Dr Petra Vaiglova

Petra Vaiglova is a biomolecular archaeologist focused on exploring the impact of human–animal interactions on ancient landscapes. She is currently developing new ways of extracting geochemical data from animal teeth. She uses this data to reconstruct the environments in which the animals lived and understand how the animals' lives were impacted by past human societies. Her research has contributed to knowledge on a range of diverse topics, from the development of farming in Neolithic Greece and Bronze Age China, to the settling of hyper-arid environments during the Byzantine period in the Southern Levant.

Petra's latest paper 'Transport of animals underpinned ritual feasting at the onset of the Neolithic in southwestern Asia' (2025, Communications Earth & Environment) has uncovered new insight into the effort invested in organising ceremonial feasting at the Early Neolithic site of Asiab, western Iran.

During her doctorate studies, Petra was a Clarendon Scholar at the University of Oxford and a Pre-doctoral Fellow at the Malcolm H. Wiener Laboratory for Archaeological Science in Athens. She subsequently worked as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Haifa, the University of Connecticut, Washington University in St Louis, and Griffith University.

Petra currently serves as an Associate Editor for the Journal of Archaeological Science and the Convenor of the Masters of Archaeological and Evolutionary Science program at ANU. She is particularly keen about statistical reform and has been active in training students and other researchers in moving from statistical significance to more informative estimation science. In 2024, Petra received an ANU Strategic Learning and Teaching Grant to redevelop the statistical training component of the Master's of Archaeological and Evolutionary Science program.

Petra enjoys sharing her passion for archaeology and science with the wider public. She gave an invited TEDx talk 'An archaeologist’s view: how connectivity drove our human past’ and was featured on the Science ANU outreach video 'What is the SHRIMP Lab?' She was spotlighted in a blog post titled 'Meet Petra: Enthusiasm for Archaeology, Open Science, and Better Statistics' (thenewstatistics.com) and wrote a piece for The Conversation: Guests at a feast in Iran’s Zagros Mountains 11,000 years ago brought wild boars from all across the land. To advocate for Open Science, Petra wrote a behind-the-paper blog on Springer Nature Research Communities 'Making cutting-edge archaeological science accessible to others'. To contribute to the discussion on the importance of learning across the curriculum, she shared a video and a blog post 'Bridging the arts and the sciences'.

Selection of media coverage of Asiab boar feasting study

ANU Reporter: ‘Ultimate dinner party guests’: Ancient communities attending feast gifted boars sourced from distant lands

ABC Radio Canberra: Saturday Morning Breakfast with Emma Bickley (26 July 2025; interview starts at 4:41:00)

LiveScience: Archaeologists discover that parties 11,000 years ago were BYOB — bring your own boar

Archaeology Magazine: Dinner guests brought pigs to Neolithic party

The Past: Current World Archaeology: Communal Feasting in the Central Zagros

Arkeonews: Ancient Guests, Exotic Gifts: Wild Boars Traveled Miles to a Prehistoric Feast in Iran

Archaeology News Online Magazine: 11,000-year-old feast in Iran’s Zagros Mountains reveals long-distance animal transport and early Neolithic social rituals

Science Daily: 11,000-year-old feast uncovered: Why hunters hauled wild boars across mountains

Science&Vie: Comment Faisait-On La Fête Il y a 11 000 Ans? Les (Étonnantes) Habitudes De Nos Ancêtres Révélées Par Une Équipe D'Archéologues

Supervision

Masters of Archaeological and Evolutionary Science (Advanced) program thesis:
Johanna Evans
Oscar Balla

Bachelor of Philosophy (PhB) program, Advanced Studies Course:
Sophie Flemming

Teaching:

Current courses:
ARCH8066 Quantitative Skills for Archaeological and Evolutionary Scientists (full course)
ARCH3042/6042 Scientific Dating in Archaeology and Palaeoenvironmental Studies (full course)
ARCH8044 Ancient Biomolecules and our Past (one unit)
ANTH1002 Culture and Human Diversity: Introducing Anthropology (one unit)
ARCH1001 Uncovering the Past: A survey of global archaeology and methods (one unit)

Previous courses:
ARCH8032 Introduction to Archaeological and Evolutionary Science (full course)
BIAN3014 Research Design and Analysis in Biological Anthropology (full course)

Research funding

2022 New Researcher Grant, Griffith Arts, Education, and Law Group
Chief Investigator on project "A new method for understanding how human–animal interactions impacted past environments."

2022 Early Career Researcher Grant Development Award, Griffith Centre for Cultural and Social Research (GCSCR) & Australian Research Centre for Human Evolution (ARCHE)
Chief Investigator on project: "New high-resolution technique for investigating human–wild boar interactions."

2022 Early Career Research Support Award, Society for Archaeological Science
Chief Investigator on project: "New high-resolution technique for investigating human–wild boar interactions."

2017 Integrated Postdoctoral Fellowship, University of Haifa
Research fellowship for project: "Using stable isotopes to reconstruct the environment in the Negev Desert during the Byzantine times."

2015 Malcolm H. Wiener Predoctoral Research Fellowship for Archaeological Science, American School of Classical Studies at Athens
Research fellowship for project: "Understanding Aegean Neolithic Farming using Multiple Isotopes."

2012 Clarendon Fund, Oxford University Press
Research studentship for project: "Neolithic agricultural management in the Eastern Mediterranean: new insight from a multi-isotope approach."

2014 Steering Committee Studentship Grant, Natural Environmental Research Council, British Geological Survey
Co-Investigator (with Prof Amy Bogaard and Prof Julia Lee-Thorp) on project: "A multi-isotope approach to animal management and mobility at Neolithic Makriyalos and Koufovouno, Greece."

Research collaborations

Japan ‘The origin and transformation of horse and cattle cultures: An integrated approach to overcome the limits of animal remain analysis‘; funded by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science; with Manabu Uetsuki, University of Teikyo. 

Türkiye ‘Spatial Analysis of State Agropastoral Economies’; funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation; with John Marston, Boston University; David Meiggs, Rochester Institute of Technology; Ethan Baxter, Boston College, USA.

Iran – ‘Life of Early Neolithic Boars at Asiab’, Early Neolithic (with Pernille Bangsgaard, Center for GeoGenetics, Denmark; Lisa Yemonas and Tobias Richter, University of Copenhagen, Denmark; Hojjat Darabi, Razi University, Iran)

DPhil (PhD) and MSc in Archaeological Science, University of Oxford, U.K. 
BA (Hons) in Anthropology, University of British Columbia, Canada.