The recording from this talk is now available on the #HEASVienna YouTube channel.

This year’s colours in the park in front of my office. I just love my workplace @univie.ac.at

HEAS Seminar Series - Human Evolution and the Palaeolithic - HEAS As part of the HEAS Seminar Series in Human Evolution and the Palaeolithic João Cascalheira from Universidade do Algarve will give a talk on FINISTERRA: New Insights into Southwestern Iberia’s Late Pl...

We are looking forward to welcoming #JoãoCascalheira to #HEASVienna for a #HEASSeminar in #HumanEvolutionandthePalaeolithic.

More information and registration on our website 🔗👇

New Publication!

New Article by #HEASVienna members #LumilaPaulaMenéndez and #AnneLeMaitre et al. on µCT scanning effects on aDNA and a multi-step workflow for archaeological petrous portions.

#HEASPublications

www.heas.at/research/pub...

The Tool Systems Approach: Measuring Complexity in the Primatological, Archaeological, and Ethnographic Records - Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory Measuring technological complexity across species, as well as across temporal and spatial scales, is an ongoing challenge among authors who work on primatological, archaeological, and/or ethnographic questions. Researchers in these individual fields have developed a number of innovative ways of approaching this issue that reflect the specific affordances of their data with a known set of limitations. However, comparability between these approaches is often difficult. One such field-specific approach is the techno-unit method of Oswalt et al. (1976), which has had a massive impact on our interpretation of ethnographic technology over the fifty years since its publication. Nevertheless, this method has issues with its compression of variability and the different pathways to “complexity”. Here, we review a number of different ways technological complexity has been measured in non-human primates, the archaeological record, and modern human foragers, in order to identify the relative strengths and weaknesses of each. We suggest that the approach deployed in any given study should continue to follow the data and research questions under consideration, but that we lack an easily-applicable method that allows explicit comparisons between fields of study. In this context, we introduce the Tool Systems Approach as one possible way of doing so, which decomposes tool manufacture into its constituent steps (i.e., Tool Systems Total) and discrete forms of action (i.e., Total Discrete Actions). We apply the approach to a number of different technologies across the three fields, to explore the practicalities of its application, as well as its limitations. Plotting these different technologies with regards to their maximum complexity through time reveals trends that may map onto important changes in cognitive evolution, which are also reflected in ever-growing variability in the complexity of individual artefacts. The ramifications for the study of technological complexity as a whole are discussed.

I am delighted to share our new paper on measuring complexity across the Primatological, Archaeological, and Ethnographic records, with an amazing team of co-authors - including the excellent @lucytimbrell96.bsky.social and @ceciliapad.bsky.social! Short 🧵 below /1

doi.org/10.1007/s108...

#ICArEHB welcomes Louise Leakey on 22 April for a seminar on the #TurkanaBasin and the #OriginsOfHumanity, sharing major discoveries that have transformed our understanding of #HumanEvolution. Free and open to the public.

On my way back from @hugoobermaier.bsky.social meeting in Ferrara and a great excursion to the famous and important Fumane cave 🦣🍷Thanks to Marco Peresani and his team for a great meeting! See you all next year in Poland!

A study by HEAS member Timo Canessa has just been published in the open access journal PLOS One. - HEAS 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-sc...

New Publication!

New Article by #HEASVienna member @timocanessa.bsky.social et al. on 'Unpacking lithic assemblage variability in the Early Upper Palaeolithic: A multivariate approach to the structure of the Iberian Aurignacian'

#HEASPublications

More informaton on our website 👇🔗

We are pleased to share our new paper on the Iberian Aurignacian. We employed a quantitative approach to explore techno-typological variability and test its spatio-temporal dimension.
@palomadelalasca.bsky.social

Paper: doi.org/10.1371/jour...

3. @stahlschmidtmc.bsky.social, #LauravanderSluis, #PeterSteier and #LyndelleWebster

Radiocarbon dating of bones and charcoal preserved in resin impregnated sediment blocks

4. #CarlaGomezMontes and @timocanessa.bsky.social

Clarifying the Nature of Human-Animal Occupations in Chufín Cave with Chronological and Paleoproteomic Data

Spring is here 😊

Poster announcing a talk titled "SPATIAL INFERENCE OF POPULATION STRUCTURE AND PREHISTORIC HUMAN MOBILITY FROM ANCIENT AND MODERN GENOMES" at the HEAS Seminar Series by Stephan Schiffels (Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany), March 23rd 2026 at 10:30 CET. Location: UBB 5.1 University of Vienna.

On my way to Vienna (with punctual trains!) to visit University of Vienna. I will give a talk in the Human Evolution and Archaeological Sciences seminar (HEAS) series tomorrow.

#adna #populationgenetics

Now Open! - #MSCA Postdoctoral #Fellowships 2026 – Support Programme of @univie.ac.at

Contact me for #Palaeolithic projects!

careers.univie.ac.at/en/research-...

3 reasons to apply for a Marie-Skłodowska Curie Postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of Vienna.

