Dr. Christian Leipe

After studying Geography at universities in Berlin and Christchurch (NZ), Christian completed his doctoral project at Free University Berlin in 2014. His dissertation titled “Insights into late Quaternary vegetation and climate dynamics in Monsoon Asia obtained from numerical pollen-based reconstructions” gained new insights into palaeoenvironments and archaeological cultures in India, Japan and the Russian Far East. Funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG), he conducted postdoctoral research at Free University Berlin (2014–2018). He has obtained mobility grants by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) to support his international research activities. As a recipient of a prestigious long-term DFG Research Fellowship for talented early career researchers and a Gerda Henkel Foundation scholarship, Christian spent four years (2018–2022) as a Visiting Associate Professor at Nagoya University.

Publications

Articles in peer-reviewed journals (only since 2014)

2024

Leipe, C., Kobe, F., Schubert, A., Endo, E., Yasui, M., Koshitsuka, H., Ono, M., Tarasov, P.E., Wagner, M., 2024. Human activities, early farming and natural environment in the north-western Kanto Plain (Central Japan) during the Final Jomon–Early Kofun period (990 cal BCE–330 cal CE) inferred from palynological and archaeobotanical records. Quaternary Environments and Humans 2, 100030. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.qeh.2024.100030

Chen, X.-Y., Xu, Y.-G., Tarasov, P.E., Leipe, C., Kim, J.-H., Yan, S., Park, M.-H., Chun, J.-H., Chen, C., He, P.-L., Blockley, S.P.E., 2024. Revisiting the Tianwen Yellow Pumice (TYP) Eruption of Changbaishan Volcano: Tephra Correlation, Eruption Timing and Its Climatostratigraphical Context. Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth 129, e2023JB028563. https://doi.org/10.1029/2023JB028563

Krikunova, A.I., Savelieva, L.A., Long, T., Leipe, C., Kobe, F., Kostromina, N.A., Vasilyeva, A.V., Tarasov, P.E., 2024. Postglacial vegetation and climate change in the Lake Onega region of eastern Fennoscandia derived from a radiocarbon-dated pollen record. Quat. Int. 695, 31–44. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2024.04.003

2023

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. Archaeol. Res. 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. Archaeol. Res. 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. Quat. Sci. Rev. 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

2022

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. J. Quat. Sci. 37(5) 868–883. doi: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. Front. Ecol. Evol. 10. doi:10.3389/fevo.2022.939374

Yamamoto, M., Wang, F., Irino, T., Yamada, K., Haraguchi, T., Nakamura, H., Gotanda, K., Yonenobu, H., Leipe, L., Chen, X.Y., Tarasov, P.E., 2022. Environmental evolution and fire history of Rebun Island (northern Japan) during the past 17,000 years based on biomarkers and pyrogenic compound records from Lake Kushu. Quat. Int. 623, 8–18. DOI:10.1016/j.quaint.2021.09.015

Endo, E., Leipe, C., 2022. The onset, dispersal and crop preferences of early agriculture in the Japanese archipelago as derived from seed impressions in pottery. Quat. Int. 623, 35–49. DOI:10.1016/j.quaint.2021.11.027

Sergusheva, E.A., Leipe, C., Klyuev, N.A., Batarshev, S.V., Garkovik, A.V., Dorofeeva, N.A., Kolomiets, S.A., Krutykh, E.B., Malkov, S.S., Moreva, O.L., Sleptsov, I.Y., Hosner, D., Wagner, W., Tarasov, P.E., 2022. Evidence of millet and millet agriculture in the Far East Region of Russia derived from archaeobotanical data and radiocarbon dating. Quat. Int. 623, 50–67. DOI:10.1016/j.quaint.2021.08.002

Lyashchevskaya, M.S., Bazarova, V.B., Dorofeeva, N.A., Leipe, C., 2022. Late Pleistocene–Holocene environmental and cultural changes in Primorye, southern Russian Far East: A review. Quat. Int. 623, 68–82. DOI:10.1016/j.quaint.2022.02.010

