Department of Human Evolution
Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
Deutscher Platz 6
04103 Leipzig
phone: +49 (341) 3550 - 350
fax: +49 (0341) 3550 - 399
e-mail: streiber@[>>> Please remove the brackets! <<<]eva.mpg.de
Marcel Weiß

Postdoctoral Researcher
Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
Department of Human Evolution
Deutscher Platz 6
04103 Leipzig
Germany
phone: 0049 (0) 341 3550 379
fax: 0049 (0) 341 3550 399
e-mail: marcel_weiss@[>>> Please remove the brackets! <<<]eva.mpg.de
Research Interests
I am a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Human Evolution at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. My research topics include the development, evaluation and application of statistical methods for stone artifact analysis, the analysis of Lower Paleolithic, Early Middle Paleolithic and late Middle Paleolithic assemblages of the European Plain, as well as the Middle to Upper Paleolithic transition in central Europe.
In my PhD thesis, I analyzed late Middle Paleolithic open-air assemblages from the northern and central European Plain. I incorporated stone artifact assemblages from Germany, Poland, and western Russia. The multivariate analysis of these flake assemblages together with a subsequent evaluation of the results based on the analysis of general assemblage characteristics led to the conclusion that these assemblages cannot readily be broken down into typo-technological entities defined in the past.
Furthermore, using a combination of 3D geometric morphometrics and attribute based multivariate analysis, I was able to show that the concept of late Middle Paleolithic bifacial backed knives - or Keilmesser - is not restricted to only bifacial tools. Instead, this tool concept is also applied to simple edge retouched and unifacially shaped tools.
The methods developed during my PhD will now be enhanced, refined, and applied to additional late Middle Paleolithic as well as Middle to Upper Paleolithic transitional assemblages.
In addition to lithic analysis, I work on two main field projects. Through fieldwork at the late Middle Paleolithic open-air site Lichtenberg, Lower Saxony, our team investigates how Neanderthals adapted to climatic shifts at the northern border of their habitat during the last glacial period. The fieldwork at the Middle to Upper transitional cave site Ilsenhöhle Ranis, Thuringia, investigates the chronology, climatic conditions, and the makers of the transitional stone artefact assemblages in central Europe.
I am involved in the following research projects:
- The Middle to Upper Paleolithic transition in central Germany: New excavations at the transitional site Ilsenhöhle Ranis, Thuringia.
- Neanderthals in northern central Europe: The field project of the late Middle Paleolithic site Lichtenberg, Lower Saxony.
- Middle- and Upper Pleistocene landscape evolution and early human dispersal in central Germany – Chronological investigations on Saalian- and Elsterian sediment archives in the type region.
Curriculum vitae
Current Position
2019 | Postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Human Evolution at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology |
Education
2014-2019 | PhD student (IMPRS) in the Department of Human Evolution at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology and Leiden University, the Netherlands Prof. Dr. Jean-Jacques Hublin, Dr. Shannon P. McPherron Topic: Beyond the cave: Stone artifact analysis of late Middle Paleolithic open-air assemblages from the European Plain |
2012-2014 | PhD student at the Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena (Germany), Prof. Dr. Clemens Pasda, Topic: Late Middle Paleolithic in Central Germany |
2009-2012 | M.A. Pre-Historic Archaeology and Archaeology from the Middle Ages to Modern Times, Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg (Germany) Master Thesis: Eemian assemblages of Central Germany - morphology and function of notched pieces and denticulates. With special regard to the sites of Rabutz and Taubach. |
2006-2009 | B.A. European Archaeology / Social Anthropology, Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg (Germany) Bachelor Thesis: The Magdalenian horse engravings of Saaleck in their European context. |
Professional Experience
2014 | Employed as an archaeologist in the State Office for Heritage Management and Archaeology Saxony-Anhalt (Germany) for the Project: Performing clean up & remediation works after flood damages caused by the Saale flooding in 2013 at the central archaeological depot of the State Museum of Prehistory in Halle (Saale) |
Internships
2012-2014 | Internship in the State Office for Heritage Management and Archaeology Saxony-Anhalt (Germany) |
2009-2012 | Internship in the Paleolithic-Mesolithic collection of the State Museum of Prehistory Halle (Saale), Germany |
Field Experiences
2009, 2010 | Excavation at the Aurignacian open-air site of Breitenbach (Germany), Upper Paleolithic |
2008 | Field school at the Eemian lake site of Neumark-Nord (Germany), Middle Paleolithic |
2007 | Field school at Schloss Goseck (Germany), Middle Ages |
Current Field Projects
2016- | Co-director together with Jean-Jacques Hublin, Shannon P. McPherron and Tim Schüler of the field project of Ranis (Germany) and site director of the excavation |
2017- | Co-director and site director of the late Middle Paleolithic site Lichtenberg, Lower Saxony |
Memberships
- Archäologische Gesellschaft in Sachsen-Anhalt e.V.
- Hugo Obermaier-Society for Quaternary Research and Archaeology of the Stone Age
- Gesellschaft für Urgeschichte und Förderverein des Urgeschichtlichen Museums Blaubeuren e.V.
