SCHEMMEL Marcel

Biographie

Career

Marcel Schemmel studied Prehistoric Archaeology at the University of Cologne. During his time in Cologne, he participated in multiple excavation campaigns in Germany and Jordan. From 2018-2023 he worked as student assistant in several projects dedicated to the investigation of the Upper Palaeolithic sites of Bad Kösen-Lengefeld (Germany) and Al-Ansab 1 (Jordan) lead by Prof. Dr. Jürgen Richter. He was appointed as excavation technician for the 2023 campaign at Brillenhöhle near Blaubeuren (Germany) under the direction of Dr. Yvonne Tafelmaier. After graduating with a Masters degree in Archaeology from the University of Cologne in 2023, he worked as research assistant in the HESCOR project (Prof. Dr. Andreas Maier). His Master dissertation, under supervision of Prof. Dr. Jürgen Richter, focused on the spatial analysis of the Magdalenian site of Bad Kösen-Lengefeld (Title: Zur Genese und Transformation der magdalénienzeitlichen Freilandstation Bad Kösen-Lengefeld). He joined Traceolab in June 2024 to work on his PhD research under supervision of Prof. Dr. Veerle Rots.

PhD Project

While the Middle Palaeolithic (MP) in Europe is associated with the presence of Neanderthals, the Middle Stone Age (MSA) in Southern Africa is generally attributed to Homo sapiens. Although being produced by different human species thousands of kilometres apart, assemblages of both technocomplexes include convergent lithic points. However, the utilization of those points by Palaeolithic foragers, possibly as part of weapons, is not yet fully understood. Therefore, the goal of this project is to understand the role of the convergent point component in these assemblages and examine in detail how these have been used.

To achieve these research objectives, an in-depth investigation that combines techno-morphological and functional analyses within a comparative perspective will be performed. Differences in tool morphology, raw material and tool function will be addressed in detail, also through dedicated experimental studies. The investigation will include assemblages from three MP sites from France and three MSA sites from South Africa.

The detailed investigation of the convergent point component of these sites will permit to understand whether fundamental differences exist between the MP and MSA assemblages and their respective technologies, particularly weapon technologies. It will also help to answer the question whether early modern humans and Neanderthals were fundamentally different from this perspective.