Leipe, C., Lu, J.-c., Chi, K.-a., Lee, S.-m., Yang, H.-c., Wagner, M., Tarasov, P.E., 2022. Evidence for cultivation and selection of azuki (Vigna angularis var. angularis) in prehistoric Taiwan sheds new light on its domestication history. Quat. Int. 623, 83–93. DOI:10.1016/j.quaint.2021.06.032

Long, T., Chen, H., Leipe, C., Wagner, M., Tarasov, P.E., 2022. Modelling the chronology and dynamics of the spread of Asian rice from ca. 8000 BCE to 1000 CE. Quat. Int. 623, 101–109. DOI:10.1016/j.quaint.2021.11.016

Kobe, F., Hoelzmann, P., Gliwa, J., Olschewski, P., Peskov, S.A., Shchetnikov, A.A., Danukalova, G.A., Osipova, E.M., Goslar, T., Leipe, C., Wagner, M., Bezrukova, E.V., Tarasov, P.E., 2022. Lateglacial–Holocene environments and human occupation in the Upper Lena region of Eastern Siberia derived from sedimentary and zooarchaeological data from Lake Ochaul. Quat. Int. 623, 139–158. DOI:10.1016/j.quaint.2021.09.019

Bezrukova, E.V., Reshetova, S.A., Tetenkin, A.V., Tarasov, P.E., Leipe, C., 2022. The Early Neolithic–Middle Bronze Age environmental history of the Mamakan archaeological area, Eastern Siberia. Quat. Int. 623, 159–168. DOI:10.1016/j.quaint.2021.12.006

Tarasov, P.E., Pankova, S.V., Long, T., Leipe, C., Kalinina, K.B., Panteleev, A.V., Brandt, L.Ø., Kyzlasov, I.L., Wagner, M., 2022. New results of radiocarbon dating and identification of plant and animal remains from the Oglakhty cemetery provide an insight into the life of the population of southern Siberia in the early 1st millennium CE. Quat. Int. 623, 169–183. DOI:10.1016/j.quaint.2021.12.004

Tarasov, P.E., Savelieva, L.A., Kobe, F., Korotkevich, B.S., Long, T., Kostromina, N.A., Leipe, C., 2022. Lateglacial and Holocene changes in vegetation and human subsistence around Lake Zhizhitskoye, East European mid-latitudes, derived from radiocarbon-dated pollen and archaeological records. Quat. Int. 623, 184–197. DOI:10.1016/j.quaint.2021.06.027

Wagner, M., Hallgren-Brekenkamp, M., Xu, D., Kang, X., Wertmann, P., James, C., Elkina, I., Hosner, D., Leipe, C., Tarasov, P.E., 2022. The invention of twill tapestry points to Central Asia: Archaeological record of multiple textile techniques used to make the woollen outfit of a ca. 3000-year-old horse rider from Turfan, China. Archaeol. Res. Asia 29, 100344. DOI:10.1016/j.ara.2021.100344

Ma, T., Tarasov, P.E., Huang, K., Leipe, C., Man, M., Zheng, Z., 2022. Intensified climate drying and cooling during the last glacial culmination (20.8–17.5 cal ka BP) in the south-eastern Asian monsoon domain inferred from a high-resolution pollen record. Quat. Sci. Rev. 278, 107371. DOI:10.1016/j.quascirev.2022.107371

Leipe, C., Aquaro, A., Tarasov, P.E., 2022. Scanning electron microscopy for differentiating charred endocarps of Rhus/Toxicodendron species and tracking the use of the lacquer tree and Asian poison ivy in Japanese prehistory. J. Archaeol. Sci.: Rep. 41, 103335. DOI:10.1016/j.jasrep.2021.103335

2021

Tarasov, P.E., Leipe, C., Wagner, M., 2021. Environments during the spread of anatomically modern humans across Northern Asia 50–10 cal kyr BP: What do we know and what would we like to know? Quat. Int. 596, 155–170. DOI:10.1016/j.quaint.2020.10.030

