Congratulations to Prof. Cheryl Makarewicz et al. on their new paper "In foreign pastures: Livestock mobility at Hazor and the permeability of Iron Age geopolitical borders in the Southern Levant" published in PLOS One. Using isotope analysis of livestock teeth from Tel Hazor, the study examines where Iron Age II sheep and goats were grazed during...
A new paper co-authored by Prof. Cheryl Makarewicz and Dr. Christine Winter-Schuh on the topic of selective violence against children and woman found in an Iron Age mass grave at the site of Gomolava (Serbia) has caught a lot of media attention. Check it out here: Fibiger, L., Iraeta-Orbegozo, M., Koledin, J. et al. A large mass grave...
Congratulations to PhD candidate Fiona Walker-Friedrichs on her publication entitled "Sustained Bronze Age Agricultural Practice at the North Sea Coast: Insights from Weed Ecology and Charred Cereal Grain Stable Isotopes at Bjerre, Denmark" Her work demonstrates persistent use of extensive agriculture regimes through the Bronze Age at Bjerre,...
A radio segment on the topic of social (in-)equality in prehistory produced by German radio station SWR featured several members of the Cluster of Excellence ROOTS. Dr. Paul Duffy and Prof. Cheryl Makarewicz were interviewed in our lab about how archaeological and isotopic data can shed light on social inequality in regions like the Carpathian...
Congratulations to Prof. Cheryl Makarewicz et al. on their new paper "Earliest evidence for the use of desert kite mass-hunting structures in southeastern Jordan during the late pre-pottery neolithic B" published in Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences. The paper presents the earliest robust dates for desert kites based on radiocarbon and...
On December 12th, Dr. Laura Strolin delivered a presentation on faunal remains from a Neolithic ritual site in the region of AlUla (Kingdom of Saudi Arabia) at the 58th Seminar for Arabian Studies in Abu Dhabi (UAE). Titled "When Animals Became Ritual Objects: Evidence from Neolithic North-West Arabia" (L. Strolin, J. Studer, S. Vanin, W....
Congratulations to recent ASIL post-doc Dr. Angela Trentacoste for receiving an ERC Consolidator Grant for her FEROCI project - Feeding Roman Italy: Continuities and Innovations in animal production from urbanisation to empire. The project will employ cutting-edge analyses of animal bones and teeth to examine agricultural and pastoral production...
In November 2025, Dr. Laura Strolin conducted zooarchaeological analyses on faunal material from a Neolithic ritual site in the region of AlUla at the Conservation Laboratory of the Royal Commission for AlUla (Kingdom of Saudi Arabia). Her research investigates the ritual practices and herding strategies that were in place in the region 7000 years...
Congratulations to ASIL PhD Tumurbaatar Tuvshinjargal and Prof. Cheryl Makarewicz on their new paper: "Cattle traction in the Xiongnu empire: Zooarchaeological evidence from the Mongolian steppe" published in Archaeological Research in Asia.
Congratulations to ASIL postdoctoral researcher Dr. Linda Amos on her new paper: "Seasonal Exploitation of Migratory Waterfowl at Natufian el-Wad Terrace, Mount Carmel, Israel" published in International Journal of Osteoarchaeology.