CLIOARCH stands for CLIOdynamic ARCHaeology: Computational approaches to Final Palaeolithic/earliest Mesolithic archaeology and climate change. This project seeks to quantify and hence qualify human responses to rapidly changing climates, extreme environmental events, migration and adaptation in the so-called Final Palaeolithic and the earliest Mesolithic, the period between 15,000 and 11,000 years, in Europe. The project begins with a soul-searching investigation of relevant epistemologies and then deploys state-of-the-art computational techniques - all set within a cultural evolutionary framework - to understand the patterns and processes of human adaptation in this period. Finally and as a test of CLIOARCH's methods, we will also prospect for new stratified archaeological sites with evidence from this period.
You can always reach us at clioarch@cas.au.dk and follow us on Twitter @ERC_CLIOARCH.
People at CLIOARCH
Core staff
CLIOARCH post-doctoral affiliates
Francesco Ravasini
Postdoc Institut for Molekylærbiologi og Genetik - Bioinformatics & Computational Biology (BiRC)
Maciej Tomasz Sykut
Postdoc Institut for Kultur og Samfund - Afdeling for Arkæologi og Kulturarvsstudier
CLIOARCH post-doctoral affiliates (external)
Dr. Sheina Lew-Levy
Post-doc (Canadian Social Sciene and Humanities Research Council), 2019-2021
Now Associate Professor at Durham University.
Dr. Thomas Hess
Post-doc (Swiss National Science Foundation), 2019-2020
Email: thomas.hess@uni-tuebingen.de
CLIOARCH PhD affiliates
CLIOARCH visitors
Inga Fauth
ERASMUS intern (Hildesheim University, Germany), Oct 2021-Dec 2021
Email: hansman@uni-hildesheim.de
Kalliroi 'Iro' Tsirintoulaki
ERASMUS intern (Leiden University, Netherlands), Sept 2020-March 2021
Email: k.tsirintoulaki@umail.leidenuniv.nl
Brea McCauley
Visiting PhD student (Simon Fraser University, Canada), Feb-April 2020
Email: bmccaule@sfu.ca
Website: https://www.sfu.ca/archaeology/graduate/grad_students/mcCauley.html
Colin D. Wren
Visiting Professor (University of Colorado, Colorado Springs), Sept-Nov 2022
Email: cwren@uccs.edu
Website: https://anthropology.uccs.edu/colin-wren
Maria Barrera Cruz
Visiting Ph.D. student (University of Valencia, Spain), Sept-Dec 2022
Email: maria.barrera@uv.es
Website: https://www.uv.es/uvweb/universidad/es/ficha-persona-1285950309813.html?p2=bacruzma&idA=true
Renata Pedroso de Araújo
Visiting Ph.D. student (University of Sao Paulo, Brazil), Sept-Dec 2022
Email: rennyaraujo@yahoo.com
Website: https://bv.fapesp.br/en/pesquisador/96545/renata-pedroso-de-araujo
Mikel Díaz Rodriguez
'Margaria Salas' visiting post-doc (University of Santiago, Spain), March 2022-Feb 2023, now Interim Lecturer of Prehistory at the Faculty of History of the University of Vigo, and fellow at CISPAC (Interuniversity Research Centre for Atlantic Cultural Landscapes)
Email: mikel.diaz.rodriguez@gmail.com
Website: https://cispac.gal/en/scientific-staff/mikel-diaz-rodriguez/
José Ramón Rabuñal Gayo
'Margaria Salas' visiting post-doc (University of Alicante, Spain), March 2022-Feb 2023, now postdoctoral fellow at CISPAC (Interuniversity Research Centre for Atlantic Cultural Landscapes)
Email: jr.rabunal@gmail.com
Website: https://cispac.gal/en/scientific-staff/jose-ramon-rabunal-gayo/
CLIOARCH publications
Schmidt, I., Gehlen, B., Winkler, K., Arrizabalaga, A., Arts, N., Bicho, N., Crombé, P., Eriksen, B. V., Grimm, S. B., Kapustka, K., Langlais, M., Mevel, L., Naudinot, N., Nerudová, Z., Niekus, M., Peresani, M., Riede, F., Sauer, F., Schön, W. ... Maier, A. (2025). Large scale and regional demographic responses to climatic changes in Europe during the Final Palaeolithic. PLoS One, 20, Artikel e0310942. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0310942
Maier, A., Sauer, F., Orrin, J., Nguyen, T. M. H., Schmolz, S., Mygdam, F., Juul, C. & Riede, F. (2025). Mesolithische Funde aus der Hollenkammer bei Lütersheim. hessen Archäologie, 2024, 56-59.