Kasai, Y., Leipe, C., Saito, M., Kitagawa, H., Lauterbach, S., Brauer, A., Tarasov, P.E., Goslar, T., Arai, F., Sakuma, S., 2021. Breakthrough in purification of fossil pollen for dating of sediments by a new large-particle on-chip sorter. Sci. Adv. 7, eabe7327. DOI:10.1126/sciadv.abe7327

Junno, A., Dury, J.P.R., Leipe, C., Wagner, M., Tarasov, P.E., Hirasawa, Y., Jordan, P.D., Kato, H., 2021. Building a high-resolution chronology for Northern Hokkaido – A case study of the Late Holocene Hamanaka 2 site on Rebun Island, Hokkaido (Japan). J. Archaeol. Sci.: Rep. 36, 102867. DOI: 10.1016/j.jasrep.2021.102867

Leipe, C., Endo, E., Kuramochi, S., Wagner, M., Tarasov, P.E., 2021. Crop cultivation of Middle Yayoi culture communities (fourth century BCE–first century CE) in the Kanto region, eastern Japan, inferred from a radiocarbon-dated archaeobotanical record. Veg. Hist. Archaeobot. 30(3), 409–421. DOI:10.1007/s00334-020-00791-1

2020

Kobe, F., Bezrukova, E.V., Leipe, C., Shchetnikov, A.A., Goslar, T., Wagner, M., Kostrova, S.S., Tarasov, P.E., 2020. Holocene vegetation and climate history in Baikal Siberia reconstructed from pollen records and its implications for archaeology. Archaeol. Res. Asia 23, 100209. DOI: 10.1016/j.ara.2020.100209

Leipe, C., Kuramochi, S., Wagner, M., Tarasov, P.E., 2020b. Ritual practices and social organisation of Middle Yayoi culture communities in the Kanto region, eastern Japan, derived from archaeological and botanical data from the Maenakanishi site. Archaeol. Anthropol. Sci. 12, 134.
DOI:10.1007/s12520-020-01098-y
Leipe, C., Long, T., Wagner, M., Goslar, T., Tarasov, P.E., 2020a. The spread of rice to Japan: Insights from Bayesian analysis of direct radiocarbon dates and population dynamics in East Asia. Quat. Sci. Rev. 244, 106507. DOI:10.1016/j.quascirev.2020.106507

Schubert, A., Lauterbach, S. Leipe, C., Scholz, V., Brauer, A., Tarasov, P.E., 2020. Anthropogenic and climate controls on vegetation changes between 1500 BCE and 500 CE, reconstructed from a high-resolution pollen record from varved sediments of Lake Mondsee, Austria. Palaeogeogr. Palaeoclimatol. Palaeoecol. 599, 109976. DOI:10.1016/j.palaeo.2020.109976

Taft, L., Wiechert, U., Albrecht, C., Leipe, C., Tsukamoto, S., Wilke, T., Zhang, H., Riedel, F., 2020. Intra-seasonal hydrological processes on the western Tibetan Plateau: Monsoonal and convective rainfall events at ~7.5 ka. Quat. Int. 537, 9–23. DOI:10.1016/j.quaint.2020.01.027

2019

Kobe, F., Bittner, M.K., Leipe, C., Hoelzmann, P., Long, T., Wagner, M., Zibulski, R., Tarasov, P.E., 2019. Lateglacial and early Holocene environments and human occupation in Brandenburg, eastern Germany. Geogr. Environ. Sustainability 12(2), 132–147. DOI:10.24057/2071-9388-2018-50

Leipe, C., Kobe, F., Müller, S., 2019b. Testing the performance of sodium polytungstate and lithium heteropolytungstate as non-toxic dense media for pollen extraction from lake and peat sediment samples. Quat. Int. 516, 207–214. DOI:10.1016/j.quaint.2018.01.029

