• since 01/2024 Scientific Associate at the Institute of Geological Sciences (Paleontology Section), FU Berlin
• 08/2022–12/2023 Scientific Associate at the Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology (Domestication and Anthropogenic Evolution Independent Research Group), Jena
• 11/2021–08/2022 [CL1] Visiting Associate Professor at the Institute for Space-Earth Environmental Research, Nagoya University, Japan (Gerda Henkel Foundation Research Scholarship 05/F/21)
• 09/2014–03/2015 Scientific Assitant at the German Archaeological Institute (DAI), Berlin
• 03/2014–08/2014 Freelance work for the Institute of Geological Sciences (Paleontology), FU Berlin (Grant from the Research Committee and the Department of Earth Sciences of the FU Berlin for the promotion of young scientists)
• 11/2013–02/2014 Freelance work for the German Archaeological Institute (DAI), Berlin
• 06/2014 Defence of doctoral thesis ("Insights into late Quaternary vegetation and climate dynamics in Monsoon Asia obtained from numerical pollen-based reconstructions")

• 11/2010–11/2013 Doctoral student at the Institute of Geological Sciences, Palaeontology, FU Berlin

• 06/2007–12/2007 Thesis in Palaeoenvironmental studies: “Tracking human impact on Lake Ellesmere (Te Waihora) using Pollen and Chironomidae (Diptera)” during a term abroad at the University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand

• 04/2007–06/2007 Intern in a Marsden Grant-funded research project at the Department of Geology, University of Auckland, New Zealand

• 03/2006–06/2006 Student Assistant at the Department of Geology, University of Auckland, New Zealand

• 10/2001–08/2009 Study of Geography at the Institute of Geography, Humboldt Universität zu Berlin

• SS 2016: "Micropalaeontology and biostratigraphy" (lecture and seminar, 2 SWS, together with Prof. P.E. Tarasov)
• WS 2016/17: "Applied Palynology" (lecture and seminar, 4 SWS, together with Prof. P.E. Tarasov)
• WS 2016/17: "Human environment interactions" (lecture and seminar, 4 SWS, together with Prof. P.E. Tarasov)
• WS 2016/17: "Coring and subsampling peatlands for palaeoenvironmental analyses" (excursion)

My main research focus is on

• past climate and vegetation reconstruction in Monsoonal Asia using numerical approaches based on modern and fossil pollen assemblages;

• understanding the mechanisms of spatio-temporal variabilities of the Asian monsoon system during the late Quaternary; and

• investigating the relationships between post-glacial climate, environmental variations and early human societies in South and East Asia.
  
  

• High-resolution analyses of annually laminated sediments of Lake Shira to reconstruct Holocene environmental variability and its relation to natural climate drivers and human occupation in northern Inner Asia (DFG Research Grant)

• DFG Research grant (Temporary position for principal investigator) LE 3508/1-1
  Project title: “Postglacial climate variability at the northern limit of the East Asian monsoon and its impact on environments and humans in the Hokkaido region, northern Japan”
• Research Assistant in the project “Jomon Culture on Hokkaido” at the Eurasia Department of the German Archaeological Institute (DAI) Berlin in cooperation with the Institute of Geological Sciences (FU Berlin).

• Research Assistant in the DFG-funded Research Unit FOR 1380: “Himalaya: Modern and Past Climates (HIMPAC)” at the Institute of Geological Sciences (FU Berlin).

