Evolutionary Anthropology
Evolutionary Anthropology is the scientific study of the biological evolution of humans, their ancestors, and closely related species. The primary focus of the field of study is to understand the origins of human diversity. Research in this area integrates data from genetics, morphology, behaviour and ecology to reconstruct evolutionary histories and identify the processes that have shaped human biology over time.
Empirical research encompasses a wide range of studies, including the analysis of fossil remains and comparative anatomy, as well as contemporary population studies and the analysis of primate relatives. These approaches are complemented by advanced analytical and quantitative methods that allow researchers to investigate variation across spatial and temporal scales.
A central aim of this research is to understand how environmental, ecological, and social factors have influenced key aspects of human evolution, including morphology, cognition, and life history strategies. By situating the study of human behaviour within a broader evolutionary context, this field contributes to a comprehensive understanding of adaptation, diversity, and the evolutionary roots of behaviour.
Supervisors
Gerhard Weber
Head of the Virtual Anthropology Working Group
Member of the Human Evolution Research Group
Research Areas
- Virtual Anthropology
- Functional Morphology
- Human Evolution
- Modern Humans and Neanderthals
- Australopithecines
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Ron Pinhasi
PhD
Head of the Ancient DNA Genomics and Biological Anthropology Working Group
Member of the Human Evolution Research Group
Research Areas
- Ancient DNA (aDNA) genomics of human populations worldwide (Late Pleistocene & Holocene)
- Strong link to physical anthropology and archaeology
- Sediment-derived aDNA (environmental DNA)
- Ancient pathogen DNA
- Genomics of domesticated species and commensals
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Martin Fieder
Privatdoz.
Member of the Human Behavior Research Group
Research Areas
- Evolutionary Demography
- Migration and Integration
- Evolution of Religions
- Bioinformatics and Statistical Genetics
- Human Cooperation
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Martin Kuhlwilm
Head of the Evolutionary & Admixture Genomics Working Group
Member of the Human Evolution Research Group
Research Areas
- Admixture and Introgression
- Evolutionary and Population Genomics
- Evolution of Great Apes and Hominins
- Museomics and Evolution of Pathogens
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Harald Wilfing
Member of the Human Evolution Research Group
Research Areas
- Human Ecology
- Sustainability Science
- Sustainable Development
- Human-Environment-Interaction
- Complex Adaptive Systems
- Economic Behavior and Sustainability
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Thomas Higham
Head of the Higham Lab
Member of the Human Evolution Research Group
Research Areas
- Radiocarbon Dating
- Archaeological Science
- Palaeolithic archaeology
- Neanderthals and Denisovans
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Pere Gelabert
PhD
Head of the Beam Lab
Member of the Ancient DNA Genomics Research Group
Research Areas
- Paleogenomics
- Metagenomics
- Inequality and health status
- Human-environment interactions in Pleistocene/Holocene
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Katerina Douka
PhD
Head of the Douka Lab - Palaeoporteomics
Research Areas
- Human Evolution
- Biomolecular anthropology
- Palaeoproteomics
- Neanderthals and Homo sapiens
- Radiocarbon dating
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Sylvia Kirchengast
Head of the Human Life History Research Group
Research Areas
- Body composition and health
- Migration and Health
- Biological, evolutionary and social aspects of teenage pregnancies
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Mareike Stahlschmidt
MA
Head of the Microarchaeology Research Group
Research Areas
- Microarchaeology
- Sedimentary Ancient DNA
- Pyroarchaeology
- Paleolithic & Stone Age
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Katrin Schäfer
Head of the Schaefer Lab
Member of the Human Behavior Research Group
Research Areas
- Human behavioral biology
- Evolutionary psychology
- Urban behavior
- Face research
- Attractiveness
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Benjamin Vernot
BS PhD
Project Lead of the UNEARTH Project
Research Areas
- Human DNA from sediments
- Ecosystem change reconstruction
- Computational methods for aDNA
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Supervisors at affiliated Institutes
Elmira Mohandesan
PhD
Head of the Genetics lab at the University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna
Research Areas
- Population genomics, phylogenetics & ancient DNA
- Animal domestication and evolutionary processes across taxa
- Past population dynamics and genetic change over time
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PhD Students
Gözde Atag
Project: Sedimentary ancient DNA from human-made settlements
Supervisor: Benjamin Vernot
Larissa Bartsch
Project: SHADOWS of the Past: Using sedaDNA to Reconstruct Human-Carnivore Interac- tions in Late Pleistocene Iberia and Patagonia
Supervisors: Pere Gelabert & Mareike Stahlschmidt
ORCIDu:cris URL
Julia Carolina Granato
Project: Embedded Genomes: Preservation, Context, and Methodological Integration in Ancient DNA Research on Unconventional Materials
Supervisors: Pere Gelabert & Ron Pinhasi
ORCIDMichelle Hämmerle
Project: Social genomics in Late Antique and Early-Medieval societies
Supervisors: Martin Kuhlwilm & Pere Gelabert
ResearchGateORCID
u:cris URL
Carla Gómez-Montes
Project: Identifying the unseen: proteomic and taphonomic approaches to human–carnivore coexistence in the Cantabrian Region during Upper Paleolithic
Supervisor: Pere Gelabert
Corentin Etienne Deppe
Project: The dark decline of Predators : Highlighting changes in populations and genetic diversity of last megafaunal carnivores of Cantabrian Region.
