Meet Mattias Sjölander, our new postdoctoral researcher in interdisciplinary archaeology


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 emphasises 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 relaxes with friends in an online game.

Photograph: Per Melander, Umeå University


  • Diachronic reuse of Neolithic burial monuments by Bronze Age newcomers in Southwestern Britain

    Diachronic reuse of Neolithic burial monuments by Bronze Age newcomers in Southwestern Britain

    A new paper, co-authored by Nikola Vuković, Carolina Bernhardsson and Mattias Jakobsson, from the Human Evolution Program at Uppsala University, in close collaboration with British archaeologists, has recently been published in Scientific Reports:Vuković, N., Bernhardsson, C., Edlund, H., Delbarre, G., Smith, M., Darvill, T., … & Jakobsson, M. (2026). Diachronic reuse of Neolithic burial monuments…

  • Matte Sjölander’s STSM Experience in Utrecht 2026

    Matte Sjölander’s STSM Experience in Utrecht 2026

    In June 2026, Mattias Sjölander visited Utrecht University to host a brainstorming session on integrating subfossil insect and pollen data in future analyses. The visit, a so-called Short-Term Scientific Mission within Open Palaeoecological Data (PalaeOpen), was funded by the European Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST). During my ongoing postdoctoral project at the Center for the Human…

  • The Tie That Binds Us?

    The Tie That Binds Us?

    A new article discussing ancient DNA, kinship studies and human connection across time, co-authored by one of our former Human Past SCAS Fellows, Mehmet Somel, has just been published in the Cambridge Archaeological Journal. Moots, H. M., Tsosie, K. S., & Somel, M. (2026). The Tie That Binds Us? Challenging the Primacy of DNA in Kinship Studies…