• Leipe, C.*, Lu, J.-C., Chi, K.-A., 2023. Population dynamics in Taiwan from the Neolithic to early historic periods (5000–100 cal BP): Linking cultural developments and environmental change. Archaeological Research in Asia 36, 100482.
  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ara.2023.100482
• Wertmann, P.*, Yibulayinmu, M., Wagner, M., Taylor, C., Müller, S., Xu, D., Elkina, I., Leipe, C., Deng, Y., Tarasov, P.E., 2023. The earliest directly dated saddle for horse-riding from a mid-1st millennium BCE female burial in Northwest China. Archaeological Research in Asia 35, 100451. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ara.2023.100451
• Schubert, A.*, Lauterbach, S., Leipe, C., Brauer, A., Tarasov, P.E.*, 2023. Visible or not? Reflection of the 8.2 ka BP event and the Greenlandian–Northgrippian boundary in a new high-resolution pollen record from the varved sediments of Lake Mondsee, Austria. Quaternary Science Reviews 308, 108073. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2023.108073
• Dal Martello, R.*, von Baeyer, M.*, Hudson, M., Bjorn, R.G.; Leipe, C., Zach, B., Mir-Makhamad, B., Billings, T.N., Muñoz Fernández, I.M., Huber, B., Boxleitner, K., Lu, J.-C., Chi, K.-A., Liu, H.-L., Kistler, L., Spengler, R.N., 2023. The Domestication and Dispersal of Large-Fruiting Prunus spp.: A Metadata Analysis of Archaeobotanical Material. Agronomy 13, 1027.
  https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy13041027
• Leipe, C.*, Lu, J.-C., Chi, K.-A., Lee, S.-M., Yang, H.-C., Wagner, M., 2023. Archaeobotanical evidence of plant cultivation from the Sanbaopi site in south-western Taiwan during the Late Neolithic and Metal Age. The Holocene 33(2), 131–146.
  https://doi.org/10.1177/09596836221131689
• Kobe, F., Leipe, C., Shchetnikov, A.A., Hoelzmann, P., Gliwa, J., Olschewski, P., Goslar, T., Wagner, M., Bezrukova, E.V., Tarasov, P.E.*, 2022. Not herbs and forbs alone: Pollen-based evidence for the presence of boreal trees and shrubs in Cis-Baikal (Eastern Siberia) derived from the Last Glacial Maximum sediment of Lake Ochaul. Journal of Quaternary Science 37(5) 868–883.
  https://doi.org/10.1002/jqs.3290
• Spate, M.*, Leipe, C., Motuzaite Matuzeviciute, G., 2022. Reviewing the palaeoenvironmental record to better understand long-term human-environment interaction in Inner Asia during the Late Holocene. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution 10.
  https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2022.939374
• Leipe, C.*, Müller, S., Hille, K., Kato, H., Kobe, F., Schmidt, M., Seyffert, K., Spengler III, R., Wagner, M., Weber, A.W., Tarasov, P.E.*, 2018. Vegetation change and human impacts on Rebun Island (Northwest Pacific) over the last 6000 years. Quaternary Science Reviews 193, 129-144. DOI:10.1016/j.quascirev.2018.06.011
• Long, T.*, Leipe, C., Jin, G., Wagner, M., Guo, R., Schröder, O., Tarasov, P.E., 2018. The early history of wheat in China from 14C dating and Bayesian chronological modelling. Nature Plants 4, 272-279.
  doi:10.1038/s41477-018-0141-x
• Tarasov, P.E.*, Savelieva, L.A., Long, T., Leipe, C. Postglacial vegetation and climate history and traces of early human impact and agriculture in the present-day cool mixed forest zone of European Russia. Quaternary International.
  doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2018.02.029
• Leipe, C.*, Kobe, F., Müller, S. Testing the performance of sodium polytungstate and lithium heteropolytungstate as non-toxic dense media for pollen extraction from lake and peat sediment samples. Quaternary International.
  doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2018.01.029.
• Zhao, L., Ma, M.*, Leipe, C., Long, T., Liu, K., Lu, H., Tang, L., Zhang, Y., Tarasov, P.E., 2017. Holocene vegetation dynamics in response to climate change and human activities derived from pollen and charcoal records from southeastern China. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 485, 644–660. doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2017.06.035
• Leipe, C.*, Sergusheva, E.A., Müller, S., Spengler III, R.N., Goslar, T., Kato, H., Wagner, M., Weber, A.W., Tarasov, P.E., 2017. Barley (Hordeum vulgare) in the Okhotsk culture (5th–10th century AD) of northern Japan and the role of cultivated plants in hunter-gatherer economies. PLOS One. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0174397
• Long, T.*, Wagner, M., Demske, D., Leipe, C., Tarasov, P.E., 2016. Cannabis in Eurasia: origin of human use and Bronze Age trans-continental connections. Vegetation History and Archaeobotany 26(2) 245–258. 