Hess, T., Matzig, D. & Riede, F. (2025). Morphometric Analyses of Late Palaeolithic and Early Mesolithic Projectile Points from Central Germany. Lithic Technology. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/01977261.2025.2491158
Kitagawa, K., Burger-Völlmecke, D., Brown, S., Olsen, J. & Riede, F. (2025). Paleolithic occupations in the Lahn Valley of Central Germany: New dating and ZooMS results from Wildscheuer, Wildweiberlei, and Wildhaus. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 61, Artikel 104951. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2024.104951
Meyer, M. V., Pedersen, J. B., Matzig, D. N. & Riede, F. (2025). Skills, scaling, and the role of youngsters in adaptation during the Northern European Final Palaeolithic. Journal of Lithic Studies, 12(1). https://doi.org/10.2218/jls.10853
Wisher, I., Birch, T., Andreasen, R., Canosa, E., Norrehed, S., Reguer, S., Lemasson, Q., Oras, E., Johanson, K., Kinnaird, T., Birndorfer, T., Pedersen, J. B., Scott, J., Pearce, C. & Riede, F. (2025). The earliest evidence of blue pigment use in Europe. Antiquity, 99(408), 1464-1479. https://doi.org/10.15184/aqy.2025.10184
Matzig, D. N., Marwick, B., Riede, F. & Warnock, R. C. M. (2024). A macroevolutionary analysis of European Late Upper Palaeolithic stone tool shape using a Bayesian phylodynamic framework. Royal Society Open Science, 11(8), Artikel 240321. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.240321
Andreasen, L. S., Cornér, J., Abbott, P. M., Sinclair, V. A., Riede, F. & Timmreck, C. (2024). Changes in Northern Hemisphere extra-tropicalcyclone frequency following volcanic eruptions. Environmental Research: Climate, 3(2), 025002. Artikel 025002. https://doi.org/10.1088/2752-5295/ad2c0e, https://doi.org/10.1088/2752-5295/ad2c0e
Riede, F., Pedersen, J. B., Birndorfer, T. & Steffens, P. (2024). Geoarchäologisch motivierte Grabung am spätpaläolithischen Fundplatz Mühlheim-Dietesheim. hessen Archäologie, 2023, 65-69.
Riede, F. & Lombard, M. (2024). Hunting with poisoned arrows during the Terminal Pleistocene in Northern Europe? A tip cross-sectional area assessment and list of potential arrow poison ingredients. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 59, Artikel 104757. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2024.104757
Matzig, D. N. (2024). New Cultural Taxonomies for the European Final Palaeolithic. [Ph.d.-afhandling, Aarhus Universitet].
Yaworsky, P. M., Hussain, S. T. & Riede, F. (2024). The effects of climate and population on human land use patterns in Europe from 22ka to 9ka ago. Quaternary Science Reviews, 344, Artikel 108956. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2024.108956
Tsirintoulaki, K., Matzig, D. N. & Riede, F. (2023). A 2D Geometric Morphometric Assessment of Chrono-Cultural Trends in Osseous Barbed Points of the European Final Palaeolithic and Early Mesolithic. Open Archaeology, 9(1), Artikel 20220276. https://doi.org/10.1515/opar-2022-0276
Hussain, S. T., Riede, F., Matzig, D. N., Biard, M., Crombé, P., Fernández-Lopéz de Pablo, J., Fontana, F., Groß, D., Hess, T., Langlais, M., Mevel, L., Mills, W., Moník, M., Naudinot, N., Posch, C., Rimkus, T., Stefański, D. & Vandendriessche, H. (2023). A pan-European dataset revealing variability in lithic technology, toolkits, and artefact shapes ~15-11 kya. Scientific Data, 10(1), Artikel 593. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-023-02500-9
Hussain, S. T., Plutniak, S. & Riede, F. (2023). Automation and Novelty - Archaeocomputational Typo-Praxis in the Wake of the Third Science Revolution. PCI Archaeology, https://doi.org/10.24072/pci.archaeo.100307 . https://doi.org/10.24072/pci.archaeo.100307
Araujo, R. P., Riede, F., Okumura, M., Araujo, A. G. M., Leplongeon, A., Wren, C., Rabuñal, J. R., Cardillo, M., Cruz, M. B. & Matzig, D. N. (2023). Benchmarking methods and data for the whole-outline geometric morphometric analysis of lithic tools. Evolutionary Anthropology, 32(3), 124-127. https://doi.org/10.1002/evan.21981
