Research Sites

Abou Halka

Abou Halka is one of the key sites for the Upper Palaeolithic in Lebanon. It ontains deposits pf the Initial- and Early Upper Palaeolithic. Between 2011-2013 Dirk Leder (B1 project) studied two collections from Initial Uppper Palaeolithic levels from Ksar

Abrigo del Molino

The Abrigo del Molino archaeological site is located in the valley of the Eresma river, near Segovia in central Spain. It consists of a shallow cave of fluvio-karstic origin, which has been completely filled with detrital deposits. This fully fossilized r

Achenheim

Investigation campaign April 2014. Joint fieldwork with french geoscience colleagues. Achenheim is a loess-paleosol-sequence of the last glacial. The plateau situation present here achieves a condensed environmental history.

Anfeh survey

In 2015 a prehistoric survey was undertaken by Dirk Leder in collaboartaion with Prof. Nadine Panayot Haroun from the Department of Archaeology and Museology at the University of Balamand, Lebanon. Due to the assistance of a local hobby archaeologist, Dip

Ardales

Ardales Cave (Málaga, Spain) is a prehistoric site near the village Ardales. The cave has two floors and is approximately 1,5 km long. One of the first caves open for tourism, it is known since the first half of the 19th century. During the Neolithic peri

At (Vrsac)

Archeological section & fluvial archive

Attenfeld

Investigation campaign Bavaria May 2015. Joint fieldtrip of archaeology and geoscience. Attenfeld is a loess-paleosol-sequence of the last two glacial cycles.

Baskinta

Baskinta is a Late Middle Palaeolithic site in Mount Lebanon that illustrates particular techno-typological configurations rarely addressed in the literature. The lithic material of this surface site displays a genuine coexistence of Levallois and volumet

Bezez Cave, Adloun

Beze Cave is a multilayered Palaeolithic sites with deposits stretching from Lower to Upper Palaeolithic. The site was excavated in the 1960s by Dorothy Garrod & Diana Kirkbride. The lithic material was published by Lorraine Copeland (Roe 1983). In 2011

Birkat Ram

One sediment core was investigated: a ca. 11 m composite profile covering a time period of approximate 30 000 y. cal BP

Bisare River

Influenced by natural conditions and anthropogenic impacts, periodical runoff and actively eroding river valleys lead to gully erosion and badland development within the southwest Ethiopian Highlands. Widespread degraded areas within Bisare River source a

Blazi Cave

Blazi is a karstic cave in an Early Cretaceous limestone formation located above the Val river valley in northern Albania. The south-west orientated cave entrance is situated about 270 m above mean sea level. The site holds an impressive Neolithic and

Bodrogkeresztúr

Loess-Paleosol Sequence

Chew Bahir

Chew Bahir is a playa lake in S Ethiopia. Lake Chew Bahir (Amharic: ጨው ባሕር č̣ew bāhir, "salty lake") or Lake Istifanos, also called Stefanie, Basso Naebor and Chuwaha, is a lake in southern Ethiopia, located on the southwestern end of the Southern Nati

Crvenka-At

Between 2014 and 2015, the Universities of Cologne and Belgrade, and the Vršac Museum, conducted small-scale excavations at the site of At in Vršac, north-western Serbia (Figure 1). Part of the larger site-complex of Crvenka-At, the site of At is the cl

Cueva Antón

Cueva Antón is a Palaeolithic rockshelter, which since 2006, has been re-investigated by an international interdisciplinary team directed by João Zilhão, University of Barcelone. Several excavation campaigns have documented both layers with dispersed arte

Cueva Arbreda

Cueva Arbreda is a palaeolithic site, which holds a long sediment sequence with Mousterian, Aurignacian, Gravettian and Solutrean levels. In the course of excavations directed by Joaquim and Narcis Soler, the C1 project conducted a geochemical, sedimentol

Dead Sea

Analyzed sediment cores from Dead Sea originated from two drilling sites: 1. Ein Gedi (21 m, 10,000 years BP) and 2. northern basin, site 5017-1 (455 m, ca. 220,000 years BP).

