Research Projects based at BoCAS

Human osteology and bioarchaeology, PI Jun.-Prof. Dr. Alice Toso

Bioarchaeological studies on lifeways, diet and health of the people in the Mongol Empire

Subproject (SP) 6 of the FOR5438 "Urban Impacts on the Mongolian Plateau"

Archaeology of Steroid Hormones: travelling through cells and centuries to explore human fertility

This innovative research will develop a ground-breaking methodology to directly measure steroid hormones in archaeological bones, enabling the reconstruction of hormonal adaptation through time. By analyzing two well-documented skeletal collections, the project will highlight previously invisible aspects of female life history and transform our understanding of fertility and population dynamics in past societies. Alice Toso will lead a team of three postdoctoral researchers and oversee the historical, anthropological, and molecular analysis of identified skeletal collections from Switzerland and Germany in cooperation with the Natural History Museum Basel (Dr. Gerhard Hotz) and the University of Göttingen (Prof. Dr. Birgit Großkopf)

Funding: VolkswagenStiftung Pioneering Research, four years, starting 2026

Biomolecular archaeology of ancient lipids and metabolites, PI Prof. Dr. Maxime Rageot

GEPRICO – Gallic, Etruscan and Phocaean Rites of Commensality

Details can be found on the project website