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Assoz. Prof. Aikaterini Douka, PhD
Aikaterini Douka
T: +43-1-4277-54750
https://homepage.univie.ac.at/katerina.douka/
1 - 20 out of 50
Massilani, D., Peyrégne, S., Iasi, L. N. M., de Filippo, C., Mafessoni, F., Bossoms Mesa, A., Sümer, A. P., Swiel, Y., Popli, D., Silverman, S., Boyle, M. J., Kozlikin, M. B., Shunkov, M. V., Derevianko, A. P., Higham, T., Douka, K., Meyer, M., Zeberg, H., Kelso, J., & Pääbo, S. (2026). A high-coverage Neandertal genome from the Altai Mountains reveals population structure among Neandertals. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 123(13), Article e2534576123. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2534576123
Ryder, C., Celis, G., Devièse, T., Talamo, S., Douka, K., Collins, M., Perri, A., Thakar, H., Pestle, W., & Sponheimer, M. (2026). Refining near-infrared spectroscopy for collagen quantification: A new predictive model for archaeological bone. Journal of Archaeological Science, 185, Article 106448. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2025.106448
Tapia, J., Marchán-Fernández, A., Llorente, L., Aguirre-Uribesalgo, A., Lefebvre, A., Agudo Pérez, L., Douka, K., Garate, D., Zumalabe, F., & Álvarez-Fernández, E. (2025). Coastal Settlement in the Late Pleistocene of the Bay of Biscay (North Iberia): The Cases of Langatxo and Iruroin Caves. Environmental Archaeology. https://doi.org/10.1080/14614103.2025.2590173
Gilardet, A., Oppenheimer, J., Sinding, M.-H. S., Lord, E., Chacon-Duque, C., García, G. O., Xenikoudakis, G., Kosintsev, P. A., Southon, J. R., Vasiliev, S. K., Shunkov, M. V., Kozlikin, M. B., Douka, K., Shapiro, B., Heintzman, P. D., & Dalén, L. (2025). Palaeogenomics reveals a loss of bovine lineages in mid-latitude Asia over the last 200,000 years. Genome Biology and Evolution, 17(11), Article 11. https://doi.org/10.1093/gbe/evaf206
Pigott, E. M., Cheshmedzhieva, K., Zeller, E., van der Sluis, L. G., Chowdhury, M. P., Gianni, M., Végh, E., Uthmeier, T., Chabai, V., Patou-Mathis, M., Šimková, P. G., Voglmayr, J. N., Weber, G. W., Pinhasi, R., Timmermann, A., Kuhlwilm, M., Douka, K., & Higham, T. (2025). A new late Neanderthal from Crimea reveals long-distance connections across Eurasia. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 122(45), Article e2518974122. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2518974122
Strang, S., Köcher, T., Sluis, L. V. D., Chowdhury, M. P., Grabmayer, H., Douka, K., & Binder, M. (2025). The bioarchaeology of tobacco use: An exploratory study of nicotine and cotinine detection in tooth dentine. Journal of Archaeological Science, 180, Article 106301. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2025.106301
Oertle, A., Crezzini, J., Moroni, A., Ronchitelli, A., Benazzi, S., Falcucci, A., Marciani, G., Rossini, M., Martini, I., Arrighi, S., Higham, T., Boschin, F., & Douka, K. (2025). New insights from the application of ZooMS to Late Pleistocene fauna from Grotta di Castelcivita, southern Italy. Scientific Reports, 15(1), Article 25906. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-11355-6
Gilardet, A., Lord, E., García, G. O., Xenikoudakis, G., Douka, K., Wooller, M. J., Rowe, T., Martin, M. D., Le Moullec, M., Anisimov, M., Heintzman, P. D., & Dalén, L. (2025). A High-Throughput Ancient DNA Extraction Method for Large-Scale Sample Screening. Molecular Ecology Resources, Article e14077. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1111/1755-0998.14077
Weber, G. W., Šimková, P. G., Fernandes, D. M., Cheronet, O., Úry, E., Wilfing, H., Matiasek, K., Llano-Lizcano, A., Gelabert, P., Trinks, I., Douka, K., Ladstätter, S., Higham, T., Steskal, M., & Pinhasi, R. (2025). The cranium from the Octagon in Ephesos. Scientific Reports, 15(1), Article 943. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-83870-x
Oertle, A., & Douka, K. (2025). New collagen peptide markers from New Guinea fauna: identifying archaeological bone in the tropics. Royal Society Open Science, 12(251172). https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.251172
Ghasidian, E., Frouin, M., Grandfield, T., Hariri, N., Ashari, S., Samei, S., Kehl, M., Deckers, K., Azizi, F., Asiabani, S., Fotuhi, E., Ahmadnejad, F., Hariryan, H., Douka, A., Ramzanpour, H., & Guran, S. H. (2024). Initial upper Palaeolithic on the Iranian Plateau: Sorheh Rockshelter, Southern Alborz mountains. Quaternary Science Reviews, 344, Article 108962. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2024.108962
Higham, T., Frouin, M., Douka, A., Ronchitelli, A., Boscato, P., Benazzi, S., Crezzini, J., Spagnolo, V., McCarty, M., Marciani, G., Falcucci, A., Rossini, M., Arrighi, S., Dominici, C., Deviese, T., Schwenninger, J.-L., Martini, I., Moroni, A., & Boschin, F. (2024). Chronometric data and stratigraphic evidence support discontinuity between Neanderthals and early Homo sapiens in the Italian Peninsula. Nature Communications, 15(1), Article 8016. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-51546-9
Vegh, E., & Douka, K. (2024). SpecieScan: Semi-Automated taxonomic identification of bone collagen peptides from MALDI-ToF MS. Bioinformatics, 40(3), 1-12. Article btae054. https://doi.org/10.1093/bioinformatics/btae054
Wang, N., Conard, N. J., & Douka, A. (2024). Integrating Morphological and ZooMS-Based Approaches to Zooarchaeology at Vogelherd Cave in Southwestern Germany. Paleoanthropology. https://paleoanthropology.org/ojs/index.php/paleo/article/view/1094
Nel, T. H., Peters, C., Richter, K. K., Henshilwood, C., van Niekerk, K., & Douka, K. (2023). Peptide mass fingerprinting as a tool to assess micromammal biodiversity in Pleistocene South Africa: The case of Klipdrift Shelter. Quaternary Science Reviews, 322, Article 108380. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2023.108380
Rybin, E. P., Belousova, N. E., Derevianko, A. P., Douka, K., & Higham, T. (2023). The Initial Upper Paleolithic of the Altai: New radiocarbon determinations for the Kara-Bom site. Journal of Human Evolution, 185, Article 103453. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhevol.2023.103453
Wang, N., Xu, Y., Tang, Z., He, C., Hu, X., Cui, Y., & Douka, K. (2023). Large-scale application of palaeoproteomics (Zooarchaeology by Mass Spectrometry; ZooMS) in two Palaeolithic faunal assemblages from China. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 290(2009), Article 20231129. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2023.1129
Essel, E., Zavala, E. I., Schulz-Kornas, E., Kozlikin, M. B., Fewlass, H., Vernot, B., Shunkov, M. V., Derevianko, A. P., Douka, K., Barnes, I., Soulier, M. C., Schmidt, A., Szymanski, M., Tsanova, T., Sirakov, N., Endarova, E., McPherron, S. P., Hublin, J. J., Kelso, J., ... Meyer, M. (2023). Ancient human DNA recovered from a Palaeolithic pendant. Nature, 618(7964), 328-332. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-023-06035-2
Codlin, M. C., Douka, K., & Richter, K. K. (2022). An application of zooms to identify archaeological avian fauna from Teotihuacan, Mexico. Journal of Archaeological Science, 148, Article 105692. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2022.105692
Prideaux, G. J., Kerr, I. A. R., van Zoelen, J. D., Grun, R., van der Kaars, S., Oertle, A., Douka, K., Grono, E., Barron, A., Mountain, M.-J., Westaway, M. C., & Denham, T. (2022). Re-evaluating the evidence for late-surviving megafauna at Nombe rockshelter in the New Guinea highlands. Archaeology in Oceania, 57(3), 223-248. https://doi.org/10.1002/arco.5274
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Assoz. Prof. Aikaterini (Katerina) Douka, DPhil