Dehner Maar and Jungferweiher

Two cores (~70,000 and 120,000 years BP) have been recovered from the Dehner Maar and from the Junferweiher. The Dehner Maar had a diameter of 950 m and is located 565 m above sea level on the top of a hill. The Jungferweiher has a diameter of about 1550

Dendi Lakes

Mount Dendi within the central Ethiopian Highlands constitues an excellent research site for investigations on human adaptation to environmental changes during the Late Pleistocene. Archaeological sites from all Stone Age periods were found on the caldera

Ekoka, Ohangwena region, Namibia

Anthropological research fieldsite for work done on the effect of sedentarisation on folk knowledge practices and subsistence in 2014-15. Community of around 300 people of !Xun, =Akhwe Hai||om and Kwanyama ethnicity in a semi-segregated environment, mix o

Frankenbach

Investigation campaign Kraichgau March 2015. The loess-paleosol-sequence Frankenbach covers at least the last two glacial cycles.

Garzweiler

Field campaigns Oktober 2014 and May 2015. Two loess-paleosol-sequences covering the last glacial cycle. Specialty here are the abundant archeological findings within the paleosol horizons.

Hassi Berkane

Hassi Berkane (“Wellspring Berkane”) is an Iberomarusian site in the Nador Province in Northeastern Morocco. The rockshelter is located directly at a wellspring giving the site and the nearby town its name. A thick midden layer is visible underneath the r

Hecklingen

Northern Harz Foreland field campaign July 2014. The loess-paleosol-sequence Hecklingen covering the Last Glacial. Around 10 m of mainly aeolian sediments with intercalated paleosols going back up to MIS 4 are preserved here.

Ifri El Baroud

Ifri El Baroud ("Gunpowder cave") is located at ca. 535 m above mean sea level in the Ich Chaboun mountain range (NE Morocco, Oriental), overlooking the Guerouaou plane. Major excavations were undertaken in 1995 and 1996 by a team of the Institut Nationa

Ifri N’Ammar

The rockshelter Ifri N’Ammar, located 470 m above sea level in the Rif Oriental, is among the few archaeological sites in Morocco providing both Middle and Upper Palaeolithic (Iberomaurusian) layers (Kehl et al., 2014). A section of almost 7 m was excav

Ifri Oudadane

The coastal site of Ifri Oudadane, NE Morocco, is situated west of the Melilla Peninsula and 5 km to the east of the Oued Kert River mouth. It provides a stratigraphy featuring the transition from Epipalaeolithic hunter-gatherers to Neolithic food produce

Ifri n'Etsedda

The rock shelter of Ifri n'Etsedda is located at the southern flank of the Kebdana Mountains, NE Morocco, at an altitude of around 300 m a.s.l. Twenty-one radiocarbon ages attest an occupation of the shelter between 10.0 and 6.0 ka cal BP. Comb decorated

Jarama VI

Previous geochronological and archaeological studies at the rock shelter of Jarama VI suggested a late survival of Neanderthals in central Iberia and the presence of lithic assemblages of Early Upper Paleolithic affinity. We revisited the site in coopera

Kanali (rockshelter)

The flat Holocene floodplain at Vlora Bay on the central Albanian coast is bordered on the south by a lower Cretaceous limestone ridge. Between 150 and 100 masl, the northern foothills of this southeast-northwest stretching ridge, Rreza e Kanali, bears se

Keputa Cave

Keputa is a karstic cave in an Early Cretaceous limestone formation that is located about 200 m north-west of Blazi Cave in the same ridge. The south-west oriented cave entrance is situated about 280 m above mean sea level. First systematic research was d

Ksar Akil

Ksar Akil is one of the key sites for the Upper Palaeolithic in the Levant. Between 2011-2013 Dirk Leder (B1 project) studied two collections from Initial Uppper Palaeolithic levels from Ksar Akil (levels XXV, XXII). The results were published in Dirk Led

