The reconstruction of habitual activities is a central aim of bioarcheological investigations of past populations. Using a wide array of digital approaches, the project seeks to establish a comprehensive framework for understanding past human behavior by integrating evolutionary functional adaptations (genetically regulated) with the effects of habitual physical activity, which are shaped by both cultural and environmental conditions. Its core objective is to develop, validate, and apply innovative interdisciplinary virtual anthropological approaches for reconstructing habitual physical activity in bioarchaeological and paleoanthropological contexts utilizing the extensively documented historical human skeletons from the Museum of Natural History Basel (see Basel-Spitalfriedhof-Projekt). 

Karakostis, F.A., Jäger, G. (2024) Biocultural Evolution: An Agenda for Integrative Approaches. Tübingen. http://tinyurl.com/BioculturalEvolution

Karakostis, F.A., Hotz, G. (2022) Reflections of manual labor in the hand entheses of early industrial women workers with extensively documented life histories. American Journal of Biological Anthropology 183, e24636.https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.24636 

PD Dr. Alexandros Karakostis as Pricipal Investigator 

Dr. Gerhard Hotz as Project Member

Dr. Sandra Pichler as Project Member