Kyrikou | University of Tübingen

Dr. Styliani Kyrikou

Postdoctoral researcher

Contact details

Styliani Kyrikou has studied Geology and obtained her Master’s degree on Palaeontology at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. Her research interests include Palynology, Palaeobotany, Palaeoecology, Palaeoclimate and Geoarchaeology.
During her undergraduate studies she developed a particular interest in Palaeovegetation leading her to study Mediterranean palaeoflora in her Bachelor thesis. As a Master’s student she actively participated as Palynologist in two micropalaeontological projects (KRISPIS and KartECO) in Greece conducting pollen processing and microscopic analysis for sediment samples retrieved from Spercheios- Malliakos area and Rodopi Sierra, respectively. For her Master thesis she worked on the PERSEUS project performing palynological analysis on the S2P marine pollen record from Elefsis Bay covering the last 14 kyrs in order to reconstruct the palaeovegetational history and the palaeoclimate of Southern Greece as well as to evaluate the human role in shaping the landscape.
In 2018, she was awarded the GSGS Start-up honours Grant from the Graduate School of Geosciences of the University of Cologne. During her stay in Cologne, she participated in the palynological research for the Lake Ohrid ICDP project. Since September 2020, Styliani has been involved in the CROSSROADS project as a Doctoral candidate at the University of Tübingen. She is working on the palaeovegetation reconstruction of the Middle Pleistocene archaeological site Marathousa 1 located in the Megalopolis basin (Southern Greece).

Education

2025	Ph.D. in Palaeontology, Crossroads Project: Human Evolution at the Crossroads. University of Tübingen
2016	M.Sc. in Stratigraphy – Palaeontology, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens
2013	B.Sc. in Geology, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens

Research Projects & Research Experience:

01/2015 - 06/2015	Collection of Palaeontological findings in the Municipality of Mantoudi – Limni – Agia Anna, Coordinator Prof. G. Theodorou (University of Athens).
09/2015 - 11/2015	KRIPIS: Conduct of micropalaeontological and palynological research and specification of palaeoenvironment deposits in sediment samples taken from Spercheios - Malliakos area, Coordinator Prof. M. Triantaphyllou (National and Kapodistrian Unversity of Athens).
11/2015 – 03/2016	KartECO: Study of the vegetation history of the National park of Rodopi Sierra. Coordinator Assist. Prof. K. Kouli (National and Kapodistrian University of Athens).
05/2018 – 09/2018	ICDP project: Late Glacial and Holocene vegetation history of the Ohrid region and pollen-inferred climate variability (SCOPSCO Project, coordinated by Prof. Bernd Wagner). University of Cologne.
09/2020 – 07/2025	Crossroads Project: Human evolution at the Crossroads (PhD project). Coordinator Prof. Katerina Harvati, (University of Tübingen).

Publications

Kyrikou, S., Marinova, E., Bludau, I.J.E., Karkanas, P., Panagopoulou, E., Tourloukis, V., Junginger, A., Harvati, K. (2025). Local environment and fire history of a potential lower Palaeolithic refugium in the megalopolis Basin, southern Greece, during Marine Isotope Stage 12. Quaternary. Res. https://doi.org/10.1017/qua.2024.59

Kyrikou, S., Marinova, E., Bludau, I.J.E., Karkanas, P., Panagopoulou, E., Tourloukis, V., Junginger, A., Harvati, K. (2025). The Middle Pleistocene MIS 12 palynological record from Marathousa in southern Greece: highlighting conditions in Marathousa 1 (MAR-1) refugial aite during the severe glacial period. In: Harvati, K., Ioannidou, M. (Eds.), Human Evolution at the CROSSROADS: Research in Greece and beyond. Tübingen Paleoantrhopology Book Series - Contribitions in Paleoanthropology III. Tübingen University Press, Tübingen, Germany.

Bludau, I. J. E., Papadopoulou, P., Iliopoulos, G., Weiss, M., Schnabel, E., Thompson, N., Tourloukis, V., Zachow, C., Kyrikou, S., Konidaris, G. E., Karkanas, P., Panagopoulou, E., Harvati, K., & Junginger, A. (2021). Lake-Level Changes and Their Paleo-Climatic Implications at the MIS12 Lower Paleolithic (Middle Pleistocene) Site Marathousa 1, Greece. Frontiers in Earth Science, 9 (July), 1–26. https://doi.org/10.3389/feart.2021.668445

Kyrikou S., Kouli K., Triantaphyllou M.V., Dimiza M.D., Gogou A., Panagiotopoulos I.P., Anagnostou Ch., Karageorgis A.P. (2020). Late Glacial and Holocene vegetation patterns of Attica: A high-resolution record from Elefsis Bay, southern Greece. Quaternary International, Vol. 545, Pages 28-37. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2019.05.020

Francke A., Dosseto A., Panagiotopoulos K., Leicher L., Lacey J., Kyrikou S., Wagner B., Zanchetta G., Kouli K., Leng J. (2019). Sediment residence time reveals Holocene shift from climatic to vegetation control on catchment erosion in the Balkans. Global and Planetary Change, Vol. 177, Pages 186-200. doi.org/10.1016/j.gloplacha.2019.04.005