La Güelga

In cooperation with Mario Menendez (UNED, Madrid) and his team, we conducted micromorphological investigations and dated bone from middle to Upper Palaeolithic levels at zone D of La Guelga, Asturias. Zone D includes a small cavity and an open-air site, e

Laguna Hondilla

Small endoreic basin which has been investigated within a Bachelor Thesis (Luisa Stenmans, 2013) in Aachen. Sedimentary cores have been studied by multi-proxy data acquisition (including geochemical and sediment-physical properties). The max. recovered co

Laguna Salada

Laguna de Salada is the biggest lake of the three small endorheic lakes in the Complejo endorheico del Puerto de Santa María. During the coring campaign in Sep. 2014, a 12 m long core was retrieved from this desiccated lake. The record covers the last 900

Laguna de Fuente de Piedra

Laguna de Fuente de Piedra, is a shallow saline lake (0.7 m mean depth). The basin has evolved by dissolution-induced subsidence in relation to the local lithology, which is mainly composed of evaporitic formations. As an endorheic basin with low water de

Laguna de Medina

Laguna de Medina is a small and shallow endorheic lake in southern Spain. During 2 coring campaigns in Sep. 2014 and Mar. 1015, a 25.7 long core from the centre of the lake was retrieved. The record covers the last 9.500 years and shows 3 dirfferent phase

Laguna de la Janda

The La Janda basin in southern Spain is a near-shore geo-bio-archive with a variable Quaternary depositional history. In fall 2016 about 170 m sedimentary cores have been recovered from the La Janda Basin and a maximum core length of more than 30 m has be

Laguna de la Paja

Small endoreic lake basin originating in dissolution-driven subsidence. During a coring campaign sediment cores have been recovered from the southern rim (maximum core length: 8 m) and multi-proxy analyses were executed within a Bachelor Thesis (Luisa Ste

Laguna de los Tollos

Large basin that is supposed to contain several tens of meters lacustrine deposits. But due to mining activities this archive has to be taken into account with great caution. During the coring campaign in 2013 a maximum sedimentary core of 5 M length has

Laguna del Pilón

Small endoreic basin hosting an ephemeral lake that has been studied within the frame of the drilling campaign in 2013. A max. 2 m-sedimentary core has been recovered from the margin with a percussion drilling device, but no significant lacustrine strata

Lake Banyoles

Lake Banyoles is a permanent lake and is build-up of several merged collapsed dolines, which host a fresh-water, through-flow setting. The main recharge occurs at the bottom of the lake by hydrothermal subbottom springs in a karstic aquifer, connected to

Lake Baringo

Lake Chamo

Lake Chamo (Amharic: Chamo Hayk) is a lake in the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' Region of southern Ethiopia. Located in the Main Ethiopian Rift, it is at an elevation of 1,110 meters. The lake is just to the south of Lake Abaya and the cit

Lake Iznik

Several sediment cores of different lengths were recovered from Lake Iznik. The longest composite profile comprises ca. 18 m and encompasses ca. 31,000 years BP. Lake Iznik is bordered in the south by the Iznik-Mekece branch of the North Anatolian fault z

Lake Prespa

Prespa is the name of two freshwater lakes in southeast Europe, shared by Albania, Greece, and the Republic of Macedonia. Of the total surface area, 176.3 km2 (68.07 sq mi) belongs to the Republic of Macedonia, 46.3 km2 (17.88 sq mi) to Albania and 36.4 k

Lake Van

Lake Van is located on the eastern Anatolian high plateau in a tectonically active area between the Afro-Arabian and the Eurasian Plates in eastern Turkey. Lake Van lies 1,649 metres above sea level and has a maximum depth of about 460 metres. Core:

Lake Yoa

Measuring rock-magnetic data and paleoenvironmental reconstruction. Lake Yoa is the most famous, and second largest of the Lakes of Ounianga, a series of Lakes in Borkou-Ennedi-Tibesti Region basin of northeastern Chad. It is located in the Ounianga Ke

Los Casares

Los Casares is a limestone cave located in the Upper Tagus River basin, in an elevated area (1050 m above sea level) of the southern Spanish plateau close to the Iberian System Range. The archaeological potential of Los Casares cave is known since the lat

