• Geoinformatics and remote sensing
• Landscape evolution and geomorphology
• Use of data mining and machine learning techniques on cultural and scientific databases
• The Late Pleistocene of Eastern South Africa

Since 09/2016 research assistant in maintaining and completing the ROAD-Database (Roceeh Out of Africa Database). Analisys of paleo landscapes and geomorphology using GIS and remote sensing.
02/2016 – 08/2016 student research assistant for GIS analysis and cartography. Implementation and maintenance of a geographical database for web services and metadata.

2021 Dr. rer. nat. in Geography, University of Tübingen.
2016 M.Sc. in Physical Geography: Geoinformatics and Remote Sensing, University of Tübingen.
2012 B.Sc. in Physical Geography, University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt.

Bader, G. D., Sommer, C., Linstädter, J., Masia, D. P., Blessing, M. A., Forrester, B., & MacDonald, B. L. (2025). Decoding hunter-gatherer-knowledge and selective choice of lithic raw materials during the Middle and Later Stone Age in Eswatini. Journal of Archaeological Science, 180, 106302. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2025.106302

Riedesel, S., Guérin, G., Thomsen, K. J., Sontag-González, M., Blessing, M., Botha, G. A., Hellers, M., Möller, G., Peffeköver, A., Sommer, C., Zander, A., & Will, M. (2025). A direct comparison of single-grain and multi-grain aliquot luminescence dating of feldspars from colluvial deposits in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Geochronology, 7(1), 59–81. https://doi.org/10.5194/gchron-7-59-2025.

Möller, G.H.D., Mazel, A.D., Sommer, C. et al. (2025): Revisited and Revalorised: Technological and Refitting Studies at the Middle Stone Age Open-Air Knapping Site Jojosi 1 (KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa). J Paleo Arch 8, 5. DOI: 10.1007/s41982-024-00205-y.

Will, M., Blessing, M., Möller, G. H. D., Msimanga, L., Pehnert, H., Riedesel, S., Botha, G. A., & Sommer, C. (2024). The Jojosi Dongas: An interdisciplinary project to study the evolution of human behaviour and landscapes in open-air contexts. Southern African Field Archaeology, 19. https://doi.org/10.36615/safa.19.3010.2024

Kandel, A. W., Kanaeva, Z., Sommer, C., Hochschild, V., & Haidle, M. N. (2023). The Aggregation of ROAD Data in the ARIADNE Pipeline: Pitfalls and Successes. Internet Archaeology, 64. https://doi.org/10.11141/ia.64.9

Kandel, A. W., Sommer, C., Kanaeva, Z., Bolus, M., Bruch, A. A., Groth, C., Haidle, M. N., Hertler, C., Heß, J., Malina, M., Märker, M., Hochschild, V., Mosbrugger, V., Schrenk, F., & Conard, N. J. (2023). The ROCEEH Out of Africa Database (ROAD): A large-scale research database serves as an indispensable tool for human evolutionary studies. PLOS ONE, 18(8), e0289513. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0289513

Fischer, L. M., Sommer, C., & Fitzsimmons, K. E. (2023). An open-source GIS approach to understanding dunefield morphologic variability at Kati Thanda (Lake Eyre), Central Australia. Frontiers in Earth Science, 11(1196244). https://doi.org/10.3389/feart.2023.1196244

Khan, S., Omran, A., Schröder, D., Sommer, C., Hochschild, V., & Märker, M. (2023). A QGIS-plugin for gully erosion modeling. Earth Science Informatics. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12145-023-01092-7

Dapschauskas, R., Göden, M. B., Sommer, C., & Kandel, A. W. (2022). The Emergence of Habitual Ochre Use in Africa and its Significance for The Development of Ritual Behavior During The Middle Stone Age. Journal of World Prehistory, 35(3), 233–319. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10963-022-09170-2

Omran, A., Schröder, D., Sommer, C., Hochschild, V., & Märker, M. (2022). A GIS-based simulation and visualization tool for the assessment of gully erosion processes. Journal of Spatial Science, 0(0), 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1080/14498596.2022.2133020

