In December 2025, the project »ARTHA (French-Austrian ARchaeoTHAnatology Network)« (PI: C. Partiot) was selected by the OeAD – Agency for Education and Internationalisation and the French Hubert Curien Programme (PHC) Amadeus, and brings together multiple institutions within a binational framework. The Austrian Archaeological Institute (ÖAI) and its Archscience unit serve as the Austrian pilot unit, involving members of the RG Prehistoric Phenomena and RG Prehistoric Identities. On the Austrian side, the partner institutions are the University of Vienna, the Natural History Museum Vienna, and the University of Graz. On the French side, the project is led by the CNRS UMR 7206 Ecoanthropology laboratory (Paris, France), in collaboration with the rescue excavation company EVEHA, the CNRS UMR 5199 PACEA (Bordeaux, France), and the CNRS UMR 7268 ADES (Marseille, France).
The objective of the ARTHA project is to establish a collaborative research network between France and Austria aimed at advancing and adapting archaeothanatology by engaging international scholars and field researchers from diverse backgrounds. This joint research project addresses two core stages of archaeothanatological research: data recording and terminology development on the one hand, and field work on the other. The project’s strength lies in the combination of a theoretical phase, focused on collaborative work to adapt and translate protocols and terminology into German, and a practical application phase, during which early-career researchers will test the developed tools under real excavation conditions at two archaeological sites in France and Austria.
2026-2027
