Publications
Articles, chapters and a book on stone tool function, experimental archaeology and Paleolithic technology.
LEIZA Publications
Groundbreaking Technologies in the Middle Paleolithic of the Levant
A high-resolution functional study of Middle Paleolithic ground stone tools from the Levant, combining controlled experiments, macro and microscopic use-wear analysis and 3D quantification. Based on my doctoral research at Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz.
View the book- 2026Decoding Acheulean percussive technology: an experimental approach to understanding use-wear traces in different raw materials
Paixão, E., Gossa, T., Marreiros, J., Gneisinger, W., Hovers, E.
Journal of Paleolithic Archaeology, 9, 26
- 2025Exploring early Acheulian technological decision-making: a controlled experimental approach to raw material selection for percussive artifacts in Melka Wakena, Ethiopia
Paixão, E., Gossa, T., Gneisinger, W., Marreiros, J., Tholen, S., Calandra, I., Hovers, E.
PLOS ONE
- 2025Incised stone artefacts from the Levantine Middle Palaeolithic and human behavioural complexity
Goder-Goldberger, M., Marreiros, J., Paixão, E., Hovers, E.
Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences, 17, 27
- 2022The Middle Paleolithic ground stone tools of Nesher Ramla unit V (Southern Levant): a multi-scale use-wear approach for assessing the assemblage functional variability
Paixão, E., Marreiros, J., Dubreuil, L., Gneisinger, W., Carver, G., Prévost, M., Zaidner, Y.
Quaternary International, 624, 94–106
Summary
Integrating different scales of analysis to identify damage areas and conduct a functional analysis based on use-wear traces, the study reveals a substantial level of diversification in resource exploitation, with various hammerstone types showing distinct wear characteristics that suggest different functions and worked materials.
- 2022Evidence of specialized resource exploitation by modern humans in western Iberia associated to Pleistocene and Holocene extreme environmental conditions
Pereira, T., Monteiro, P., Paixão, E., Nora, D., Évora, M., Simões, C., Detry, C., et al.
Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports
- 2021Using mechanical experiments to study ground stone tool use: exploring the formation of percussive and grinding wear traces on limestone tools
Paixão, E., Pedergnana, A., Marreiros, J., Dubreuil, L., Prévost, M., Zaidner, Y., Carver, G., Gneisinger, W.
Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 37, 102971
Summary
Controlled mechanical experiments with three activities — bone breaking, flint knapping and acorn grinding — create a reference collection for limestone tools from Middle Paleolithic Levantine sites, showing that percussive use-wear on limestone can be identified and attributed to specific worked materials.
- 2021Short-term occupations at high elevation during the Middle Paleolithic at Kalavan 2 (Republic of Armenia)
Malinsky-Buller, A., Glauberman, P., Ollivier, V., Lauer, T., Timms, R., Frahm, E., Brittingham, A., et al.
PLOS ONE, 16(2), e0245700
- 2021
Raw material procurement at Abrigo do Poço rock shelter (Central Portugal)
Pereira, T., Paixão, E., Évora, M., Marreiros, J., Nora, D., Monteiro, P., Assis, S., Carvalho, V., Holliday, T.
Studies on the Palaeolithic of Western Eurasia, Archaeopress, 216–230
- 2021
Through the thin mesh: bucket flotation method applied to Poço rockshelter (EcoPLis project, Leiria, Portugal), 2015–2016 fieldwork experience
Monteiro, P., Matias, R., Paixão, E., Assis, S., Marreiros, J., Évora, M., Simões, C.
Flotation Reagents: Applied Surface Chemistry on Minerals Flotation and Energy Resources Beneficiation, ed. E. Bedin, 69–113
- 2020Rethinking use-wear analysis and experimentation as applied to the study of past hominin tool use
Marreiros, J., Calandra, I., Gneisinger, W., Paixão, E., Pedergnana, A., Schunk, L.
Journal of Paleolithic Archaeology
- 2020Evaluating the microscopic effect of brushing stone tools as a cleaning procedure
Pedergnana, A., Calandra, I., Bob, K., Gneisinger, W., Paixão, E., Schunk, L., Hildebrandt, A., et al.
Quaternary International, 569–570, 263–276
- 2020
Ground Stone Tools: análise funcional quantitativa à escala macro e microscópica
Paixão, E., Marreiros, J.
Arqueologia & História, 70
- 2020
Spurensuche im Mikrobereich
Calandra, I., Gneisinger, W., Marreiros, J., Pedergnana, A., Paixão, E., Schunk, L.
