research into the origin of the "Venus von Willendorf", a female fugure which was found in 1908 in Willendorf in the Wachau. Weber and his team examined the figurine's material and their research suggests that Venus may have come from a location near Lake Garda in Italy. The ceremony took place on the 18th October 2022. Read the press reports (in German) https://www.ots.at/presseaussendung/OTS_20221019_OTS0035/wissenschaftspreise-2022-hoehepunkt-im-forschungsherbst https://www.noen.at/niederoesterreich/wirtschaft/top-wissenschaft-aus-niederoesterreich-wurde-ausgezeichnet-niederoesterreich-redaktionsfeed-wissenschaftsgala-wissenschaft-johanna-mikl-leitner-redaktion-340206811 More about Gerhard Weber's research here: https://www.heas.at/research/publications/the-microstructure-and-the-origin-of-the-venus-from-willendorf/
HEAS Deputy Head Tom Higham's latest paper has been featured in the Guardian newspaper. https://www.theguardian.com/science/2022/oct/13/neanderthals-and-modern-humans-may-have-copied-each-others-tools Read the original paper here: Multi-isotopic study of the earliest mediaeval inhabitants of Santiago de Compostela (Galicia, Spain) - HEAS
Pérez-Ramallo, P., Grandal-d´Anglade, A., Organista, E., Santos, E., Chivall, D., Rodríguez-Varela, Götherstrom, A., Etxeberria, F., Ilgner, J., Fernandez, R., Arsuaga, J-L., Le Roux, P., Higham, T., Beaumont, J., Koon, H. and Roberts, P. 2022. Multi-isotopic study of the earliest mediaeval inhabitants of Santiago de Compostela (Galicia, Spain). Archaeol Anthropol Sci 14, 214. read more
McCall, A., Gamarra, B., Duffett Carlson, K.S., Bernert, Z., Cséki, A., Csengeri, P., Domboróczki, L., Endrődi, A., Hellebrandt, M., Horváth, A., Király, Krisztián Kiss., Judit Koós, A., Péter Kovács, P., Köhler, K., Szolnoki, L., K. Zoffmann, Z., Sirak, K., Szeniczey, T., Dani, J., Hajdu T., & Pinhasi R., (2022). "Stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes identify nuanced dietary changes from the Bronze and Iron Ages on the Great Hungarian Plain." Scientific Reports 12(1): 16982. read more
Filzwieser, R., Ruß, D., Kucera, M., Doneus, M., Hasenhündl, G., Verhoeven, G.J., Zotti, G., Lenzhofer, A., Stüttler, G., Pisz, M., Neubauer, W., 2022. History and Archaeology in Discourse on the Dernberg–Reconstructing the Historical Landscape of a Medieval Motte-and-Bailey Castle and Deserted Village. Heritage 5 (3), 2123–2141. doi:10.3390/heritage5030111. read more
Doneus, M., Höfle, B., Kempf, D., Daskalakis, G, Shinoto, M . (2022). "Human‐in‐the‐loop development of spatially adaptive ground point filtering pipelines—An archaeological case study." Archaeological Prospection. read more
Doneus, M., Doneus, N., Cowley, D., (2022). Confronting Complexity: Interpretation of a Dry Stone Walled Landscape on the Island of Cres, Croatia. Land 2022, 11, 1672, s read more
HEAS member Robin Golster has offered his congratulations to his colleague Prof. Anton Zeilinger upon the announcement of his Nobel Prize win. "The Faculty of Physics is very happy about this well-deserved award for Anton Zeilinger, who has significantly shaped our research and promotion of young talent since 1999 - as a top researcher, scientific mentor and also as Dean of our faculty. That in Austria as a whole there is a flourishing landscape for the Quantum research is also a great achievement of Anton Zeilinger. With his scientific curiosity and energy, he is an inspiration for all faculty members," congratulates Robin Golser, Dean of the Faculty of Physics at the University of Vienna. Read more here (in German): https://science.apa.at/power-search/3565881263135562463
Austria's national broadcaster covers the latest publication by HEAS Deputy Head Ron Pinhasi and HEAS members Olivia Cheronet and Daniel Fernandes et al. https://science.orf.at/stories/3215387/ Have a look at the article on our publications page: https://www.heas.at/research/publications/the-diverse-genetic-origins-of-a-classical-period-greek-army/
We at HEAS are cordially congratulating our dear colleague Svante Pääbo for this extraordinary recognition of his work which shines a light on the importance of human evolution research. Media: Kurier (paywalled) https://kurier.at/wissen/gesundheit/medizin-nobelpreis-die-hauptbotschaft-ist-wir-alle-sind-verwandt/402168681 Salzburger Nachrichten https://www.sn.at/panorama/wissen/medizin-nobelpreis-fuer-erforschung-von-neandertaler-erbgut-127838470 APA https://science.apa.at/power-search/5134024229287990666