Leipe, C., Long, T., Sergusheva, E.A., Wagner, M., Tarasov, P.E., 2019a. Discontinuous spread of millet agriculture in eastern Asia and prehistoric population dynamics. Sci. Adv. 5, eaax6225. DOI:10.1126/sciadv.aax6225

Schmidt, M., Leipe, C., Becker, F., Goslar, T., Hoelzmann, P., Mingram, J., Müller, S., Tjallingii, R., Wagner, M., Tarasov, P.E., 2019. A multi-proxy palaeolimnological record of the last 16,600 years from coastal Lake Kushu in northern Japan. Palaeogeogr. Palaeoclimatol. Palaeoecol. 514, 613–626. DOI:10.1016/j.palaeo.2018.11.010

Tarasov, P.E., Demske, D., Leipe, C., Long, T., Müller, S., Hoelzmann, P., Wagner, M., 2019. An 8500-year palynological record of vegetation, climate change and human activity in the Bosten Lake region of Northwest China. Palaeogeogr. Palaeoclimatol. Palaeoecol. 516, 166–178. DOI:10.1016/j.palaeo.2018.11.038

Tarasov, P.E., Ilyashuk, B.P., Leipe, C., Müller, S., Plessen, B., Hoelzmann, P., Kostrova, S. S., Bezrukova, E.V., Meyer, H., 2019 Insight into the Last Glacial Maximum climate and environments of the Baikal region. Boreas 48(2), 488–506. DOI:10.1111/bor.12330

Tarasov, P.E., Savelieva, L.A., Long, T., Leipe, C., 2019 Postglacial vegetation and climate history and traces of early human impact and agriculture in the present-day cool mixed forest zone of European Russia. Quat. Int. 516, 21–41. DOI:10.1016/j.quaint.2018.02.029

2018

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. Quat. Sci. Rev. 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. Nat. Plants 4, 272–279. DOI:10.1038/s41477-018-0141-x

2017

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 12(3), e0174397. DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0174397

Long, T., Wagner, M., Demske, D., Leipe, C., Tarasov, P.E., 2017. Cannabis in Eurasia: origin of human use and Bronze Age trans-continental connections. Veg. Hist. Archaeobot. 26(2), 245–258. DOI:10.1007/s00334-016-0579-6

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

2016

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

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

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

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

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). J. Asian Earth Sci. 122, 106–122. DOI:10.1016/j.jseaes.2016.03.005

2015

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. Quat. Sci. Rev. 116, 57–71. DOI:10.1016/j.quascirev.2015.03.012

2014

Leipe, C., Demske, D., Tarasov, P.E., Wünnemann, B., Riedel, F., HIMPAC Project Members, 2014b. Potential of pollen and non-pollen palynomorph records from Tso Moriri (Trans-Himalaya, NW India) for reconstructing Holocene limnology and human–environmental interactions. Quat. Int. 348, 113–129. DOI:10.1016/j.quaint.2014.02.026

Leipe, C., Demske, D., Tarasov, P.E., HIMPAC Project Members, 2014a. A Holocene pollen record from the northwestern Himalayan lake Tso Moriri: Implications for palaeoclimatic and archaeological research. Quat. Int. 348, 93–112. DOI:10.1016/j.quaint.2013.05.005

Edited volumes

Leipe, C., Long, T., Wertmann, P., Wagner, M. (Eds.) 2022. Holocene Environments, Human Subsistence and Adaptation in Northern and Eastern Eurasia. Quat. Int. 623, pp. 197. (Web-Link)

Editorial:
Leipe, C., Long, T., Wertmann, P., Wagner, M., 2022. Holocene Environments, Human Subsistence and Adaptation in Northern and Eastern Eurasia. Quat. Int. 623, 1–7. doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2022.04.001

Doctoral thesis

Leipe, C., 2014. Insights into late Quaternary vegetation and climate dynamics in Monsoon Asia obtained from numerical pollen-based reconstructions. Dissertation, Institute of Geological Sciences, Free University Berlin, 191 pp. (in English with German abstract) (doi:10.17169/refubium-10831, Web-link)