Publications

Peer-reviewed publications

2025

Politt, S. S., Pribliczki, H., Dickinson, M. R., Andersen, N., Henderson, A., Morris, D., Makarewicz, C. A., Penkmann, K., Ecker, M., Insights into the Middle Pleistocene fauna of South Africa: Zooarchaeology, stable isotopes and dating of Pniel 6. Journal of Quaternary Science (2025). https://doi.org/10.1002/jqs.70002

Faul, I., Grandfield, T., Dreibrodt, S., Mothulatshipi, S., Segadika, P., Green, C., Frouin, M., Ecker, M., Dune and Pan sediments from the southern Kalahari basin: A case study from the Kgalagadi district, Botswana. South African Field Archaeology 20 (2025). https://doi.org/10.36615/safa.20.3408.2025

Ecker, M., Rhodes, S., Andersen, N. et al. A holocene n-alkane stable isotope record from Wonderwerk Cave, South Africa and its implications for the later stone age record. Sci Rep 15, 14667 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-99054-0
Read here the press release of the University of Kiel for this paper.

2024

Kelley, D.I., Sato, H., Ecker, M., Burton, C., Capurucho, J.M.G., Bates, J.Niche-dependent forest and savanna fragmentation in Tropical South America during the Last Glacial Maximum. npj Biodiversity, https://doi.org/10.1038/s44185-024-00056-4.

2023

Ecker, M., Green, C., Henderson, A., Faul, I., Segadika, P., Mothulatshipi, S. 2023. Archaeological survey near Tsabong, Kgalagadi District, southwestern Botswana. https://doi.org/10.1080/0067270X.2023.226015

Ecker, M., Hariri, N., Heydari-Guran, S., Ghasidian, E., Tuross, N., Zeder, M., Makarewicz, C. 2023. Herbivore enamel carbon and oxygen isotopes demonstrate both Homo sapiens and Neandertals exploited similar habitats in the Zagros Mountains. Journal of Quaternary Science. https://doi.org/10.1002/jqs.3561

Ecker, M., Morris, D. 2023. Pniel 1 and 6, South Africa. In: Beyin, A., Bouzouggar, A., Olszewski, D., Wilkins, J., Wright, D. (eds.), Handbook of Pleistocene Archaeology of Africa: Hominin Behavior, Geography, and Chronology. Springer.

2022

Horwitz, L.K.,Avery, M.D., Bamford, M., Berna, F., Brink, J., Ecker, M., Fernandez-Jalvo, Y., Goldberg, P., Holt, S., Lee-Thorp, J.A., Matmon, A., Pickering, R., Porat, N., Rossouw, L., Scott, S., Chazan, M., 2022. Wonderwerk Cave, Northern Cape Province: An Early Pleistocene Palaeo-environmental Sequence for the Interior of South Africa. In: Reynolds, S.C., Bobe, R. (eds.), African Paleoecology and Human Evolution. Cambridge University press.

Rhodes, S.E., Goldberg, P., Ecker, M., Horwitz, L.K., Boaretto, E. and Chazan, M., 2022. Exploring the Later Stone Age at a micro-scale: New high-resolution excavations at Wonderwerk Cave. Quaternary International.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2021.10.004

Lukich, V. & Ecker, M. 2022, Pleistocene environments in the southern Kalahari of South Africa. Quaternary International, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2021.03.008

2021

Ecker, M., Bank. C.-G., Chazan, M., Chen, Y., Green, G., Morris, D., Stoikopoulos, N., Shadrach, K., Stratford, D., Duke, H., Revisiting Pniel 6: the 2017-2019 excavations. South African Archaeological Bulletin 76(214), 57-69.

2020

Ecker, M., Kelley, D. & Sato, H., Modelling the effects of CO₂ on C₃ and C₄ grass competition during the mid-Pleistocene transition in South Africa. Sci Rep 10, 16234 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-72614-2

Chazan, M., Berna, F., Brink, J., Ecker, M., Holt, S., Porat, N., Lee-Thorp, J., Horwitz, L.K.. Archaeology, Environment and chronology of the early Middle Stone Age component of Wonderwerk Cave. Journal of Palaeolithic Archaeology, DOI:10.1007/s41982-020-00051-8.