Yaworsky, P. M., Hussain, S. T. & Riede, F. (2023). Climate-driven habitat shifts of high-ranked prey species structure Late Upper Paleolithic hunting. Scientific Reports, 13(1), Artikel 4238. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-31085-x
Pedersen, J. B., Assmann, J. J., Normand, S., Karger, D. N. & Riede, F. (2023). Climate Niche Modeling Reveals the Fate of Pioneering Late Pleistocene Populations in Northern Europe. Current Anthropology, 64(5), 599-608. https://doi.org/10.1086/726700
Matzig, D. N., Schmid, C. & Riede, F. (2023). Mapping the field of cultural evolutionary theory and methods in archaeology using bibliometric methods. Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, 10(1), Artikel 271. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-023-01767-y
Ordonez, A. & Riede, F. (2022). Changes in limiting factors for forager population dynamics in Europe across the last glacial-interglacial transition. Nature Communications, 13(1), Artikel 5140. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-32750-x
Allen, K. J., Riede, F., Gouramanis, C., Keenan, B., Stoffel, M., Hu, A. & Ionita, M. (2022). Coupled insights from the palaeoenvironmental, historical and archaeological archives to support social-ecological resilience and the sustainable development goals. Environmental Research Letters, 17(5), Artikel 055011. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ac6967
Groucutt, H. S., Prendergast, A. L. & Riede, F. (2022). Editorial: Extreme events in human evolution: From the Pliocene to the Anthropocene: From the Pliocene to the Anthropocene. Frontiers in Earth Science, 10, Artikel 1026989. https://doi.org/10.3389/feart.2022.1026989
Pedersen, J. B., Poulsen, M. E. & Riede, F. (2022). Jels 3, a New Late Palaeolithic Open-Air Site in Denmark, Sheds Light on the Pioneer Colonization of Northern Europe. Journal of Field Archaeology, 47(6), 360-378. https://doi.org/10.1080/00934690.2022.2086346
Riede, F., Araujo, A. & Marwick, B. (2022). Robert C. Dunnell's Systematics in Prehistory at 50. Evolutionary Human Sciences, 4(e16), Artikel e16. https://doi.org/10.1017/ehs.2022.18
Degroot, D., Anchukaitis, K. J., Tierney, J. E., Riede, F., Manica, A., Moesswilde, E. & Gauthier, N. (2022). The history of climate and society: A review of the influence of climate change on the human past. Environmental Research Letters, 17(10), Artikel 103001. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ac8faa
Hess, T. & Riede, F. (2022). The Occurrence of Lithic Raw Materials in the Western Part of Central Germany. Open Quaternary, 8(1), p.1. Artikel 8. https://doi.org/10.5334/oq.108
Lundström, V., Peters, R. & Riede, F. (2021). Demographic estimates from the Palaeolithic–Mesolithic boundary in Scandinavia: comparative benchmarks and novel insights. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 376(1816), Artikel 20200037. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2020.0037
Matzig, D. N., Hussain, S. T. & Riede, F. (2021). Design Space Constraints and the Cultural Taxonomy of European Final Palaeolithic Large Tanged Points: A Comparison of Typological, Landmark‑Based and Whole‑Outline Geometric Morphometric Approaches. Journal of Paleolithic Archaeology, 4(4), Artikel 27. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41982-021-00097-2
Hussain, S. T., Matzig, D. N. & Riede, F. (2021). Gillings, M., Hacıgüzeller, P. & Lock, G. (eds) (2019). Re-Mapping Archaeology. Critical Perspectives, Alternative Mappings. Archaeologische Informationen, 43(2020), 541-546. https://doi.org/10.11588/ai.2020.1.82210
Niemeier, U., Riede, F. & Timmreck, C. (2021). Simulation of ash clouds after a Laacher See-type eruption. Climate of the Past, 17(2), 633-652. https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-17-633-2021
Hess, T. & Riede, F. (2021). The use of lithic raw materials at the Early Mesolithic open-air site Feuersteinacker (Vogelsbergkreis, Germany). Geoarchaeology, 36(2), 252-265. https://doi.org/10.1002/gea.21828