It's easy to find the perfect supervisor. Our Expression of Interest Programme (EOI) allows you to search potential supervisors at the University of Vienna who are interested in supervising an MSCA Fellowship.

Access to unparalleled support. We offer extensive support for MSCA applicant, including: In-depth masterclassen, Q&As, personalised feedback and support, thourogh proposal checks

Work at a world-leading university. The University of Vienna is a Times Higher Education (THE) Top 100 University and, in 2024, Vienna was ranked the World's Most Liveable City according to the Global Liveability Index.

#MSCA Postdoctoral #Fellowships 2026 – Support Programme Now Open! 🚨
Are you an outstanding #postdoc researcher ready to take the next step in your #academic career? Our EoI programme for the MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships 2026 at #univie is now open. ⤵️ 👨‍🔬👩‍🔬 #phdsky
careers.univie.ac.at/en/research-...

HEAS Seminar Series - Human Evolution and the Palaeolithic - HEAS As part of the HEAS Seminar Series in Human Evolution and the Palaeolithic Amanda Henry from Leiden University will give a talk on Plant foods and the evolution of hominin diets on the 16th March 2026...

We are looking forward to welcoming @phytolith.bsky.social to #HEASVienna as part of the #HEASSeminar series in #HumanEvolutionandthePalaeolithic next Monday the 16th March at 10:30 CET.

More information and registration on our website 🔗👇
@univie.ac.at @philipnigst.bsky.social

There is still time to submit abstracts to our #UISPP session on Gravettian and Epigravettian! - Join our session: Before, during and after the Big Dry!

Deadline: 20 March.

@marjolein-bosch.bsky.social @heasvienna.bsky.social @univie.ac.at

There is still time to submit abstracts for our session on mobility…
Join our session - Moving on….

#UISPP abstract deadline is now 20 March!

@timocanessa.bsky.social @palomadelalasca.bsky.social @aliceleplongeon.bsky.social @heasvienna.bsky.social @univie.ac.at @dshcs.bsky.social

Frühlingsgefühle! Unsere Begleitbroschüre zur Ausstellung „Die Sprache der Göttinnen“ ist da. Wir freuen uns auf eine neue Saison @mamuz Asparn 😊

HEAS Seminar Series - Archaeological Science - HEAS As part of the HEAS Seminar Series in Archaeological Science, Marcos Martinon-Torres from the University of Cambridge will give a talk on Sustaining complex technologies through collective action: ins...

We are looking forward to the #HEASSeminar in #ArchaeologicalScience with #MarcosMartinon-Torres taking place online only at 12:30 CEST on Monday the 9th March.

More information and registration on our website 🔗👇

@univie.ac.at

www.heas.at/events/heas-...

No sudden upheaval: Researchers retell the long history of the Stone Age How did people live 50,000 years ago—and how did their everyday lives change? An international study from South Africa, conducted in collaboration with the Austrian Academy of Sciences, shows that…

💎⚙️ New study: The transition from the Middle to the Later Stone Age wasn’t abrupt. Quartz finds from Umhlatuzana in South Africa show step-by-step changes in technology, mobility, and resources—varying across regions.
#Archaeology #StoneAge
buff.ly/Xra8dJw

Register now for our free online workshop hosted by the #COEXIST project and @archaeoprotein.bsky.social: Maximising data from #Palaeolithic bone. Exciting program on chronology, diet, taphonomy and method advancement:
docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F... 🦣🧪🏺

@humendylab.bsky.social & #TransCause Project invite you to our symposium on Middle Pleistocene behavioral variability with special focus on Dalarik-1 Cave (Armenia)!
📍Room 520, Mt. Scopus Campus, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
💻Also online (via zoom)!
See you all there!

Unravelling the Palaeolithic 2026!

Join us for two days of all things Palaeolithic, Pleistocene and Early Human Origins at UCL Institute of Archaeology 19-20th June.

Call for papers is now open and tickets are on sale! Check out our website for more information.

sites.google.com/view/unravel...

📢 #jobopportunity 🚨

9️⃣ PhD position within the #MSCA #PALPROX Doctoral Network!

🔗 More info: bit.ly/4kjoi5W

Join our session at the upcoming UISPP conference in Poznań!

📣 Reminder: Doctoral Recruitment Call 2026 👨‍🔬👩‍🔬
Deadline: 📅2 March 2026, 14:00 CET
The University of Vienna invites applications for at least 40 fully funded, 4-year doctoral positions in the #SocialSciences, #humanities and cultural studies. #AcademicSky #univie
Find all information here: ⤵️

Now Open: SSH Doctoral Recruitment Call 2026

40+ fully funded 4yr PhD positions @univie.ac.at

careers.univie.ac.at/en/praedoc/p...
(Application Deadline 2 Mar 2026)

Contact me for #Palaeolithic projects!

palaeo.univie.ac.at

@heasvienna.bsky.social @univie.ac.at @dshcs.bsky.social @uhaunivienna.bsky.social

@uhaunivienna.bsky.social @palarchgroup.bsky.social