Reitsema, L.J., Mittnik, A., Kyle, B., Catalano, G., Fabbri, P.F., Kazmi, A.C.S., Reinberger, K.L., Sineo, L., Vassallo, S., Bernardos, R., Broomandkhoshbacht, N., Callan, K., Candilio, F., Cheronet, O., Curtis, E., Fernandes, D., Lari, M., Lawson, A.M., Mah, M., Mallick, S., Mandl, K., Micco, A., Modi, A., Oppenheimer, J., Özdogan, K.T., Rohland, N., Stewardson, K., Vai, S., Vergata, C., Workman, J.N., Zalzala, F., Zaro, V., Achilli, A., Anagnostopoulos, A., Capelli, C., Constantinou, V., Lancioni, H., Olivieri, A., Papadopoulou, A., Psatha, N., Semino, O., Stamatoyannopoulos, J., Valliannou, I., Yannaki, E., Lazaridis, I., Patterson, N., Ringbauer, H., Caramelli, D., Pinhasi, R., Reich, D., 2022. The diverse genetic origins of a Classical period Greek army. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 119, e2205272119. read more
Huang, X., Kruisz, P., Kuhlwilm, M., 2022. sstar: A Python package for detecting archaic introgression from population genetic data with S*. Molecular Biology and Evolution read more
I am a postdoctoral fellow with the Douka Palaeoproteomics and ZooMS laboratory in the Department of Evolutionary Anthropology at the University of Vienna. As an archaeological scientist (zooarchaeologist) I specialise in collagen peptide fingerprinting (ZooMS) and archaeomalacology. My research interests lie in tropical, coastal and island archaeology with particular focus on Australia, the Pacific Islands and Island South East Asia (ISEA). I am interested in questions regarding human evolution, changes in subsistence behaviours, and site formation processes. I completed my PhD in 2019 from the University of Sydney, Australia, and was a postdoctoral researcher on the ERC FINDER project based at the Max Planck Institute SHH Jena, Germany. I am currently a Marie-Skłodowska Curie Postdoctoral Fellow leading project DENI-CESTOR (DENIsovan anCESTORs in Sahul: deciphering human evolution through molecular techniques) and PI on a Leaking Foundation Grant (Using ZooMS to identify new human fossils in archaeological deposits in Papua New Guinea). Marie-Skłodowska Curie Postdoctoral Fellow (2022-2024) Principal Investigator: Leakey Foundation Grant (2022-2023)
Alejandra Londoño , M. A., Cinzia Fornai, Markus Greven (2022). "Premolar Extraction Affects Mandibular Kinematics." European Journal of Dentistry. read more
Konstantina Saliari is the curator of the Archeological Zoological Collection at the Natural History Museum Vienna. She took her Master´s degree in archaeology with the specialization in archaeozoology from the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens in 2012 and her PhD in archaeozoology from the University of Vienna in 2017. Konstantina Saliari has carried out archaeozoological analysis of animal remains from the Palaeolithic, Neolithic, Bronze and Iron Ages, as well as from the Roman, Early Medieval and Medieval periods. Her main research topics include husbandry strategies, socio-economic and environmental aspects, aiming at connecting different research fields and the dissemination of archaeozoological methods and results to academic and public audience.
The Open Day at the Early Bronze Age rampart at Ratzersdorf/Am Dachsgraben in Lower Austria, which took place on the 28th July 2022, was a great success. HEAS Member Alexandra Krenn-Leeb conducted a guided tour of the site. The Open Day was organised by the Department of Prehistoric and Historical Archaeology, University of Vienna Ratzersdorf_Flyer_2022_EN
Oertle, A., Szabó, K., 2022. Thermal Influences on Shells: an Archaeological Experiment from the Tropical Indo-pacific. Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory. read more
Oertle, A., Szabó, K., Gaqa, S., Cawthra, H.C., Esteban, I., Pargeter, J., Fisher, E.C., 2022. Peering into the unseen: Novel methods in identifying shell taxa from archaeological micro-fragments. Journal of Archaeological Science 147, 105667. read more
This week, André Schmuck from BRUKER gave an intensive two day training course at VIAS on the use of the portable X-Ray Fluorescence (pXRF) spectrometer. The Tracer 5 pXRF will be used for the archaeological analysis of ceramics, metals and geological samples.
