VIAS – the Vienna Institute for Archaeological Science

in 1992 as a forward-looking transdisciplinary institution. VIAS aims to develop and integrate methods
from the natural sciences in a dynamic relationship with the culture-oriented investigative frameworks
of archaeology, and to provide support, knowledge and partnership in multidisciplinary research
programmes and projects.
VIAS functions as a core facility and it is conducting research in the fields of archaeobotany,
archaeozoology, bioarchaeology, archaeometry and archaeometallurgy, analysis of precious metals,
ceramology, geophysical archaeological prospection on land and underwater, geoarchaeology, digital
archaeological documentation methods, and experimental archaeology.
VIAS reaches out beyond the university by developing and collaborating in projects together with the
Austrian Academy of Sciences and regional museums and cultural heritage administrations as well
as many international partners. VIAS has substantially contributed to the development of efficient
high-resolution prospection methods as a founding partner in the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for
Archaeological Prospection and Virtual Archaeology.