2018

Ecker, M., Brink, J., Rossouw, L., Chazan, M., Horwitz, L.K., Lee-Thorp, J.A., The palaeoecological context of the Oldowan–Acheulean in southern Africa. Nature Ecology and Evolution 2, 1080–1086. DOI:10.1038/s41559-018-0560-0.

Ecker, M., Brink, J., Horwitz, L.K., Scott, L., Lee-Thorp, J.A., A 12,000 year Holocene record of changes in herbivore niche separation and palaeoclimate (Wonderwerk Cave, South Africa). Quaternary Science Reviews 180, 132-144. DOI: 10.1016/j.quascirev.2017.11.025.

Ecker, M., Lee-Thorp, J.A., The dietary ecology of the extinct springbok Antidorcas bondi. Quaternary International 495, 136-143. DOI:10.1016/j.quaint.2018.09.012.

2017

Ecker, M., Brink, J., Chazan, M., Horwitz, L.K., Lee-Thorp, J.A., Radiocarbon dates constrain the timing of environmental and cultural shifts in the Holocene strata of Wonderwerk Cave, South Africa. Radiocarbon 59(4), 1067-1086. DOI: 10.1017/RDC.2017.55.

Chazan, M., Horwitz, L.K., Ecker, M., Koopowitz, C., Rhodes, S., Morris, D., Berna. F, Renewed Excavations at Wonderwerk Cave, South Africa. Evolutionary Anthropology, 26(6), 258-260. DOI: 10.1002/evan.21558.

2016

Demarchi, B., Hall, S., Roncal-Herrero, T., Freeman, C.L., Woolley, J., Crisp, M.K., Wilson, J., Fotakis, A., Fischer, R., Kessler, B.M., Jersie-Christensen, R.R., Olsen, J.V., Haile, J., Thomas, J., Marean, C.V., Parkington, J., Presslee, S., Lee-Thorp, J., Ditchfield, P., Hamilton, J.F., Ward, M.W., Wang, C.M., Shaw, M.D., Harrison, T., Domınguez-Rodrigo, M., MacPhee, R.D.E., Kwekason, A., Ecker, M., Horwitz, L.K., Chazan, M., Kroger, R., Thomas-Oates, J., Harding, J.H., Cappellini, E., Penkman, K., Collins, M.J., Protein sequences bound to mineral surfaces persist into deep time. eLIFE, e17092. DOI: 10.7554/eLife.17092. DOI: 10.7554/eLife.17092.

2015

Ecker, M., Botha-Brink, J., Lee-Thorp, J.A., Piuz, A., Horwitz, L.K., Ostrich eggshell as a source of palaeoenvironmental information for the arid interior of South Africa: A case study from Wonderwerk Cave. Palaeoecology of Africa 33, 95-115. PDF

Lee-Thorp, J.A., Ecker, M., Holocene climate and environmental changes from stable isotopes in ostrich egg shell at Wonderwerk Cave, South Africa. African Archaeological Review 32(4), 793-811. DOI: 10.1007/s10437-015-9202-y.

Other selected publications

2025

Ecker, M., Sato, H., Kelley, D. Rekonstruktion des Amazonas-Ökosystems zu letzten Eiszeit. Archäologie in Deutschland 3/2025 (2025), 14-17. See the journal.

2018

Ecker, M., Renewed survey and excavations at Pniel, South Africa. Quaternary Newsletter 146, 32-34.

Ecker, M., Excavating the fossil bearing strata at Pniel 6, lower Vaal River, South Africa. Web report, Rust Family Foundation, http://www.rfamfound1.org/proj33find.html.

2017

Ecker, M., Evolution and the Environment: The First Season of Excavations at Pniel, South Africa. Archaeological Institute of America Toronto Society Newsletter Fall 2017. http://mailchi.mp/070de078bad1/aia-toronto-society-fall-2017-newsletter.

FINISHED THESIS

Politt, S.: “Herbivore teeth from Pniel 6, South Africa. Environmental reconstruction via species classification and stable isotope analysis”. 2023. Read Abstract here.

Winterhalder, R.: “Treasure between rubble: Lithics from Itireleng and Maralaleng, southern Kalahari, Botswana”. 2023. Read Abstract here.