BALKAN-ARCHÄOLOGIE IM FOKUS Sehr geehrte Damen und Herren, liebe Kolleginnen und Kollegen, das Österreichische Archäologische Institut der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften lädt Sie sehr herzlich ein zur: Ausstellungseröffnung Balkan-Archäologie im Fokus. Visualisierung neuer Forschungen« 13.Oktober 2022, um 15:00 Uhr Festsaal und Aula Dr. Ignaz Seipel-Platz 2, 1010 Wien Die Visualisierung des archäologischen Erbes auf dem Balkan stellt eine Region ins Rampenlicht, die für die Geschichte auf dem europäischen Kontinent in vielerlei Hinsicht grundlegend ist. Südosteuropa ist eine Schlüsselregion für die Menschheitsgeschichte, in der fundamentale kulturelle, soziale und technologische Entwicklungen erstmals auftreten und einen nachhaltigen Einfluss auf Europa und seine Gesellschaften haben. Damit zählt der Balkanraum zu einem der aufregendsten und auch herausforderndsten Gebiete für die archäologische Grundlagenforschung. Die Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften kann auf eine lange Forschungstradition in Südosteuropa zurückblicken, die das Österreichische Archäologische Institut in enger Zusammenarbeit mit Kooperationspartner*innen aus verschiedenen Ländern des Balkans fortführt. Daher freuen wir uns, Sie zur Ausstellungseröffnung gemeinsam mit dem Präsidenten der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften Heinz Faßmann und diplomatischen Vertretungen begrüßen zu dürfen, welche den Beginn unserer archäologischen Wanderausstellung markiert. In diesem Rahmen wird auch die Premiere unseres 3D-Animationsfilms "Visualising the Unknown Balkans" stattfinden. Die Eröffnung beginnt um 15:00 Uhr mit anschließendem Empfang im Hauptgebäude der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Doktor-Ignaz-Seipel-Platz 2, 1010 Wien. Ein detailliertes Programm entnehmen Sie bitte dem Anhang. Um Antwort…
HEAS Deputy Head Ron Pinhasi has been nominated for the 'Die Presse Austrian of the Year Award' for his work with ancient DNA which 'shines a light on the prehistory of many regions of the world'. To vote for Ron click here: https://www.diepresse.com/wirtschaft/unternehmen/austriagala22
Susanna is a Lise Meitner Postdoctoral Researcher at the Department of Evolutionary Anthropology at the University of Vienna. She completed her PhD under Svante Pääbo on genomic insights into Denisovans and Neandertals of Denisova Cave. She joined the department in 2018 and has focused on a wide range of ancient DNA questions. She is particularly interested in ancient epigenetics and the effect of maternal behavior on methylation signals during gestation in ancient human populations. In 2023 she will begin a new project on human ancient DNA analyses from sediments.
I am a postdoctoral researcher within the Department of Environmental Geosciences (EDGE). I am primarily interested in studying DNA-mineral interactions with the goal of elucidating mineralogical and geochemical controls on the preservation of (ancient) DNA. I co-supervise several projects within the MINERVA (Mineralogical Preservation of the Human Biome) research platform that focus on DNA interactions at mineral surfaces and their role in promoting (or inhibiting) DNA preservation in the presence of common degradation agents. By addressing these questions, we aim to improve our ability to find and extract ancient DNA from sediments.
HEAS head Gerhard Weber's work was recently featured in the Austrian Scientific Magazine Profil Neanderthaler Profil
HEAS member Maria Ivanova-Bieg was appointed as a member of the EAA Scientific Advisory Committee. The European Association of Archaeologists (EAA) is the most important professional association of archaeologists in Europe with over 15.000 members from 60 countries worldwide, working in prehistory, classical, medieval and historical archaeology. The Scientific Advisory Committee serves as a think-tank, assisting the Executive Board and the Statutory Committees of the EAA in strategic decision-making.