  doi:10.1007/s00334-016-0579-6
• Demske, D.,Tarasov, P.E.*, Leipe, C., Kotlia, B.S., Lalit, M.J., Long, T., 2016. Record of vegetation, climate change, human impact and retting of hemp in Garhwal Himalaya (India) during the past 4600 years. The Holocene 26(10), 1661–1675. 
  doi:10.1177/0959683616650267
• Müller, S., Schmidt, M., Kossler, A., Leipe, C., Irino, T., Yamamoto, M., Yonenobu, H., Goslar, T., Kato, H., Wagner, M., Weber, A.W., Tarasov, P.E.*, 2016. Palaeobotanical records from Rebun Island and their potential for improving the chronological control and understanding human–environment interactions in the Hokkaido Region, Japan. The Holocene 26(10), 1646–1660. 
  doi:10.1177/0959683616641738
• Abe, C., Leipe, C.*, Tarasov, P.E., Müller, S., Wagner, M., 2016. Spatio-temporal distribution of hunter–gatherer archaeological sites in the Hokkaido region (northern Japan): An overview. The Holocene 26(10), 1627–1645. 
  doi:10.1177/0959683616641745
• Hosner, D., Wagner, M.*, Tarasov, P.E., Chen, X., Leipe, C., 2016. Spatiotemporal distribution patterns of archaeological sites in China during the Neolithic and Bronze Age: An overview. The Holocene 26(10), 1576–1593. 
  doi:10.1177/0959683616641743
• Schmidt, M.*, Tarasov, P.E., Hoelzmann, P., Meyer, H., Leipe, C., 2016. Diatoms from Lake Kushu: A pilot study to test the potential of a Late Quaternary palaeoenvironmental archive from Rebun Island (Hokkaido Region, Japan). Journal of Asian Earth Sciences 122, 106–122. 
  http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jseaes.2016.03.005
• Leipe, C.*, Nakagawa, T., Gotanda, K., Müller, S., Tarasov, P.E., 2015. Late Quaternary vegetation and climate dynamics at the northern limit of the East Asian summer monsoon and its regional and global-scale controls. Quaternary Science Reviews 116, 57–71.
  doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2015.03.012
• Taft, L.*, Mischke, S., Wiechert, U., Leipe, C., Rajabov, I., Riedel, F., 2014. Oxygen and carbon isotope ratios in Radix (Gastropoda) shells indicate changes of glacial melt-water flux and temperature since 4,200 cal yr BP at Lake Karakul, eastern Pamirs (Tajikistan). Journal of Paleolimnology 52(1–2), 27–41.
  doi:10.1007/s10933-014-9776-4
• Riedel, F.*, Henderson, A.C.G., Heußner, K.-U., Kaufmann, G., Kossler, A., Leipe, C., Shemang, E., Taft, L., 2014. Dynamics of a Kalahari long-lived mega-lake system: hydromorphological and limnological changes in the Makgadikgadi Basin (Botswana) during the terminal 50 ka. Hydrobiologia 739(1), 25–53.
  doi:10.1007/s10750-013-1647-x
• Leipe, C.*, Demske, D., Tarasov, P.E., Wünnemann, B., Riedel, F., HIMPAC Project Members, 2014. Potential of pollen and non-pollen palynomorph records from Tso Moriri (Trans-Himalaya, NW India) for reconstructing Holocene limnology and human–environmental interactions. Quaternary International 348, 113–129.
  doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2014.02.026
• Leipe, C.*, Demske, D., Tarasov, P.E., HIMPAC Project Members, 2014. A Holocene pollen record from the northwestern Himalayan lake Tso Moriri: Implications for palaeoclimatic and archaeological research. Quaternary International 348, 93–112.
  doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2013.05.005
• Tarasov, P.E.*, Andreev, A.A., Anderson, P.M., Lozhkin, A.V., Leipe, C., Haltia, E., Nowaczyk, N.R., Wennrich, V., Brigham-Grette, J., Melles, M., 2013. A pollen-based biome reconstruction over the last 3.562 million years in the Far East Russian Arctic – new insights into climate-vegetation relationships at the regional scale. Climate of the Past 9(6), 2759–2775.
  doi:10.5194/cp-9-2759-2013
• Leipe, C.*, Kito, N., Sakaguchi, Y., Tarasov, P.E., 2013. Vegetation and climate history of northern Japan inferred from the 5500-year pollen record from the Oshima Peninsula, SW Hokkaido. Quaternary International 290–291, 151–163.
  doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2012.07.014
• Tarasov, P.E.*, Müller, S., Zech, M., Andreeva, D., Diekmann, D., Leipe, C., 2013. Last glacial vegetation reconstructions in the extreme-continental eastern Asia: Potentials of pollen and n-alkane biomarker analyses. Quaternary International 290–291, 253–263.
  doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2012.04.007
• Wagner, M.*, Tarasov, P., Hosner, D., Fleck, A., Ehrich, R., Chen, X., Leipe, C., 2013. Mapping of the spatial and temporal distribution of archaeological sites of northern China during the Neolithic and Bronze Age. Quaternary International 290–291, 344–357.
  doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2012.06.039