Publications
Articles
McPherron, S. P., Abdolahzadeh, A., Archer, W., Chan, A., Djakovic, I., Dogandzic, T., Leader, G. M., Li, L., Lin, S., Magnani, M., Reeves, J., Rezek, Z., & Weiss, M. (2020). Introducing platform surface interior angle (PSIA) and its role in flake formation, size and shape. PLoS One,15(11): e0241714. ![]() | |
Weiss, M. (2020). The Lichtenberg Keilmesser - it’s all about the angle. PLOS ONE,15: e0239718. ![]() | |
Hein, M., Weiss, M., Otcherednoy, A., & Lauer, T. (2020). Luminescence chronology of the key-Middle Paleolithic site Khotylevo I (Western Russia) - Implications for the timing of occupation, site formation and landscape evolution. Quaternary Science Advances,2: 100008. DOI BibTeX Endnote | |
Lauer, T., Weiss, M., Bernhardt, W., Heinrich, S., Rappsilber, I., Stahlschmidt, M. C., von Suchodoletz, H., & Wansa, S. (2020). The Middle Pleistocene fluvial sequence at Uichteritz, central Germany: Chronological framework, paleoenvironmental history and early human presence during MIS 11. Geomorphology,354: 107016. DOI BibTeX Endnote | |
Wiśniewski, A., Chłoń, M., Weiss, M., Pyżewicz, K., & Migal, W. (2020). On making of Micoquian bifacial backed tools at Pietraszyn 49a, SW Poland. Journal of Paleolithic Archaeology,3, 856-888. ![]() | |
Wiśniewski, A., Lauer, T., Chłoń, M., Pyżewicz, K., Weiss, M., Badura, J., Kalicki, T., & Zarzecka-Szubińska, K. (2019). Looking for provisioning places of shaped tools of the late Neanderthals: Astudy of a Micoquian open-air site, Pietraszyn 49a (southwestern Poland) = À la recherche des lieux d’approvisionnement en outils des derniers néandertaliens: étude d’un site micoquien de plein air, Pietraszyn 49a (Sud-Ouest de la Pologne). Comptes Rendus Palevol,18(3), 367-389. DOI BibTeX Endnote | |
Archer, W., Pop, C. M., Rezek, Z., Schlager, S., Lin, S. C., Weiss, M., Dogandžić, T., Desta, D., & McPherron, S. P. (2018). A geometric morphometric relationship predicts stone flake shape and size variability. Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences,10(8), 1991-2003. ![]() | |
Weiss, M., Lauer, T., Wimmer, R., & Pop, C. (2018). The variability of the Keilmesser-Concept: A case study from central Germany. Journal of Paleolithic Archaeology,1(3), 202-246. ![]() | |
Lauer, T., & Weiss, M. (2018). Timing of the Saalian- and Elsterian glacial cycles and the implications for Middle – Pleistocene hominin presence in central Europe. Scientific Reports,8: 5111. ![]() | |
Weiss, M., Otcherednoy, A., & Wiśniewski, A. (2017). Using multivariate techniques to assess the effects of raw material, flaking behavior and tool manufacture on assemblage variability: An example from the late Middle Paleolithic of the European Plain. Journal of Archaeological Science,87, 73-94. DOI BibTeX Endnote | |
Lin, S. C., Pop, C. M., Dibble, H. L., Archer, W., Desta, D., Weiss, M., & McPherron, S. P. (2016). A core reduction experiment finds no effect of original stone size and reduction intensity on flake debris size distribution. American Antiquity,81(3), 562-575. DOI BibTeX Endnote | |
Weiss, M. (2015). Stone tool analysis and context of a new late Middle Paleolithic site in western central Europe - Pouch-Terrassenpfeiler, Ldkr. Anhalt-Bitterfeld, Germany = Eine neue spätmittelpaläolithische Fundstelle im westlichen Mitteleuropa – Pouch-Terrassenpfeiler, Ldkr. Anhalt-Bitterfeld, Deutschland. Steinartefaktanalyse und mitteldeutscher Kontext. Quartär,62, 23-62. DOI BibTeX Endnote |
Book Chapters
Weiss, M., & Weber, T. (2019). Das Mittelpaläolithikum in Mitteldeutschland – Auswertung und Interpretation von Abschlaginventaren anhand multivariater Analysemethoden. In M. Baales, & C. Pasda ( BibTeX Endnote | |
Weiß, M. (2016). Eine neue magdalenienzeitliche Wildpferdgravierung aus Saaleck, Stadt Naumburg, Burgenlandkreis. In H. Meller ( BibTeX Endnote | |
Weiß, M. (2016). Morphologie und Funktion der gebuchteten und gezähnten Geräte der eemzeitlichen Fundstellen Rabutz (Sachsen) und Taubach (Thüringen). In H. Meller ( BibTeX Endnote | |
Weiß, M. (2013). Unsere Spuren sind ROT! In H. Meller, C.-H. Wunderlich, & F. Knoll ( BibTeX Endnote |
Meeting Abstracts
Archer, W. B. D. S., Schlager, S., Pop, C. M., Rezek, Z., Dogandzic, T., Desta, D. T., Weiss, M., Lin, S. C., & McPherron, S. P. (2017). Assessing the behavioural drivers of lithic flake variability through geometric morphometrics. In Proceedings of the European Society for the study of Human Evolution (PESHE) (5, pp. 34). ![]() | |
Lauer, T., Weiss, M., Degering, D., Krbetschek, M., Tinapp, C., & Wansa, S. (2017). Optical dating of the Saalian glacial cycle and the onset of the Middle Paleolithic in central Germany. In Proceedings of the European Society for the study of Human Evolution (PESHE) (6, pp. 111). ![]() |
Thesis
Weiss, M. (2019). Beyond the caves: Stone artifact analysis of late Middle Paleolithic open-air assemblages from the European Plain. PhD Thesis, Universiteit, Leiden. BibTeX Endnote |