Mazraat Kfardebiane

Mazraat Kfardebiane is a Late Middle Palaeolithic site in Mount Lebanon that illustrates particular techno-typological configurations rarely addressed in the literature. The lithic material of this surface site displays a genuine coexistence of Levallois

Michmiche Gouffre

Michmiche Gouffre is a Late Middle Palaeolithic site in Mount Lebanon that illustrates particular techno-typological configurations rarely addressed in the literature. The lithic material of this surface site displays a genuine coexistence of Levallois an

Mochena Borago

Mochena Borago Rockshelter in southwest Ethiopia provides one of the most important archaeological sites for investigations on human adaptions and environmental changes during MIS3 and MIS1 in East Africa. Excavations started in 1996 by a French team led

Mohoş crater

Mohoş crater (46°08'N, 025°54'E) is located within the Ciomadul volcano complex in the Eastern Carpathians (Romania). The crater is in-filled with lacustrine sediments that are overlain by a Holocene bog. Ciomadul volcano, hosting the superimposed craters

Nakheil Cave

Nakheil Cave is located in the limestone hogback of Gebel Duwi (Central Eastern Desert). The cave has an approximately size of at least 120m length with heights up to 12-15m.

Neziri Cave

Neziri is a karstic cave in an Early Cretaceous limestone formation that is located about 1 km north-west of Blazi Cave on a higher karstic level. The south oriented cave entrance is situated about 355 m above mean sea level. The front gallery behind the

Peña Cabra

Peña Cabra is a northwest-oriented limestone rock shelter located in the Sorbe River Valley (Upper Tagus River basin), close to the southeastern foothills of the Central System Range (Guadalajara, Central Spain). It hosts a multi-layered fluvial deposit s

Peña Capón

Peña Capón is a north-west oriented limestone rock shelter located in the Sorbe River Valley (Upper Tagus River basin), close to the southeastern foothills of the Central System Range (Guadalajara, Central Spain). It hosts an important Upper Paleolithic s

Rasova Loess-Paleosol Sequence

The stratigraphic profile at Rasova - Valea cu Pietre, is located northeast of the village of Rasova in southern Dobrogea (Romania) and contains ~ 7m of loess deposits. It is located in a dry valley ca. 150 m east of the Danube and lies on the western edg

Ringen Profiles

Field campaign March 2016. Several profiles of loess-paleosol-sequence preserved here covering the last glacial cycle. Specialty here is a paleo-moor present at several places here.

Romont Profiles

Field campaigns February, May and September 2014 and April and May 2015. Several loess-paleosol-profiles investigated here, which consist of mainly aeolian sediments reaching back to the Saalian Glacial

Româneşti-Dumbrăviţa I

The site of Româneşti-Dumbrăviţa I (Timiș County, Romania) is situated in the Bega River Valley, about 100 km east of Timișoara (Romania), at the confluence of the Bega Luncanilor (Bega Mare) and Bega Poieni (Bega Mică) rivers where they exit the Western

Saqia Cave

Saqia Cave is located around 11 km northwest of Sodmein Cave in the same limestone ridge of Djebel Duwi. The cave is subject of the geoarchaeological research of the CRC 806. Of special interest is the dating of speleothems (flowstone under investigation)

Sea of Galilee (Lake Kinneret)

Two sediment cores were investigated: 1) a ca. 18 m composite profile (Holocene) and 2) a ca. 9 m profile (Last Glacial).