Kandel, A. W., Haidle, M. N., & Sommer, C. (Eds.). (2022). Human Origins – Digital Future: An International Conference about the Future of Archaeological and Paleoanthropological Databases. Propylaeum. https://doi.org/10.11588/PROPYLAEUM.882

Sommer, C., Kandel, A. W., & Hochschild, V. (2022). The use of prehistoric ‘big data’ for mapping early human cultural networks. Journal of Maps, 18(4), 674–685. https://doi.org/10.1080/17445647.2022.2118628

Will, M., Bader, G. D., Sommer, C., Cooper, A., & Green, A. (2022). Coastal adaptations on the eastern seaboard of South Africa during the Pleistocene and Holocene? Current evidence and future perspectives from archaeology and marine geology. Frontiers in Earth Science, 10(964423). https://doi.org/10.3389/feart.2022.964423

Bader, G. D., Sommer, C., Conard, N. J., & Wadley, L. (2022). The final MSA of eastern South Africa: A comparative study between Umbeli Belli and Sibhudu. Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa, 57(2), 197–238. https://doi.org/10.1080/0067270X.2022.2078553

Rodríguez, J., Willmes, C., Sommer, C., & Mateos, A. (2022). Sustainable human population density in Western Europe between 560.000 and 360.000 years ago. Scientific Reports, 12(1), Article 1. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-10642-w

Zakerinejad, R., Sommer, C., Hochschild, V., & Maerker, M. (2021). Spatial Distribution of Water Erosion Using Stochastic Modeling in the Southern Isfahan Province, Iran. Geografia Fisica e Dinamica Quaternaria, 44(2), 183–196. https://doi.org/10.4461/GFDQ.2021.44.14

Hochschild, V., Braun, A., Sommer, C., Warth, G., & Omran, A. (2021). Visualizing Landscapes by Geospatial Techniques. In D. Edler, C. Jenal, & O. Kühne (Eds.), Modern Approaches to the Visualization of Landscapes (pp. 47–78). Springer Fachmedien. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-30956-5_4

Sommer, C., Braun, A., Hanold, M., Rosner, H.-J., & Hochschild, V. (2020). A Mobile Application to Visualize Historic Land Use along Hiking Trails in Southern Germany. GI_Forum 2020, 8(2), 45–54. https://doi.org/10.1553/giscience2020_02_s45

Haidle, M. N., Bolus, M., Bruch, A. A., Hertler, C., Hochschild, V., Kanaeva, Z., Sommer, C., & Kandel, A. W. (2020). Human Origins—Digital Future, an international conference about the future of archeological and paleoanthropological databases. Evolutionary Anthropology: Issues, News, and Reviews, 29(6), 289–292. https://doi.org/10.1002/evan.21870

Bosino, A., Bernini, A., Botha, G. A., Bonacina, G., Pellegrini, L., Omran, A., Hochschild, V., Sommer, C., & Maerker, M. (2020). Geomorphology of the upper Mkhomazi River basin, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, with emphasis on late Pleistocene colluvial deposits. Journal of Maps, 0(0), 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1080/17445647.2020.1790435

Maerker, M., Schillaci, C., Melis, R. T., Kropáček, J., Bosino, A., Vilímek, V., Hochschild, V., Sommer, C., Altamura, F., & Mussi, M. (2019). Geomorphological processes, forms and features in the surroundings of the Melka Kunture Palaeolithic site, Ethiopia. Journal of Maps, 15(2), 797–806. https://doi.org/10.1080/17445647.2019.1669497

Kanaeva, Z., Hochschild, V., Märker, M., & Sommer, C. (2018). Digital Data and Tools in Archaeology: The ROCEEH Out of Africa Database (ROAD). GI_Forum 2018, 6(2), 3–12. https://doi.org/10.1553/giscience2018_02_s3

2025/10 | Workshop "Big Data and Human Evolution", organized by the Bones Lab, University of Bologna, Ravenna, IT.

