University Assistant / Scientific Staff
Assistant Professor Mag. Dr. Barbara Hausmair
Medieval and Modern-Period Archaeology
Telefon: +43 512 507 37574
Research interests
- historical archaeologies from the early medieval period to the present in Central Europe
- identity theory, social archaeology and mortuary practices
- social space and landscape archaeology
- archaeology of the Nazi period, conflict heritage and memory culture
- critical archaeology
- integration of archaeological, historical and bioarchaeological sources
- computer-aided methods (GIS, statistics, data modelling and DB programming) and interdisciplinary methodologies in (proto-)historical archaeology
I am an archaeologist with a research focus on historical social archaeology, burial cultures from the early Middle Ages to the present, conflict archaeology and memory discourses of the contemporary past and present, and critical archaeology. In my projects, I am primarily concerned with identity formation processes in challenging social situations and times of conflict, burial practices as a medium of social negotiation processes, the production of social space from the perspective of landscape archaeology, interdisciplinary methodology at the interface between archaeology and historical studies, and the interplay between archaeological research, civil society and heritage
Current/on-going projects
- Habiliation thesis: People in Crises
Historical Archaeologies of Identity-Making in Times of Turmoil, Conflict and Upheaval (submitted/currently in review). -
Prisoner tags from Nazi concentration camps
- Recording early medieval cemeteries in NW-Noricum ripense
- The grave of Oswald of Schrofenstein? Grave-goods and burial context of individual 47, Landeck parish church
- Natzweiler concentration camp complex: Evaluation of the archaeological heritage of sub-camps and sites of labour exploitation in Baden-Wurttemberg (State Office for Cultural Heritage Management Baden-Wurttemberg, researcher 2018-2020, on-going cooperation for final publication)
Past projects
- Historical Archaeology of the Nazi camps in Innsbruck-Reichenau (contract research for the City of Innsbruck, 2022-2023)
- Analyses of finds from Nazi forced labour camps at Tempelhof airfield, Berlin (Freie Universität Berlin, Co-PI with R. Bernbeck and S. Pollock 2017), funded by the Heritage Office Berlin
- Spruch von den sibnen: The oldest protocols of the Constance Building Court (1452-1470) (University of Konstanz, Co-PI with G. Signori 2015-2016)
- Archaeology of Nazi forced labour in the Alps: the Suggadin camp in the Montafon valley (University of Konstanz and Montafoner Museen, Co-PI 2015), funded by University of Konstanz and Land Vorarlberg
- ...diu kint, diu âne den touf ersterbent...?. Unbaptized children between theological discourse and social practices in 12th to 16th century Central Europe (University of Konstanz, PI 2014-2016, Marie-Curie-Post-Doc Fellowship/EU FP7 programme grant no. 291784)
- At the brink of the grave: Conceptions of death and mortuary practices in the early medieval Alamannia (University of Vienna, PhD research, 2008-2013), IFK Junior Fellowship with extended research stays at the Universities of Cambridge and Reading
Academic degrees
2017
Diploma in Geographic Information Systems, University of Salzburg (AT)
2013
Dr. phil. in Pre- and Protohistorical Archaeology, University of Vienna (AT) (“Am Rande des Grabs. Todeskonzepte und Bestattungsritual in der frühmittelalterlichen Alamannia/At the brink of the grave. Death conceptions and mortuary practices in the early medieval Alamannia”, published 2015 with Sidestone Press, Leiden, https://www.sidestone.com/books/am-rande-des-grabs)
2008
Mag. phil. (MA equivalent) in Pre- and Protohistorical Archaeology, University of Vienna (AT) (“Das frühmittelalterliche Gräberfeld von Micheldorf/Kremsdorf, OÖ”/ “The early medieval cemetery of Micheldorf/Kremsdorf, Upper Austria”, published as “Micheldorf/Kremsdorf. Zwischen Baiovaria und Karantanien, in J. Leskovar (ed.), Frühmittelalter in Oberösterreich. Inventare aus den Sammlungen des Oberösterreichischen Landesmuseums, Linz: OÖLM, 11–189).
Research experience
since 2020
Assistant Professor for Medieval and Post-Medieval Archaeology (AT)
2018 – 2020
Researcher at the State Office for Cultural Heritage in Baden-Wurttemberg, DE (project: The Natzweiler concentration camp complex in Baden-Wurttemberg: assessment and study of the archaeological heritage of camps and places of forced labour)
2017
Post-Doc Researcher/Co-PI, Department of Near Eastern Archaeology/Freie Universität Berlin, DE (project: "Analyses of finds from Nazi forced labour camps at Tempelhof airfield, Berlin")
2014 – 2017
Post-Doc and Marie-Curie-Post-Doc Researcher, Zukunftskolleg/University of Konstanz, DE (projects: Unbaptized children between theological discourse and social practices in 12th to 16th century Central Europe (PI) | Archaeology of Forced Labour in the Alps: the Suggadin camo in the Montafon valley (Co-PI with Montafoner Museen) | Constance Buildings-Court Protocols (1452-1470) (Co-PI))
2012
PhD-research scholarship, University of Vienna, AT, including research visits in GB
2010 – 2011
IFK-Junior Fellow Abroad (PhD-scholarship of the IFK Internationales Forschungszentrum Kulturwissenschaften Wien and the Austrian Federal Ministry for Science and Research, AT) for research visits at the University of Cambridge and the University of Reading, GB
2009 – 2010
IFK-Junior Fellow at the IFK Wien, AT (PhD-scholarship)
2008 – 2014
Researcher (project-based) at the Department of Prehistory and Historical Archaeology/University of Vienna, AT
2008 – 2012
Archaeologist (project-based) at the Centre Archéologique Européen/Bibracte, FR
2004 – 2009
Archaeologist at various rescue excavations in Austria
Awards
2014
Erwin-Wenzel Award of the Erwin-Wenzel-Stiftung (AT) (PhD-Award) | Grete-Mostny-Dissertation Award of the University of Vienna (AT)
2008
Award for Excellent Studies of the Austrian Federal Ministry of Science and Research
2006
Award of the Wels City Council (AT) for studies related to the history of the City of Wels
Supversion of BA- and MA-thesis
I am happy to act as supervisor for students who seek to write their BA or MA thesis in the field of (early) medieval, post-medieval and contemporary archaeology.
Sundries
Member of the editorial collective of Forum Kritische Archäologie
Board member of Österreichische Gesellschaft für Mittelalterarchäologie