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I am a postdoctoral researcher with the main interest in studying combustion features. My research focuses on micro-geoarchaeological approaches to understand past human behavior in relation with their fireplaces. To study these features, I mainly focus on the methods of micromorphology and lipid biomarker analysis. The main time periods I’m interested in is the general Paleolithic in Europe and classical Greece and Rome. 

After studying geoarchaeology in my Bachelors (Trier, Germany) and Masters (Tübingen, Germany) I received my doctorate from the University of La Laguna (Spain), working on Middle Paleolithic combustion features at the site of El Salt (Spain). 

I am a postdoctoral researcher with the main interest in studying combustion features. My research focuses on micro-geoarchaeological approaches to understand past human behavior in relation with their fireplaces. To study these features, I mainly focus on the methods of micromorphology and lipid biomarker analysis. The main time periods I’m interested in is the general Paleolithic in Europe and classical Greece and Rome.

September 2016 – April 2021 PhD in Geoarchaeology with the degree summa cum laude, University of La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain. Dissertation title: “Approaching Neanderthal behavior through the geoarchaeological study of combustion structures - Investigations in soil micromorphology and lipid biomarkers.” Supervisor: Dr. Carolina Mallol

October 2013 – April 2016 Master of Science in Natural Science Archaeology (Geoarchaeology), Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen, Germany. Thesis title: “Site formation processes in urban Corinth, Greece – a micromorphological approach.” Supervisors: Prof. Dr. Christopher Miller, Dr. Panagiotis Karkanas

October 2010 – September 2013 Bachelor of Arts in Geoarchaeology, University of Trier, Germany. Thesis title: „Untersuchungen zum Horizontaufbau und Stoffbestand von Bodenflächen des vicus Belginum zum Nachweis antiker Bodennutzung.“ Supervisors: Prof. Dr. Markus Trunk, Prof. Dr. Sören Thiele-Bruhn

• Allué E, Mallol, C, Aldeias V, Burguet-Coca A, Cabanes D, Carrancho Á, Connolly R, Leierer L, Mentzer S, Miller C, Sandgathe D, Stahlschmidt M, Théry-Parisot I, Vaquero M. (2022). Fire among Neanderthals, in: Romagnoli, F., Rivals, F., Benazzi, S. (Eds.), Updating Neanderthals, vol. 36: Elsevier, pp. 227–249.
  ISBN: 978-0128214282

• Wiedner K, Schlütz F, Leierer L (2022). Chapter 15.7: Biomarker, in: Stolz, C., Miller, C.E. (Eds.), Geoarchäologie. Springer Berlin, pp. 318-327.
  ISBN: 978-3-662-62773-0

• Leierer L, Carrancho Alonso Á, Pérez L, Herrejón Lagunilla A, Herrera-Herrera AV, Connolly R, Jambrina-Enríquez M, Hernández Gómez CM, Galván B, Mallol C (2020). It’s getting hot in here – Microcontextual study of a potential pit hearth at the Middle Paleolithic site of El Salt, Spain. Journal of Archaeological Science 123, 105237. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2020.105237 

• Herrera-Herrera AV, Leierer L, Jambrina-Enríquez M, Connolly R, Mallol C (2020). Evaluating different methods for calculating the Carbon Preference Index (CPI): implications for palaeoecological and archaeological research.
  Organic Geochemistry
  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.orggeochem.2020.104056 

• Connolly R, Jambrina-Enríquez M, Herrera-Herrera AV, Vidal-Matutano P, Fagoaga A, Marquina-Blasco R, Marin-Monfort MD, Ruiz-Sánchez FJ, Laplana C, Bailon S, Pérez L, Leierer L, Hernández CM, Galván B, Mallol C (2019). A multiproxy record of palaeoenvironmental conditions at the Middle Palaeolithic site of Abric del Pastor (Eastern Iberia). Quaternary Science Reviews 225, 106023. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2019.106023 

• Jambrina-Enríquez M, Herrera-Herrera AV, Rodríguez de Vera C, Leierer L, Connolly R, Mallol C (2019). n-Alkyl nitriles and compound-specific carbon isotope analysis of lipid combustion residues from Neanderthal and experimental hearths: Identifying sources of organic compounds and combustion temperatures. 
  Quaternary Science Reviews, 222, 105899. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2019.105899 

• Leierer L, Jambrina-Enríquez M, Herrera-Herrera AV, Connolly R, Hernández CM, Galván B, Mallol C (2019). Insights into the timing, intensity and natural setting of Neanderthal occupation from the geoarchaeological study of combustion structures: A micromorphological and biomarker investigation of El Salt, unit Xb, Alcoy, Spain. PLoS ONE 14(4): e0214955. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0214955 

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