Abbott, P. M., Niemeier, U., Timmreck, C., Riede, F., McConnell, J. R., Severi, M., Fischer, H., Svensson, A., Toohey, M., Reinig, F. & Sigl, M. (2021). Volcanic climate forcing preceding the inception of the Younger Dryas: Implications for tracing the Laacher See eruption. Quaternary Science Reviews, 274, 107260. Artikel 107260. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2021.107260
Ivanovaitė, L., Serwatka, K., Hoggard, C. S., Sauer, F. & Riede, F. (2020). All these Fantastic Cultures? Research History and Regionalization in the Late Palaeolithic Tanged Point Cultures of Eastern Europe. European Journal of Archaeology, 23(2), 162-185. https://doi.org/10.1017/eaa.2019.59
Riede, F., Hussain, S. T., Timmreck, C. & Svenning, J.-C. (2020). CLIOdynamic ARCHaeology: computational approaches to Final Palaeolithic/Early Mesolithic archaeology and climate change. Antiquity, 94(375), Artikel e13. https://doi.org/10.15184/aqy.2020.85
Riede, F., Araujo, A. G. M., Barton, M. C., Bergsvik, K. A., Groucutt, H. S., Hussain, S. T., Fernandez-Lopez de Pablo, J., Maier, A., Marwick, B., Pyne, L., Ranhorn, K., Reynolds, N., Riel-Salvatore, J., Sauer, F., Serwatka, K. & Zander, A. (2020). Cultural taxonomies in the Paleolithic—Old questions, novel perspectives. Evolutionary Anthropology, 29(2), 49-52. https://doi.org/10.1002/evan.21819
Riede, F. (2020). Felix Riede. I L. Timbrell (red.), Conversations in Human Evolution (Bind 1, s. 9-14). Archaeopress. https://www.archaeopress.com/ArchaeopressShop/Public/displayProductDetail.asp?id={9EC3227C-1A17-48FB-A713-98E8CDB7BCE1}
Eggers-Kaas, T., Hoggard, C. S. & Riede, F. (2020). Flygtige Federmesser: Betragninger om at skelne mellem senpalæolitiske Federmesser og tidlig mesolitiske lancetspidser. Tings Tale, 2, 29-39.
Hussain, S. T. & Riede, F. (2020). Paleoenvironmental humanities: Challenges and prospects of writing deep environmental histories. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change, 11(5), Artikel e667. https://doi.org/10.1002/wcc.667
Hussain, S. T., Matzig, D. N., Fontana, F., Groß, D., Hess, T., Langlais, M., Fernandez-Lopez de Pablo, J., Mills, W., Naudinot, N., Posch, C., Rimkus, T., Shnayder, S., Stefanski, D. & Riede, F. (2020). Towards a collaborative meta-analysis of the Final Palaeolithic / earliest Mesolithic in Europe. Report on the 2nd CLIOARCH Workshop, 26th-27th November 2020. Archaeologische Informationen, 43, 415-420. https://doi.org/10.11588/ai.2020.1.81428
Sauer, F. R. & Riede, F. (2019). A critical reassessment of cultural taxonomies in the Central European Late Palaeolithic. Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory, 26(1), 155-184. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10816-018-9368-0
Eggers-Kaas, T., Pedersen, J. B., Hoggard, C. S., Sauer, F., Hilgart, J. & Riede, F. (2019). A Technological and Typological Analysis of Lithic Material from Skovmosen I, Denmark. Danish Journal of Archaeology, 8, 1-18. https://doi.org/10.7146/dja.v8i0.112232
Reynolds, N. & Riede, F. (2019). House of cards: cultural taxonomy and the study of the European Upper Palaeolithic. Antiquity, 93(371), 1350-1358. https://doi.org/10.15184/aqy.2019.49
Riede, F., Hoggard, C. & Shennan, S. (2019). Reconciling material cultures in archaeology with genetic data requires robust cultural evolutionary taxonomies. Humanities and social sciences communications, 5(1), Artikel 55. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-019-0260-7
Reynolds, N. & Riede, F. (2019). Reject or revive? The crisis of cultural taxonomy in the European Upper Palaeolithic and beyond. Antiquity, 93(371), 1368-1370. https://doi.org/10.15184/aqy.2019.156
Hussain, S. T. & Riede, F. (2019). Zur gegenwärtigen taxonomischen Krise in der Archäologie der frühesten Menschheitsgeschichte: Bericht zum 1. CLIOARCH Workshop auf Schloss Sandbjerg, Dänemark, 27-29. November 2019. Archaeologische Informationen, 42, 315-318. https://doi.org/10.11588/ai.2019.0.69427
CLIOARCH is an ERC Consolidator Grant project and has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement No. 817564).