contact: elenacordos@gmail.com

Research Interests

• Upper Paleolithic archaeology
• Gravettian and Epigravettian in Eastern Europe
• Site formation processes
• Lithic analysis
• Spatial analysis and GIS applications
• Human–environment interactions during the Last Glacial Maximum

Biography

Elena Cristina Cordoș is a researcher at the Institute of Archaeology of the Romanian Academy, Iași Branch, where she has been active since 2018, following an earlier period as a junior researcher within the same institution. She completed her BA and MA studies at Babeș-Bolyai University (Cluj-Napoca) and obtained her PhD in 2024 from Valahia University of Târgoviște, with a dissertation focused on the Upper Paleolithic of Eastern Romania. Her research focuses on the cultural and adaptive dynamics of Upper Paleolithic hunter-gatherer communities, with particular emphasis on the Gravettian–Epigravettian transition and on the relationship between human behavior and paleoenvironmental changes during the Last Glacial Maximum. She is actively involved in fieldwork and interdisciplinary research projects, contributing to excavations and analyses at key sites such as Bistricioara–Lutărie III, Mitoc – Malu Galben, and Cotu Miculinți. Her work integrates field methods (excavation, recording, database management) with analytical approaches, including lithic analysis, GIS, photogrammetry, and spatial analysis. She has participated in numerous international conferences (EAA, UISPP, Landscape Archaeology Conference), contributing to current debates on Upper Paleolithic dynamics in Eastern Europe.

Selected publications

Edited volumes

Cordoș, C., Chirica, V. (eds.), 2019, Le Paléolithique supérieur de Roumanie en contexte du Paléolithique supérieur européen. Actes du Colloque International de Iași, Iași: Editura PIM, ISBN 978-606-13-5201-2.

Gogâltan, Fl., Cordoș, C. (eds.), 2016, Prehistoric settlements: social, economic and cultural aspects. Seven studies in the Carpathian area, Cluj-Napoca: Editura Mega.

Articles

Anghelinu, M., Cordoș, C., Niță, L., Händel, M., 2024, A meaningful prefix: The dawn of the Epigravettian in the East Carpathian area, in T. Uthmeier, A. Maier (eds.), STONE AGE, Bonn: Rudolf Habelt Verlag, pp. 319–337.

Mărgărit, M., Anghelinu, M., Händel, M., Cordoș, C., 2023, A world of reindeer: A technological and functional reassessment of the Last Glacial Maximum osseous industry from Cotu Miculinți, Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 51.

Cordoș, C., Händel, M., 2023, Combustion-related features in Upper Paleolithic sites of Eastern Romania. Case study: Bistricioara–Lutărie III (Neamț County), Arheologia Moldovei, XLVI, pp. 7–26.

Anghelinu, M. et al., 2021, Break vs. continuity: Techno-cultural changes across the LGM in the Eastern Carpathians, Quaternary International, 581–582, pp. 241–257.

Anghelinu, M. et al., 2021, From Gravettian to Epigravettian in the Eastern Carpathians: Insights from the Bistricioara–Lutărie III archaeological site, Quaternary International, 587–588, pp. 210–229.

Cordoș, C., Händel, M., Anghelinu, M., 2021, Acknowledging the mess: Implications of a new documentation system for understanding formation processes of two Palaeolithic sites in the Ceahlău Basin (NE Romania), Arheologia Moldovei, XLIV, pp. 7–28.