Natascha Mehler

Prof Natascha Mehler is a Visiting Professor at the German Maritime Museum (Leibniz Institute for German Maritime History) and holds a Docent position at the University of Vienna's Department of Prehistory and Historical Archaeology. Her research focuses on medieval/post-medieval archaeology of Iceland, Shetland, and Faroe Islands, specializing in Viking settlements, medieval assemblies, and Hanseatic trade networks. She directs major projects like the HANSdoc database on German North Atlantic trade and has led interdisciplinary studies funded by Leibniz and DFG grants totaling over €1.7M.

Education: Magister Artium (2001, University of Bamberg), PhD (2008, University of Kiel), Habilitation (2014, University of Vienna). She sits on boards of the Society of Post-Medieval Archaeology, Society for Historical Archaeology, and European research networks. Her work bridges archaeology and history, emphasizing material culture analysis and colonial-era trade dynamics.

Research interests include maritime trade infrastructure, assembly site archaeology, and the interplay between cultural identity and material remains. Her blog fishandships.dsm.museum details German trade in the North Atlantic.