Supervisor: Pere Gelabert
Thomas Beard
Project: Providing (micro)context for Sediment DNA at Pleistocene Archaeological Sites
Supervisor: Mareike Stahlschmidt
Jeannette Becker
Project: Comparative analysis of respiratory health during the medieval period in Austria
Supervisor: Sylvia Kirchengast
Hannah Sandra Grabenmayer
Project: Unseen Women – The Women’s Hospital of Elisabethians in Vienna from a Bioarchaeological Perspective
Supervisor: Sylvia Kirchengast
Andrea Stadlmayr
Project: Crumbled lives: a bioarchaeological investigation to reconstruct the life and death of Roman period cremated individuals at the Austrian Danube Limes
Supervisor: Sylvia Kirchengast
ResearchGateORCID
Magdalena Srienc-Sciesiek
Project: Lifeways of the early medieval Slavs: A bioarchaeological examination of diet and health based on the human remains from three cemeteries north and south of the Karawanken Mountains
Supervisor: Sylvia Kirchengast
Arne Bielke
Project: Genome-wide Genetic Diversity, Ancestry and Inbreeding in New Zealand Feral Kaimanawa Horses
Supervisors: Katrin Schäfer & Elmira Mohandesan
Elifnaz Eker
Project: Eastern Waves: Cultural, Biological, and Lifestyle Transformation in the Carpathian Crossroads in the First Half of the 1st Millennium BCE
Supervisors: Katrin Schäfer & Elmira Mohandesan
Leo Capari
Project: Anatomy of challenge driven R&I: The cases of energy transition and demographic change
Supervisor: Harald Wilfing
Katarina Matiasek
Project: Incorporations. Stereo Photography in Anthropology
Supervisor: Harald Wilfing
Heather Nicole Chamberlain-Irwin
Project: Incorporations. Stereo Photography in Anthropology
Supervisor: Ron Pinhasi
Chen Duan
Project: The Genetic Architecture of Human Disease Susceptibility: Integrating Population History and Medical Paleogenetics
Supervisor: Ron Pinhasi
David Emiliano Robles López
Project: Reconstructing the Ancient Human Gut Microbiome: Analysis on Coprolites, Unwashed Human Sacra and Mummy Extracts
Supervisor: Ron Pinhasi
Konstantina Cheshmedzhieva
Project: Bone and sediment paleogenetics for mapping Denisovan presence in Southeast Asia and Oceania
Supervisors: Katerina Douka & Martin Kuhlwilm
ResearchGateORCID
u:cris URL
Anastasia Papadogianni
Project: Biomolecular investigations into the first farming communities in Southeastern Europe
Supervisor: Katerina Douka
Xiaowen Xu
Project: Development and Application of Palaeoproteomic and Stable Isotope Methods on Prehistoric Material from Northeast Asia
Supervisor: Katerina Douka
Aigerim Rymbekova
Project: Reconstructing the genetic history of Central Eurasia
Supervisor: Martin Kuhlwilm
Josef Hackl
Project: Deep Learning Architectures for detecting Ghost Admixture and Adaptive Introgression in Genomic Data
Supervisor: Martin Kuhlwilm
Ginevra Di Bernardo
Project: Variation of the 3D shape and size of human teeth
Supervisor: Gerhard Weber
Hannah Heidarian
Project: Evolutionary demography based on the example of migration, partner selection and education, from the perspective of societal developments
Supervisor: Martin Fieder
Paul Klostermann
Project: A Bioarchaeological Study of Pubertal Timing in Human Remains
Supervisor: Sabine Eggers
Olivia Francis
Project: Radiocarbon dating the Initial Upper Palaeolithic: reassessing the Middle to Upper Palaeolithic transition in the Levant and human dispersal patterns across Eurasia
Supervisor: Thomas Higham
Alisa Redtenbacher
Project: Investigating Neanderthal extinction and early human dispersals across Eurasia using improved biomolecular and chronometric methods
Supervisor: Thomas Higham