2025/10 | Symposium "Diversifying Networks - How Culture Infuses the Environment", organized by ROCEEH, Frankfurt/Main, DE.

2025/09 | Geo4Göttingen / Deutsche Gesellschaft für Geomorphologie (DGGM), Göttingen, DE. 💾 Abstract

2025/05 | 11th Meeting of Developing International Geoarchaeology (DIG) / 20. Jahrestagung AK Geoarchäologie, Tübingen, DE.

2025/05 | 52nd Annual Conference of Computer Applications and Quantitative Methods in Archaeology (CAA), Athens, GR.

2024/11 | International Commission on Continental Erosion (ICCE) Symposium 2024 of the International Association of Hydrological Sciences (IAHS) at KU Eichstätt, DE.

2023/11 | Big Historical Data Conference (BHDC) at the Max-Planck-Institute for Geoanthropology, Jena, DE. 💾 Presentation

2023/10 | 41st annual meeting of the Working Group Climate (AK Klima), Deutsche Gesellschaft für Geographie (DGfG), Tübingen, DE. 💾 Organized

2023/07 | 21st Conference of the International Union for Quaternary Research (INQUA), Rome, IT. 💾 Presentation

2023/07 | FPCUP Summer-School and Workshop "Copernicus for Cultural Heritage", German Aeorospace Center (DLR), Oberpfaffenhofen, DE. 💾 Poster

2023/04 | 50th Annual Conference of Computer Applications and Quantitative Methods in Archaeology (CAA), Amsterdam, NL. 💾 Presentation

2022/08 | 49th Annual Conference of Computer Applications and Quantitative Methods in Archaeology (CAA), Oxford, UK. 💾 Presentation

2022/06 | Joint conference by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Ur- und Frühgeschichte (DGUF) and NFDI4Objects, Franfurt/Main, DE. 💾 Presentation

2022/05 | ESA Living Planet Symposium, Bonn, DE. 💾 Presentation

2021/11 | Mid European Geomorphology Meeting (MGM 2021), Munich, DE. 💾 Presentation

2021/10 | EUROPEANS Workshop "Simulating Human Behavior - Targeted design of agent‐based models", virtual. 💾 Presentation

2021/07 | 48th Annual Conference of Computer Applications and Quantitative Methods in Archaeology (CAA), virtual. 💾 Presentation

2020/10 | Workshop of the Academies' Union, "Fair & Co", virtual. 💾 Presentation.

2020/06 |  ROCEEH Conference "Human Origins – Digital Future: An International Conference about the Future of Archaeological and Paleoanthropological Databases", virtual. 💾 Presentation, Proceedings, Article

2020/05 | EGU Generaly Assembly 2020, virtual. 💾 Presentation

2019/04 | 47th Annual Conference of Computer Applications and Quantitative Methods in Archaeology (CAA), Kraków, PL.

2019/01 | The 22nd conference of the Southern African Society of Quaternary Research (SASQUA), Mossel Bay, ZA.

2018/06 | Symposium for Geographic Information Science (GI_FORUM), Special Session on Digital Humanities, Salzburg, AT.

2018/03 | 46th Annual Conference of Computer Applications and Quantitative Methods in Archaeology (CAA), Tübingen, DE.

2016/09 | Modelling Environmental Dynamics and Hominin Dispersals Around the Mid-Pleistocene Revolution (METHOD), Sassari, IT.

2016/09 | Jahrestagung der Arbeitskreise „Fernerkundung“ (DGfG) und „Auswertung von Fernerkundungsdaten“ (DGPF), Halle/Saale, DE.

2013-2019 | AGIT Symposium & GI_Forum, Salzburg, AT.

• Homepage at the University of Tübingen
• Personal homepage at sommergeo.com
• Github: sommergeo
• ORCID: 0000-0001-9062-0876
• List of publications: Zotero
• Presentations and figures: figshare.com
• Twitter: @sommer_geo
• Mastodon: @sommer@fosstodon.org