Aristeidis Varis specializes in archaeology and geosciences with broad interests in human-environmental interactions, site formation processes, and landscape evolution. He now focuses on the geoarchaeology of human dispersals in Central Asia and the formation processes of caves, springs, and loess sites. He combines geoarchaeological fieldwork with micromorphological, geochemical, and standard sedimentological analyses.

After studying geoarchaeology in the University of Thessaloniki (Greece) and University College London (UK), he received his PhD from the University of Tübingen (2022). In his thesis, he demonstrated how geoarchaeological processes might result in the formation of a low-density record on the landscape and site-scale.

• 2018-2022 in Geoarchaeology, University of Tübingen.
  • Thesis: The effect of formation processes on Palaeolithic settlement patterns: insights from South Kazakhstan and the Swabian Jura, southern Germany
• 2016-2017 Erasmus+ in Archaeological Sciences and Geoarchaeology, University College London
• 2015-2018 MA in Prehistoric Archaeology and Geoarchaeology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
  • Thesis: “Midden geochemistry and microstratigraphy at the Neolithic site of Kyparissi-Vasilika, Northern Greece”
• 2011-2015 BSc in Archaeology and History of Art, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki

Peer-Reviewed Articles

1. Varis, A., Miller, C. E., Toniato, G., Janas, A., and Conard, N. J., ‘Using Formation Processes to Explore Low-Density Sites and Settlement Patterns: A Case Study from the Swabian Jura’, Journal of Paleolithic Archaeology, 5(1), 14. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1007/s41982-022-00127-7. 2022
2. Namen, A.,Iovita R.,Nickel K. G., Varis A.,Taimagambetov, Z., and Schmidt, P. “Mechanical Properties of Lithic Raw Materials from Kazakhstan: Comparing Chert, Shale, and Porphyry.” PLOS ONE 17 (4): e0265640. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0265640. 2022
3. Namen, A., Cuthbertson, P., Varis, A., Patrick Schmidt, Taimagambetov, Z., and Iovita, R. “Preliminary Results of the First Lithic Raw Material Survey in the Piedmont Zones of Kazakhstan.” Asian Archaeology. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1007/s41826-022-00051-3. 2022
4. Namen, A., Varis, A., Lindauer, S., Friedrich, R., Taimagambetov, Z., and Iovita, R. “Nazugum, a new 4000-year-old rockshelter in the Ili Alatau, Tien Shan”. Archaeological Research in Asia, 30. 2022
5. Varis, A., Miller, C. E., Cuthbertson, P., Namen, A., Taimagambetov, Z., and Iovita, R. “The effect of formation processes on the frequency of Palaeolthic cave sites in semiarid zones: Insights from Kazakhstan. Geoarchaeology. [DOI] 2022                                                                                     
6. Cuthbertson, P., Ullmann, T., Büdel, C., Varis, A., Namen, A., Seltmann, R., Reed, D., Taimagambetov, Z., and Iovita, R. “Finding Karstic Caves and Rockshelters in the Inner Asian Mountain Corridor Using Predictive Modelling and Field Survey.” PLOS ONE 16 (1): e0245170. [DOI] 2021
7. Iovita, R., Varis, A., Namen, A., Cuthbertson, P., Taimagambetov, Z., and Miller, C. E. “In Search of a Paleolithic Silk Road in Kazakhstan.” Quaternary International 559: 119–32. [DOI] 2020

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