Kurt W. Alt

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Kurt W. Alt (2006)

Kurt Werner Alt (born June 26, 1948 in Elm / Saar ) is a German anthropologist with a focus on human biology and bioarchaeometry . He is considered a specialist in dental anthropology.

Life

Kurt W. Alt studied dentistry and physics at the University of Berlin and received his doctorate for his license to practice as a dentist to Dr. med. dent. (Major in medical history ). Between 1979 and 1983 he worked as a dentist in Berlin, Hamburg and Freiburg im Breisgau. After the subsequent second degree in anthropology, prehistory and ethnology at the University of Freiburg habilitation he did in 1992 in anthropology.

After working as a research assistant at the Institute for Forensic Medicine at the University of Düsseldorf and as a research assistant at the Institute for Human Genetics and Anthropology at the University of Freiburg, he was appointed to the Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz in 1999 . There he worked until August 2013 as a university professor at the Institute for Anthropology. Alt has been researching and teaching at the Center for Natural and Cultural History of Teeth at the Danube Private University in Krems an der Donau since July 2014 . He is also a visiting professor at the University of Basel and the University of Zagreb . He works as a freelance researcher at the State Office for Monument Preservation and Archeology in Saxony-Anhalt, State Museum for Prehistory , in Halle an der Saale .

research

Kurt W. Alt's academic career is shaped by interdisciplinary research into human history at the interface between the natural sciences and the humanities . His work initially concentrated on dental anthropology and odontological kinship analysis , in which he created the basis with specially developed statistical analysis methods, especially for the field of prehistoric anthropology, "in order to reconstruct early populations, show relationships and provide information on the social structure of these populations" . During his time at the Institute for Anthropology in Mainz, he founded the working group for bioarchaeometry. Since then, numerous scientists in the fields of anthropology, osteoarchaeology , paleogenetics and biogeochemistry have devoted themselves to central questions in human history under his leadership . The main research areas range from the Neolithic in the Middle East to the population- historical processes in the spread of agriculture and animal husbandry to Central Europe to questions of nutrition , land use , disease history and human mobility from all prehistoric epochs up to modern times . Particular attention was paid to the corded ceramic family graves of Eulau , the elaboration of population-dynamic processes in the development of Central European genetic diversity and the comprehensive investigation of the skeletal remains of Queen Edithas , wife of Otto the Great .

Publications (selection)

