PhD Student

Job description

The Balearic islands, Mallorca and Menorca, were characterized by a specific funerary ritual during the Iron Age which used fragmented limestone at the cremation process. These cremated remains and lime fragments were afterwards deposited with funerary goods in caves and rock shelters. The aim of this study is multifold and wants to unravel the different questions on this unique practice. When was cremation introduced on the Balearic islands and how developed this practice into a ritual with the use of limestone? We want to study the technological skills necessary to perform this cremation and how the lime and bone packets in the caves came to be. By using strontium isotopic analyses, the origins of the communities practicing this funerary ritual on the islands will be determined. However, other funerary practices of primary and secondary inhumation were also existing at the same time on both islands. By studying the strontium signals from both the limeburials and the inhumation graves and oxygen for the latter we want to verify if different communities where using different funerary practices as a potential way of expressing identity or that other social reasons played a role in the use of different funerary habitats during the Iron Age.
As a PhD-researcher on this project you will cooperate with the teams of the Department of Archaeology at Ghent University and the Archaeology, environmental changes and Geochemistry group at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (prof. dr. Christophe Snoeck). You will assist in the collection of the human remains to be studied from the Balearic Islands. You will be responsible for the isotopic analyses of the burned and unburned bones and their interpretation within the framework of the Balearic protohistoric funerary archaeology and questions about mobility on the Balearic Islands and the Iberian Peninsula.

We offer a position for a duration of 4 years (1 + 3).

Job profile

• You have a master in Archaeology/Archaeology and Art Sciences (experience with Bronze and Iron Age archaeology and/or archaeometryis is a plus).
• You have a good command of the English language (written and spoken), and good communication skills. Experience with scientific writing is a plus. Knowledge of the Spanish language is a plus.
• You have an interest in laboratory work. Experience in isotopic bioarchaeology is a plus.
• You are a team player who wants to work in an international team.
• You are open to travelling abroad

How to apply

Send your application to Guy.demulder@UGent.be before 29 September.
Please provide the following documents in your application:

• your cv.
• your application letter.
• a transcript of the required degree (if already in your possession)..
• other documents such as a reference letter.
  
  

The projects aims to start at 1 November