Department of Evolutionary Anthropology (DEA) Members

Anastasia PAPADOGIANNI

I am a PhD candidate in the Department of Evolutionary Anthropology at the University of Vienna, working under the supervision of Katerina Douka (University of Vienna) and Barbara Horejs (Austrian Academy of Sciences). I received my BA in Archaeology and Art History from the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece and my MSc in Archaeological Science from the University of Oxford, UK. My research interests lie in bioarchaeology and biomolecular archaeology (especially palaeoproteomics), for the study of palaeodiet, disease prevalence, and population mobility, mostly in prehistoric contexts. Throughout my studies, I have gained experience both in field and laboratory settings, which I enjoy equally, and I have been trained in the application of various analytical techniques applied on archaeological remains. For my PhD, my research focuses on the study of the emergence of the Neolithic way of life in the Greek peninsula and the Aegean, as well as the broader region of the Balkans. With the application of a multimethod approach on skeletal remains, combining traditional (14C dating, isotopic analyses) and cutting-edge biomolecular methods (palaeoproteomics on dental calculus, ZooMS), my PhD will contribute to the investigation of questions concerning the timing, processes and impact of the Neolithisation processes and the different models of diffusion of the Neolithic across Greece and further afield.    

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Members

Emese VÉGH

Emese Végh is a FWF ESPRIT Principal Investigator on the project titled ‘Human Evolution Beyond Collagen (HUMEVCOL)’ at the Department of Evolutionary Anthropology, University of Vienna. Mentored by Tom Higham, Emese aims to pioneer single amino acid radiocarbon dating techniques targeting γ-carboxyglutamic acids (Gla)-containing proteins in bones that do not preserve collagen, which is often the case for fossil bones recovered from (sub-)tropical areas. This innovative approach is set to revolutionise the analysis and dating of key archaic hominin remains. Previously, Emese led the ‘Hidden by Fire’ project as an FWO Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), under the guidance of Christophe Snoeck and Steven Goderis. Her research there centred on the consistency, contamination, and diagenetic potential of elemental concentrations in bone burnt at various temperatures, their interaction, as well as the efficacy of pretreatment methods on cremated bone before stable isotopic analysis and radiocarbon dating. Before that, she was also a Postdoctoral Researcher in Palaeoproteomics on Katerina Douka’s ERC FINDER project at the Department of Evolutionary Anthropology, University of Vienna, analysing and identifying faunal and hominin remains from Pleistocene Eurasia and developed the SpecieScan algorithm for semi-automated species identification of bone fragments from MALDI-ToF-MS spectra. Emese completed her DPhil in Archaeological Science at the University of Oxford, focusing on the diagenesis and thermal stability of bioapatite,…

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