  • with Ch. J. Adler, K. Dobney, LS Weyrich, J. Kaidonis, AW Walker, W. Haak, CJA Bradshaw, G. Townsend, A. Soltysiak, J. Parkhill, A. Cooper: Sequencing ancient calcified dental plaque shows changes in oral microbiota with dietary shifts of the Neolithic and Industrial revolutions , Nature Genetics 45, 2013, 450–455.
  • with G. Brandt, W. Haak, Ch. J. Adler, Ch. Roth, A. Szécsényi-Nagy, S. Karimnia, S. Möller-Rieker, H. Meller , R. Ganslmeier, S. Friederich, V. Dresely , N. Nicklisch, JK Pickrell, F. Sirocko, D. Reich, A. Cooper: Ancient DNA reveals key stages in the formation of Central European mitochondrial genetic diversity , Science 342, 2013, 257-261.
  • with B. Röder , W. de Jong: Age (n) think differently: Cultural and biological perspectives , Cologne 2012, ISBN 978-3-412-20895-0
  • with N. Nicklisch, F. Maixner, R. Ganslmeier, S. Friederich, V. Dresely, H. Meller, A. Zink: Rib lesions in skeletons from early Neolithic sites in Central Germany: On the trail of tuberculosis at the onset of agriculture , American Journal of Physical Anthropology 149, 2012, 391-404.
  • with Ch. Meyer, N. Nicklisch, P. Held, B. Fritsch: Tracing patterns of activity in the human skeleton: An overview of methods, problems, and limits of interpretation , Homo - Journal of Comparative Human Biology 62, 2011, 202 -217.
  • with H. Meller: Anthropology, Isotopy and DNA - a biographical approach to nameless prehistoric skeletons? , Halle (Saale) 2010, ISBN 978-3-939414-53-7
  • with W. Haak, O. Balanovsky, JJ Sanchez, S. Koshel, V. Zaporozhchenko, Ch. J. Adler, C. Der Sarkissian, G. Brandt, C. Schwarz, N. Nicklisch, V. Dresely, B. Fritsch , E. Balanovska, R. Villems, H. Meller, A. Cooper: Ancient DNA from European early Neolithic farmers reveals their near Eastern affinities , PloS Biology 8, 2010, e1000536.
  • with VM Oelze, A. Siebert, N. Nicklisch, H. Meller, V. Dresely: Early Neolithic diet and animal husbandry: Stable isotope evidence from three Linearbandkeramik (LBK) sites in Central Germany , Journal of Archaeological Science 38, 2010, 270 -279.
  • with Ch. Meyer, G. Brandt, W. Haak, R. Ganslmeier, H. Meller: The Eulau eulogy: Bioarchaeological interpretation of lethal violence in Corded Ware multiple burials from Saxony-Anhalt, Germany , Journal of Anthropological Archeology 28, 2009, 412-423.
  • with W. Haak, G. Brandt, HN de Jong, Ch. Meyer, R. Ganslmeier, V. Heyd, C. Hawkesworth, AWG Pike, H. Meller: Ancient DNA, strontium isotopes, and osteological analyzes shed light on social and kinship organization of the later Stone Age , Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA 105, 2008, 18226-18231.
  • with P. Jud, M. Betschart: The human bones from La Tène and their interpretation , Archeology of Switzerland 30, 2007, 28–33.
  • with B. Kaulich, L. Reisch, H. Vogel, W. Rosendahl: The Neanderthalian molar from Hunas, Germany , Homo - Journal of Comparative Human Biology 57, 2006, 187-200.
  • with W. Vach: Relationship analysis in the Alemannic grave field of Kirchheim / Ries , Basel 2005, ISBN 978-3-905448-02-3
  • with W. Haak, P. Forster, B. Bramanti, S. Matsumura, G. Brandt, M. Tänzer, R. Villems, C. Renfrew , D. Gronenborn, J. Burger : Ancient DNA from the first European farmers in 7500 -year-old Neolithic sites , Science 310, 2005, 1016-1018.
  • with A. Kemkes-Grottenthaler: Children's worlds. Anthropology - History - Culture Comparison , Cologne 2002, ISBN 978-3-412-03102-2
  • with N. Rauschenberger: Eco-historical reflections - man and the environment between Stone Age and Silicon Valley , Freiburg 2001, ISBN 978-3-7930-9255-1
  • with FW Rösing , M. Teschler-Nicola : Dental Anthropology. Fundamentals, Limits, and Prospects , Vienna 1998, ISBN 978-3-211-82974-5
  • Odontological relationship analysis. Individual characteristics of teeth and their importance for anthropology, archeology and forensic medicine , Stuttgart 1997, ISBN 978-3-437-25248-8
  • with JC Türp: The evolution of teeth , Berlin 1996, ISBN 978-3-87652-590-7
  • with W. Vach, J. Wahl: Relationship analysis of the skeletal remains from the ceramic mass grave of Talheim, Heilbronn district. Application with odontological and classic epigenetic features , reports from Baden-Württemberg 20, 1995, 195-217.
  • with W. Vach: Reconstruction of biological and social structures in prehistoric and protohistoric populations , Prehistoric Journal 69, 1994, 56–91.
  • Dentistry and Archeology , Zahnärztliche Mitteilungen 79, 1989, 496–497.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Quoted after the review: Hans W. Jürgens: Alt, KW: Odontologische Kinship Analysis. In: Zeitschrift für Morphologie und Anthropologie, Vol. 82, H. 2/3, 1999, p. 322. JSTOR 25757562 . Retrieved December 6, 2013.
  2. ↑ Christian Meyer, Guido Brandt, Wolfgang Haak, Robert A. Ganslmeier, Harald Meller, Kurt W. Alt: The Eulau eulogy: Bioarchaeological interpretation of lethal violence in Corded Ware multiple burials from Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. In: Journal of Anthropological Archeology. 28, 2009, pp. 412-423, doi : 10.1016 / j.jaa.2009.07.002 .
  3. ↑ http://www.lda-lsa.de/aktuelles/meldung/daten/2013/10/10/forscher_entraetseln_die_bevoelkerungsentwicklung_europas_anhand_dna_jungsteinzeitlicher_bauern/
  4. ↑ http://www.uni-mainz.de/presse/33996.php
  5. ↑ http://www.lda-lsa.de/aktuelles/meldung/daten/2012/12/12/koenigin_editha_und_ihre_grablegen_in_magdeburg/
personal data
SURNAME Alt, Kurt W.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Alt, Kurt Werner (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German anthropologist and university professor
DATE OF BIRTH June 26, 1948
PLACE OF BIRTH Elm (Schwalbach (Saar))