Meet our postdoctoral researchers


Mattias Sjölander

Mattias Sjölander is an archaeologist interested in how past human–environment relationships have developed over time. With a background in Environmental Archaeology, he has experience with several analytical methods, including soil chemistry, spectroscopy, and Geographic Information Systems (GIS).
His research emphasizes interdisciplinary approaches that integrate evidence, information and methodologies from different disciplines in order to answer complex research questions.

Mattias recently successfully defended his PhD thesis at Umeå University. He studied hunter-gatherer adaptations from a raw material perspective in a North Fennoscandian setting, using spectroscopic data collected on quartzite artefacts.

In his Postdoc project with us he aims to integrate the information from different environmental proxies (fossil insects & pollen) in order to produce a more high-resolution image of how the European landscape has developed during the Holocene period. Such a model can benefit the further development of current archaeological and environmental models of human migration and settlement.

Outside of work Matte practices Japanese martial arts, including iaido, jodo and naginata, and relaxing with friends in an online game.

Photograph: Per Melander, Umeå University

  • Ideas that change the world.

    Ideas that change the world.

    Human Evolution was the focus of the latest episode (Season 6, Ep. 112) in the Nobel Prize Museum’s podcast series, Ideas that change the world, with Mattias Jakobsson. We all […]

  • The Center starts own YouTube channel

    The Center starts own YouTube channel

    In our quest to disseminate knowledge and educate about interdisciplinary research on human prehistory, we add selected recorded seminars (Talks of the Past open seminars in particular) and other related […]

  • The Indo-European Cognate Relationships dataset is now published

    The Indo-European Cognate Relationships dataset is now published

    Abstract The Indo-European Cognate Relationships (IE-CoR) dataset is an open-access relational dataset showing how related, inherited words (‘cognates’) pattern across 160 languages of the Indo-European family. IE-CoR is intended as […]