* Corresponding author

• Leipe, C., Abe, C., Müller S., Kato, H., Wagner, M., Weber, A.W., Tarasov, P.E., 2017. Postglacial environmental change and prehistoric hunter-fisher-gatherer habitations in the Hokkaido region (northern Japan) inferred from pollen data and archaeological site distribution. Poster at the JpGU-AGU Joint Meeting, 20–24 May, Chiba, Japan.

• Leipe, C., Sergusheva, E.A., Müller, S., Spengler III, R.N., Goslar, T., Kato, H., Wagner, M., Weber, A.W., Tarasov, P.E., 2017. The spread of barley (Hordeum vulgare) into northern Japan and its role in the hunter-gatherer economy of the Hokkaido Okhotsk culture (5th–10th century AD). Talk at the III International Congress of Medieval Archaeology of the Eurasian steppes "Between East and West: the movement of cultures, technologies and empires", 02–07 May, Vladivostok, Russia.

  Leipe, C., Demske, D., Tarasov, P.E., 2015. New insights into the Holocene Asian summer monsoon dynamics and the evolution of the Indus Civilisation based on a pollen record from the high-alpine lake Tso Moriri (NW Himalayas). Talk at the XIX INQUA Congress, 26 Jul–02 Aug 2015, Nagoya, Japan.

• Leipe, C., Demske, D., Tarasov, P.E., Wünnemann, B., Riedel, F. and HIMPAC-Members, 2015. New Evidence for Climate Influence on the Evolution of the Harappan Civilisation from Palynological Records from the high-alpine Lake Tso Moriri (NW Himalayas). Talk at the conference "The Introduction and Intensification of Agriculture in Central Eurasia: The Exception to the Rule or the Exception That Proves the Rule?", 19–22 Mar 2015, Berlin, Germany.

• Leipe, C., Kito, N., Nakagawa, T., Tarasov, P.E., 2011. Surface pollen spectra from monsoonal Asia and its application for quantitative reconstruction of Holocene vegetation and climate. Talk at the “Bridging Eurasia” 3rd International Workshop, Berlin, Germany.

• Leipe, C., Demske, D., Tarasov, P.E., Kleinen, T., Brovkin, V., Zheng, Z., Wünnemann, B., Riedel, F., 2011. Late Quaternary changes in vegetation, Indian monsoon and westerly circulation derived from pollen data from the Himalayan Lake Tso Kar, NW India: An attempt of quantitative reconstruction and comparison with model simulation results. Poster presentation at the EGU General Assembly, Vienna, Austria.
  
  

• Leipe, C., 2014. Insights into late Quaternary vegetation and climate dynamics in Monsoon Asia obtained from numerical pollen-based reconstructions. Doctoral Thesis, Freie Universität Berlin, 191 pp.

  The thesis is available as a PDF document for downloading. Click on the title or go to FU Dissertations Online.

• Teaching material for schools on East Asian archaeology (in German) published by the German Archaeological Institute (DAI), PDF documents can be downloaded from the Bridging Eurasia website or by clicking on the following links:
  
  Chinesische Mauer (Great Wall of China)

  - Chinas Große Mauer – Einführung

  - Chinas Große Mauer – Schülerheft

  - Chinas Große Mauer – Lehrerheft
  
  Seidenstraßen (Silk Roads)

  - Die Seidenstraßen – Schülerheft

  - Die Seidenstraßen – Lehrerheft

§Kobe, F., Leipe, C., Shchetnikov, A.A., Hoelzmann, P., Gliwa, J., Olschewski, P., Goslar, T., Wagner, M., Bezrukova, E.V., Tarasov, P.E.*, 2022. Not herbs and forbs alone: Pollen-based evidence for the presence of boreal trees and shrubs in Cis-Baikal (Eastern Siberia) derived from the Last Glacial Maximum sediment of Lake Ochaul. Journal of Quaternary Science 37(5) 868–883. https://doi.org/10.1002/jqs.3290

§Spate, M.*, Leipe, C., Motuzaite Matuzeviciute, G., 2022. Reviewing the palaeoenvironmental record to better understand long-term human-environment interaction in Inner Asia during the Late Holocene. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution 10. https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2022.939374

§Leipe, C.*, Müller, S., Hille, K., Kato, H., Kobe, F., Schmidt, M., Seyffert, K., Spengler III, R., Wagner, M., Weber, A.W., Tarasov, P.E.*, 2018. Vegetation change and human impacts on Rebun Island (Northwest Pacific) over the last 6000 years. Quaternary Science Reviews 193, 129-144. DOI:10.1016/j.quascirev.2018.06.011

§Long, T.*, Leipe, C., Jin, G., Wagner, M., Guo, R., Schröder, O., Tarasov, P.E., 2018. The early history of wheat in China from ¹⁴C dating and Bayesian chronological modelling. Nature Plants 4, 272-279. doi:10.1038/s41477-018-0141-x

§Tarasov, P.E.*,  Savelieva, L.A., Long, T., Leipe, C. Postglacial vegetation and climate history and traces of early human impact and agriculture in the present-day cool mixed forest zone of European Russia. Quaternary International (in press). doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2018.02.029

§Leipe, C.*, Kobe, F., Müller, S. Testing the performance of sodium polytungstate and lithium heteropolytungstate as non-toxic dense media for pollen extraction from lake and peat sediment samples. Quaternary International (in press). doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2018.01.029.

§Zhao, L., Ma, M.*, Leipe, C., Long, T., Liu, K., Lu, H., Tang, L., Zhang, Y., Tarasov, P.E., 2017. Holocene vegetation dynamics in response to climate change and human activities derived from pollen and charcoal records from southeastern China. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 485, 644–660. doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2017.06.035