Seňa I (Hornad Valley)

In July of 2016, the Institute of Archaeology of the Academy of Sciences of the Slovak Republic and the University of Cologne conducted a small-scale excavation of the site of Seňa I in the Southern Slovakia. The site of Seňa I is located in the Norther

Shën Mitri

Shën Mitri is an open air site that is located on a plain with thick colluvial sediment layers south-east from the antique site of Butrint. Excavation took place along the eastern slope of Shën Mitri hill. The inventory of Trench D shows Bronze Age, Neoli

Sima de las Palomas de Teba

Sima de Las Palomas de Teba lies in the karstic complex of the Peñarrubia mountain zone in Guadalteba county near the town Teba (Málaga, Spain). Sima means hole and the site consists of a 8m deep hole next to a limestone wall which was illegally dug in th

Sodmein Cave

Sodmein Cave is situated in the isolated Tertiary limestone complex of Djebel Duwi (Red Sea Mountains), which runs nearly parallel to the Red Sea graben structure. The cave is located on the northern flank of the breakthrough of Wadi Sodmein through Djebe

Sodmein Playa

During surveying activities of wadi terraces a new archaeological site “Sodmein Playa” 14/01 was discovered around 3 km south-west of Sodmein Cave. Sodmein Playa is located behind a linear terrace remnant, which is elevated up to 2 m above the present wad

Stalac LPS

Loess-Paleosol Sequence. The section is located in the interior of the Central Balkan region, south of the typical loess distribution. It contains several well-developed paleosol and loess layers, a crypto tephra and one visible tephra layer.

Szeleta Cave

Szeleta Cave is situated in northeastern Hungary in the Bükk Mountains formed in the limestone escarpment of the Szinva Valley at 345 m.a.s.l. and 100 m above the village Felsö-Hámor. The cave is 60 m long and opens to the south. The present-day entrance

Ságvár

Loess-Paleosol Sequence next to former archeological excavation. Contains two Gravettian occupation layers.

Talheim Profiles

Investigation campaign Kraichgau March 2015. The loess-paleosol-sequence Talheim covers at least the last two glacial cycles. There is evidence that the sequence is a plateau position.

Tincova Selişte I

The archaeological site of Tincova is situated on the western edge of the Poiana Ruscă mountains on a wide terrace structure southeast of the village of Tincova (Caraș-Severin, Romania). The Paleolithic settlement of Tincova is composed of two distinct ar

Urluia Loess-Palaeosol Sequence

Loess-Paleosol Sequence in the Lower Danube Basin in eastern Romania. 16 m of loess were sampled in 2014. Sampling continued in 2015. Samples magnetism, geochemistry, grain-size, color measurements and luminescence dating were taken and are analyzed in c

Val Poré

Upland dry stone structures related to alpine pastoralism starting in the late Pre-History. The excavations of the dry stone structures are lead by the Alpine Landscapes: Pastoralism and Environment of Val di Sole (ALPES) project. The F2 project in CRC806

Wadi Sabra

Since 2009, a multi-disciplinary research team from Cologne and Aachen carried out annual field campaigns in Wadi Sabra, south of the former Nabatean capital of Petra. They documented long sediment records, mostly consisting of fluvial and aeolian sand de

Wadi Sodmein Terraces

Numerous well-preserved surface remnants (wadi terraces) can be documented and analysed in the direct surrounding of Sodmein Cava / Sodmein Playa. One focus of research is directed to the strongly developed desert pavement formation and MSA artefact conce

Yabrud rock shelter

Yabrud is one of the earliest excavated sites in Syria. First excavations were conducted between 1930-33 by Alfred Rust and later by Ralph Solecki in the 1960s (Rust 1950; Solecki & Solecki 1986, 1995). The site consists of three rock shelters named Schut

Zafarraya Polje

The Zafarraya Polje is a large endorheic basin a couple of km to the north of the well-known palaeolithic site of Boquete de Zafarraya. The CRC806 did exploratory investigations in the Zafarraya Polje searching for suitable sediment archives which may elu

Zilly Profile

Northern Harz Foreland field campaign July 2014. Loess-Paleosol-Sequence of the Last Glacial. The sequence covers the last phase of high aeolian sediment accumulation in MIS 2 with evidence to reach back into the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). The sequence

|Gomais (Farm Six), Oshikoto region, Namibia

Anthropological research fieldsite for work done on the effect of sedentarisation on folk knowledge practices and subsistence in 2014-15. Farm run by parastatal Namibia Development Corporation (NBC) as employment and sedentarisation aid for =Akhwe Hai||om