Employment

Professor

Department of Evolutionary Anthropology

University of Vienna

Wien, Austria

1 Oct 2022 → present

Tenure track professor

Department of Evolutionary Anthropology

University of Vienna

Wien, Austria

1 Aug 2021 → 30 Sept 2022

I am an Associate Professor in the Department of Evolutionary Anthropology and Head of the Palaeoproteomics Lab in the Faculty of Life Sciences at the University of Vienna.
My research focuses on the development and application of biomolecular tools on prehistoric contexts, and since 2016 it has been funded by the European Research Council (Starting and Consolidator projects).

Working at the interface of archaeological science, chronometric analyses and biomolecular research, my team works with both radiocarbon dating and palaeoproteomic approaches, particularly ZooMS (Zooarchaeology by Mass Spectrometry), to investigate the hominin fossil record and explore past human-animal interactions.

I am particularly interested in questions regarding the co-existence and demise of archaic hominins, especially Neanderthals and Denisovans, and the spread of modern humans.

Projects

Tracking the dispersal of humans from the African Rift to the Pacific Rim using biomolecular approaches (RIFT-TO-RIM)

Douka, A. (Project Lead)

1/07/25 → 30/06/30

BONETAG: Bone Proteomics for Neanderthal and Denisovan Genotyping

Douka, A. (Project Lead) & Patramanis, I. (Co-Lead)

1/09/26 → 31/08/29

DENI-CESTOR: DENIsovan anCESTORs in Sahul: deciphering human evolution through molecular techniques

Douka, A. (Project Lead) & Oertle, A. (Co-Lead)

30/09/22 → 29/09/25

FINDER: Fossil Fingerprinting and Identification of New Denisovan remains from Pleistocene Asia

Douka, A. (Project Lead)

1/08/21 → 31/05/24

The changing face of human evolution

Douka, K. (Speaker)

26 Mar 2026

Activity: Talks and presentations › Talk or oral contribution › Science to Science

Department of Evolutionary Anthropology

Djerassiplatz 1 (UBB)
1030 Wien
Room: 4.056

T: +43-1-4277-54750

katerina.douka@univie.ac.at