Archäologie in Deutschland — Artefakte im Experiment
- 2019Technology, use-wear and raw material sourcing analysis of a c. 7500 cal BP lithic assemblage from Cabeço da Amoreira shellmidden (Muge, Portugal)
Paixão, E., Marreiros, J., Pereira, T., Gibaja, J., Cascalheira, J., Bicho, N.
Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences, 11(2), 433–453
Summary
Combining lithic raw material characterization and sourcing with techno-typological and use-wear analysis of layer 2, the study shows materials sourced from local, regional and exogenous areas, contributing to our understanding of shellmidden function and settlement patterns during the Mesolithic.
- 2019The effect of numerical aperture on quantitative use-wear studies and its implication on reproducibility
Calandra, I., Schunk, L., Bob, K., Gneisinger, W., Pedergnana, A., Paixão, E., Hildebrandt, A., Marreiros, J.
Scientific Reports, 9, 6313
- 2019Back to the edge: relative coordinate system for use-wear analysis
Calandra, I., Schunk, L., Rodriguez, A., Gneisinger, W., Pedergnana, A., Paixão, E., Pereira, T., et al.
Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences, 11(11), 5937–5948
- 2019Geoarchaeology of the Cobrinhos site (Vila Velha de Ródão, Portugal): a record of the earliest Mousterian in western Iberia
Pereira, T., Cunha, P.P., Martins, A.A., Nora, D., Paixão, E., Figueiredo, O., Raposo, L., et al.
Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 24, 640–654
- 2018An unusual coronoid fracture in a fragment of ulna recovered from the Prehistoric site of Buraca da Moira Rock Shelter (Boa Vista, Leiria)
Assis, S., Branco, R., Carvalho, V., Dias, R., Duarte, C., Évora, M., Farias, A., et al.
Antropologia Portuguesa, 35, 69–82
- 2017
Raw material diversity, distribution and acquisition in the River Lis basin, Central Portugal
Pereira, T., Paixão, E., Carvalho, V., Gomes, T.
Exploitation of Raw Materials in Prehistory: Sourcing, Processing and Distribution, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 15–29
- 2017
Mechanical experiments to test quartzite vs chert edge reduction
Pereira, T., Marreiros, J., Paixão, E., Martins, R.
The Exploitation of Raw Materials in Prehistory: Sourcing, Processing and Distribution, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 613–623
- 2016Presenting LusoLit: a lithotheque of knappable raw materials from central and southern Portugal
Pereira, T., Farias, A., Paixão, E.
Journal of Lithic Studies, 3(2), 743–757
- 2016Territory and abiotic resources between 33 and 15.6 ka at Vale Boi (SW Portugal)
Pereira, T., Bicho, N., Cascalheira, J., Infantini, L., Marreiros, J., Paixão, E., Terradas, X., et al.
Quaternary International, 412, 124–134
- 2016
Apresentação do projeto EcoPLis — Ocupação Humana Plistocénica nos Ecótonos do Rio Lis
Pereira, T., Carvalho, V., Holliday, T., Paixão, E., Monteiro, P., Évora, M., Marreiros, J., et al.
Cadernos de Estudos Leirienses, 11, 7–24
- 2016
A jazida mustierense de Cobrinhos, Vila Velha de Ródão (Portugal)
Paixão, E., Caninas, J., Carvalho, E., Figueiredo, O., Henriques, F., Maio, D., Mendes, C., et al.
The Mousterian site of Cobrinhos, Vila Velha de Ródão (Portugal)
- 2015
Preliminary techno-typological analysis of the lithic materials from the Trench area of Cabeço da Amoreira (Muge, Central Portugal)
Cascalheira, J., Paixão, E., Marreiros, J., Pereira, T., Bicho, N.
Muge 150th: The 150th Anniversary of the Discovery of Mesolithic Shellmiddens, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 119–133
- 2015
New functional evidences for human settlement organization from the Mesolithic site of Cabeço da Amoreira (Muge): preliminary lithic use-wear analysis
Marreiros, J., Gibaja, J., Paixão, E., Pereira, T., Cascalheira, J., Bicho, N.
Muge 150th: The 150th Anniversary of the Discovery of Mesolithic Shellmiddens, Cambridge Scholars Publishing
- 2015
Raw material procurement in Cabeço da Amoreira, Muge, Portugal
Pereira, T., Bicho, N., Cascalheira, J., Marreiros, J., Paixão, E.
Muge 150th: The 150th Anniversary of the Discovery of Mesolithic Shellmiddens, Cambridge Scholars Publishing