About me
I am an archaeological scientist interested in the development and application of analytical tools, in particularly chronometric and biomolecular methodologies, to archaeological and palaeoenvironmental investigations.
RESEARCH
My research has focused primarily on the measurement of the passage of time as a means of disentangling recent human evolution, but I recognize the limitations of single-field approaches. Hence, I strive for interdisciplinary collaboration and engagement with local and international teams.
I specialise in radiocarbon dating and I loved working on the development of new protocols for decontaminating difficult archaeological material.
More recently, I have become interested in the application of peptide mass fingerprinting (also known as ZooMS) for collagenous samples. I have been using ZooMS since 2015 to identify new hominin remains at prehistoric sites.
While the majority of my work focuses on Pleistocene and early Holocene-age sites from Eurasia, I have worked on sites from most corners of the planet, from northernmost Europe to South Africa, and from Siberia to Papua New Guinea.
EDUCATION & CAREER
I am Associate Professor in Archaeological Science at the Department of Evolutionary Anthropology of the University of Vienna, also leading the Palaeoproteomics Laboratory (Douka Lab). In July 2025, I launched my new ERC-funded project, “RIFT-to-RIM”.
I obtained my BSc from the Technical University of Athens, Greece, and subsequently completed both MSc and DPhil degrees in Archaeological Science at the University of Oxford, U.K., between 2005 and 2011.
From 2011 to 2017, I worked as postdoctoral researcher at Oxford on AHOB and PalaeoChron Projects. During this period, I held the William Golding Junior Research Fellowship at Brasenose College, as well as a Junior Fellowship at Linacre College.
Between 2017-2021, I was a Group Leader at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History (now Max Planck Institute for Geoanthropology), where I headed the ERC-funded “FINDER” project.