ADBOU - Unit of Anthropology, University of Southern Denmark

Friday the 9th of April, our research assistant Rikke Fur attended the SoYA (Symposium of Young Archaeologists) conference in Leiden, the Netherlands – an international conference aimed at providing young scholars with a supportive platform for presenting their research, receiving constructive feedback, and expanding their professional networks. 🌿👩‍🔬🗣

Rikke participated with the poster “Individual and collective in the Late Neolithic: Mortuary practices, treatment of the dead, and demography based on a stone cist (hellekiste) from Langeland, Denmark”, based on her master’s thesis, which focuses on a bioarchaeological analysis of a Late Neolithic burial from Langeland.
Through her work, Rikke seeks to shed light on some underexplored aspects of the archaeological record, including fragmented skeletal material and the study of stone cists, which have historically received limited attention within the field. The project connected closely with the conference theme, “Archaeology on and of the Margins”, as fragmented skeletal material was for many years considered to have limited research value, and comprehensive overviews of Danish stone cists remain relatively scarce. 💀🦴

Even though she could not attend in person, our research assistant Cecilie Mattsson also contributed with a poster based on her master’s thesis: “Investigating syphilis in historical populations: ICP-MS trace chemistry and CT-scan morphology in samples from Denmark”. 🦠🔬

ADBOU was also represented in a presentation by Teresa Lustig. She presented her thesis research on leprosy in medieval Denmark, where she is using a new quantitative methodology for assessing skeletal lesions caused by the disease on the skeleton. Her presentation focused on how her research topic took her to Denmark, where she collected her data at ADBOU, as there is currently little to no evidence for leprosy in the medieval archaeological human skeletal material of the Netherlands; this absence is quite striking, and she discussed the possible reasons for this as well as potential avenues for future research on the topic. 💀🦠

🌏 Workshop in Mongolia: Skeletons, research, and capacity building 🦴

In late March, Cecilie, Jesper, and George traveled to Mongolia to conduct an intensive 14-day workshop in collaboration with Mongolian and Danish institutions. The workshop focused on communication and knowledge sharing about skeletal material, and how skeletons can tell us about life in Mongolia’s past.

The program combined presentations of new analytical methods, technical training, and joint discussions on capacity building. A key component was work on database development, where Cecilie contributed to initiating the creation of a new database for Mongolian skeletal collections.
In addition, the team worked with a new method for age estimation in adult skeletons and discussed research needs, collection management, and future investments.

A recurring theme was that sustainable research is not only about infrastructure and equipment, but to a large extent about education and training at all levels. Building local expertise is essential for both research and the preservation of Mongolia’s unique skeletal material.

Beyond the workshop, the stay also offered rich cultural experiences, and overall, it was 18 highly engaging and educational days of academic immersion, collaboration, and cultural exchange.

🤝 Thank you to everyone involved for an inspiring and important collaboration.

Congratulations to Vicki on her new title! 🎓🎉🍾

Yesterday was a truly special day, as archaeologist/biological anthropologist Vicki Rytoft Lillegaard Kristensen successfully defended her PhD dissertation entitled “Population Heterogeneity in the Medieval Town of Viborg, Denmark”.

A remarkable achievement and a strong defense – WOW! ✨

At ADBOU, we have greatly enjoyed following Vicki’s professional journey and impressive development over the years.

We wish her our warmest congratulations and every success in the future!

A long time in the pipeline: Two intertwined articles, the result of our journey around the world to advance age estimation from skeletons:
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.forsciint.2026.112895
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.forsciint.2026.112909

Vi har fornøjelsen at annoncere Phd-forsvar for Vicki Kristensen torsdag d. 9. april kl. 14.00 i U301. Alle er velkomne!

✨Alumni Day at Moesgaard Campus✨

ADBOU was once again represented at this year’s Alumni Day at Moesgaard Campus!

The day was filled with inspiring talks on research and interdisciplinary collaboration within the cultural heritage sector – and lots of great conversations with students, alumni, and organisations.

During the “Match‑making session: Career/internship fair”, we had a stand where we got the chance to talk with current archaeology students about internship opportunities at ADBOU 💀

Thank you to everyone who stopped by to say hi! We’re excited to see where these new connections will lead 🤝✨

ADBOU folk står bag et nyt studie netop publiceret i tidsskriftet Frontiers in Environmental Archaeology.
I kan læse om studiet hos videnskab.dk herunder.

Videnskab.dk Vicki Rytoft Lillegård Kristensen Dorthe Dangvard Pedersen Viborg Museum Museum Skanderborg - Arkæologi Horsens Museum vest arkæologi

💀 I middelalderen blev syge mennesker isolerede og udstødt – eller gjorde de? Nye arkæologiske udgravninger udfordrer forestillingen om, at syge bare blev smidt på porten.

Forskere har undersøgt knogler fra fem forskellige kirkegårde i Danmark. Knoglerne og gravenes placering viser, at selv syge middelalderfolk har bevaret en form for social status.

»Jeg tror ikke, vi skal se middelalderens mennesker som koldhjertede personer, der afskrev folk lige så snart, de blev syge. Jeg tror, man har forsøgt at tage sig af dem på bedst mulig måde,« siger Vicki Rytoft Kristensen, en af arkæologerne bag studiet.

Læs mere via linket i kommentarsporet 👇

✨ Say hi to Ágota Madai! ✨

She’s a PhD student from the University of Szeged who’s joining us at ADBOU for a research stay from January to April 2026.
Ágota has a background in history, archaeology and physical anthropology. In short, she studies past people and the stories their bones can tell. She has worked on everything from artificially shaped skulls to tuberculosis in Avar period communities.

Before coming to Denmark, she worked as an assistant curator at the Natural History Museum in Budapest and took part in several exciting research projects, including the ERC HistoGenes project and archaeological work in Iraq.

🧬 While she’s here at ADBOU, Ágota is diving into palaeodemography and learning new methods to understand how ancient populations lived, changed and interacted. She is also joining in on our daily lab work and bringing lots of knowledge and enthusiasm to the team.

We’re excited to have her with us. Welcome, Ágota! 🙌