Austria's Der Standard published an article on HEAS's own Mathias Mehofer's research on the metallurgy at the Cukurici Höyük. Full Story, in German, below: https://www.derstandard.at/story/2000138691196/das-grosse-netzwerk-der-metallurgen-vom-cukurici-hoeyuek Check out the original research in the Open Access book Çukuriçi Höyük 3 For general information on Mathias Mehofer´s work see: https://vias.univie.ac.at/en/research/archaeometallurgy-and-archaeometry/projects/
The Southern Arc and its lively genetic History Vast paleogenetic study reveals insights on migration patterns, the expansion of farming and language development from the Caucasus over western Asia and Southern Europe from the early Copper Age until the late middle ages In a trio of papers, published simultaneously in the journal Science, Ron Pinhasi from the Department of Evolutionary Anthropology and Human Evolution and Archaeological Sciences (HEAS) at the University of Vienna and Songül Alpaslan-Roodenberg from the University of Vienna and Harvard University, Iosif Lazaridis and David Reich at Harvard University—together with 202 co-authors—report a massive effort of genome-wide sequencing from 727 distinct ancient individuals with which it was possible to test longstanding archaeological, genetic and linguistic hypotheses. They present a systematic picture of the interlinked histories of peoples across the Southern Arc Region from the origins of agriculture, to late medieval times. Read in full here The Southern Arc and its lively genetic History Ancient DNA from Mesopotamia suggests distinct Pre-Pottery and Pottery Neolithic migrations into Anatolia. A genetic probe into the ancient and medieval history of Southern Europe and West Asia. The genetic history of the Southern Arc: A bridge between West Asia and Europe
HEAS's own Tom Higham and Katerina Douka were recently interviewed for the Austrian state broadcaster ORF on their work on Neanderthal and Denisovan DNA and the gene varients which can be found in humans today. Read full story (in German)
HEAS member Martin Kuhlwilm is among 20 researchers awarded a grant in the FWF 1000 Ideas scheme. With this programme, the FWF funds high-risk research projects off the beaten track. In this project, Prof. Kuhlwilm will explore the potential preservation of RNA viruses in historical specimens of great apes. Since it is well-known that zoonotic transmissions of viruses had an impact on humans, studying virus evolution in the past can guide the understanding of the present. However, unlike DNA, RNA is very poorly preserved and more challenging to explore. Read more here (in German)
Archaeologist and HEAS member Maria Ivanova-Bieg was profiled in the University of Vienna magazine, 'Rudolphina' on her work using isotope analyzes to reconstruct the life of the first farmers in Europe. Full article with video (in German) below Read full article
I am an archaeometrist with a degree in Archaeological Sciences and a PhD in Archaeology. As ceramic specialist I am involved in various projects in the pre- and historical Mediterranean and South-Western Asia. My research focuses on the study of craft organization in relation to cultural, economic and political changes. As supervisor of early-career scientists I expanded my expertise to pigment, brick, mortar and glass analyses. Currently, I am head of the Research Group “Object Itineraries” and part of the core team of the Research Infrastructure “Heritage Sciences” at the OeAI as well as lecturer at the University of Vienna.
Alfred Galik originally studied paleontology at the Univ. of Vienna. Since 2003 he has collaborated as a research associate at the institute for Anatomy at the Vetmed Univ Vienna. From 2012 to 2016 he was university assistant at the institute for Anatomy, histology and embryology at the Vetmed Univ Vienna with cooperations in numerous historical and prehistoric archaeozoological projects. He was awarded with the habilitation with the venia legendi “archaeozoology in veterinary medicine” in 2016. Since 2016 Alfred Galik is member of the ÖAI as academy scientist. His prime-interest lies on Archaeozoology, including archaeomalacology and ichthyoarchaeology, besides animal anatomy and osteology, palaeopathology, domestication and evolution research, morphometry and environmental history.
Lazaridis, I., Alpaslan-Roodenberg, S., Acar, A., Açıkkol, A., Agelarakis, A., Aghikyan, L., Akyüz, U., Andreeva, D., Andrijašević, G., Antonović, D., Armit, I., Atmaca, A., Avetisyan, P., Aytek, A.İ., Bacvarov, K., Badalyan, R., Bakardzhiev, S., Balen, J., Bejko, L., Bernardos, R., Bertsatos, A., Biber, H., Bilir, A., Bodružić, M., Bonogofsky, M., Bonsall, C., Borić, D., Borovinić, N., Bravo Morante, G., Buttinger, K., Callan, K., Candilio, F., Carić, M., Cheronet, O., Chohadzhiev, S., Chovalopoulou, M.-E., Chryssoulaki, S., Ciobanu, I., Čondić, N., Constantinescu, M., Cristiani, E., Culleton, B.J., Curtis, E., Davis, J., Demcenco, T.I., Dergachev, V., Derin, Z., Deskaj, S., Devejyan, S., Djordjević, V., Duffett Carlson, K.S., Eccles, L.R., Elenski, N., Engin, A., Erdoğan, N., Erir-Pazarcı, S., Fernandes, D.M., Ferry, M., Freilich, S., Frînculeasa, A., Galaty, M.L., Gamarra, B., Gasparyan, B., Gaydarska, B., Genç, E., Gültekin, T., Gündüz, S., Hajdu, T., Heyd, V., Hobosyan, S., Hovhannisyan, N., Iliev, I., Iliev, L., Iliev, S., İvgin, İ., Janković, I., Jovanova, L., Karkanas, P., Kavaz-Kındığılı, B., Kaya, E.H., Keating, D., Kennett, D.J., Deniz Kesici, S., Khudaverdyan, A., Kiss, K., Kılıç, S., Klostermann, P., Kostak Boca Negra Valdes, S., Kovačević, S., Krenz-Niedbała, M., Krznarić Škrivanko, M., Kurti, R., Kuzman, P., Lawson, A.M., Lazar, C., Leshtakov, K., Levy, T.E., Liritzis, I., Lorentz, K.O., Łukasik, S., Mah, M., Mallick, S., Mandl, K., Martirosyan-Olshansky, K., Matthews, R., Matthews, W., McSweeney,…
