Christian Heitz

Dr. Christian Heitz is a Researcher at the Institute of Archaeology, Faculty of Humanities, University of Innsbruck. Since 2015, he has led project and excavation management in Ascoli Satriano, Apulia. His work bridges Classical Archaeology, Transhumance Studies, and Funerary Practices in pre-Roman Southern Italy and the Aegean Bronze Age. Heitz's research emphasizes mobility, identity formation, and cultural transfer through material evidence.

• Academic Degrees: Habilitation (2015, University of Innsbruck), Doctorate (2003, University of Heidelberg), MPhil (1998, University of Cambridge).
• Key Projects: Excavation management in Ascoli Satriano (2015–present), Transhumance Project (2013–2015), and fieldwork in Sicily, Egypt, and Western Turkey.

Heitz's publications focus on textile archaeology, pastoral economies, and gender/age dynamics in Archaic Southern Italy. His recent work includes neutron activation analysis of ceramics and studies on the 'Catarinella' askos. He has organized international conferences such as The Production of Locality and Empowerment in the Archaic Western Mediterranean (2017) and Notions of the Indigenous Past (2019).

Grants include FWF funding for his habilitation publication (2020) and the Lise Meitner-Programm (2013–2015). Heitz collaborates extensively, co-authoring studies with scholars like Matthias Hoernes and Manuele Laimer, and contributes to public archaeology through lectures and digital excavation reports.