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Offer Description
The post-doctoral position is part of the ERC Advanced Grant project funded by the European commission and will have a duration of 24 months. The project, “LATEUROPE Why late earliest occupation of Western Europe?”, is a multidisciplinary project directed by Marie-hélène Moncel (UMR 7194, HNHN, CNRS, MNHN, Paris, France).
The LATEUROPE project aims to question human migrations and peopling: why the earliest hominins did occupy Western Europe later than other portions of Eurasia? Early Hominins, conquered Eurasia, long before Modern Humans, the single Homo species living now on the earth. They migrate with a rapid “Out of Africa” movement but left Europe empty for almost 1 million years. Western Europe did indeed face environmental constraints. This subcontinent is in a remote corner of Eurasia but other large Eurasian peninsulas are dead-ends as well. Certainly, Western Europe mixture of various environments and topographies did change a lot over time and the succession of climates, then causing favorable territories for human occupations to fluctuate. However, archaeology in Asia and the Levant shows that hominins did overcome variable climatic conditions and geographies. Investigating why Western Europe have remained out of the “Oekoumen” for so long is our research proposal LATEUROPE, that we base over datasets of interdisciplinary and behavioral materials enriched by future fieldworks in several specific sites and biomes on the key period before 500 ka. This will question at the local, regional and continental scale, the environmental, geographic and climatic conditions of Europe as compared to the rest of Eurasia and the characteristics of the hominin occupations and behaviours, or/and if a minimum degree of cognition was required to thrive in these lands. Databases will input multiple scenarios combining migration patterns and internal evolution mechanisms, using conceptual modeling and spatial agent-based simulations. This formalized combination of modeling and field methodologies is an epistemological advance for bringing interdisciplinarity to reality, allowing us to deeply question the ability of Homo species to adapt themselves to harsh environments, to face environmental shocks and changes on a long term scale.
The goals of this post-doctoral research position are to employ multi-isotope bioarchaeological approaches to study faunal remains from key Middle Pleistocene sites in Europe between ~1.5 million and 0.5 million years ago.
Analyses will target the mineral phase of faunal skeletons, predominantly teeth, using oxygen (carbonate/phosphate), carbon (carbonate), and strontium isotope analysis to 1) assess the isotope palaeoecology of different faunal species at early hominin sites; 2) provide new proxy evidence of site-specific (seasonal) palaeothermic conditions through the oxygen isotope analysis of equid and bovid tooth enamel and 3) explore relationships between herbivore isotope ecology, local palaeotemperatures and the nature of hominin site use.
Sampling will be focused on sites with good faunal preservation: e.g. Pirro Nord, 1.4 – 1.2 Ma, Notarchirico (610-700 ka) and Loreto (500 ka) in Italy; Caune de l’Arago, level Q (600 ka) in France; and La Boella (900 ka) and Gran Dolina TD6-8 (1 Ma-800 ka) in Spain. Comparative data sets/samples from other regions (e.g. sites in Eurasia with earlier evidence of hominin activity) will also be sought. At Western European sites, where possible, paleontological materials from earlier archaeological-sterile levels (e.g., hyena and wolf dens, etc.) will also be incorporated, permitting the investigation of conditions before and during hominin presence in the region as a means of better understanding the ecological and environmental parameters of these earliest occupations.
Sampling of materials will be carried out during research missions, and preparation of teeth ahead of isotope analysis (including sequential sampling) will be undertaken at the University of Aberdeen under the supervision of Prof. Kate Britton. Training in sequential sampling will be provided by Prof. Britton, as required, who will also aid the candidate in co-devising a sampling strategy for the project as a whole. Analysis of prepared samples via mass spectrometry will be undertaken via commercial services and additional collaborative agreements.
The successful candidate will be required to:
• Undertake sampling missions
• Conduct laboratory work
• Undertake regular travel between collaborating laboratories
• Write papers and give presentations in scientific meetings, in collaboration with other project researchers
• To participate in regular meetings with the PI, and with the other researchers and experts of the LATEUROPE team.
The post-doc will be integrated to the HNHP team UMR 7194 CNRS-MNHN (Institut de Paleontologie Humaine, 1 rue René Panhard, 75013 Paris).
The researcher will be employed by Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique via a 36
month contract. The gross salary is 2728 € to 3145 € per month according to the experience.
The researcher will be under the supervision of Marie-Hélène Moncel (https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6203-786X / https://hnhp.mnhn.fr/fr/annuaire/marie-helene-moncel-7086 ), and will be co-supervised by isotope bioarchaeologist Prof. Kate Britton, at the University of Aberdeen. While the work schedule is not yet finalized, it is planned that the successful candidate may spend up to a year in Aberdeen through the course of their work which may necessitate a visa application to work in the UK, in addition to the EU.
Requirements
Additional Information
Eligibility criteria
The successful candidate will:
• Have a PhD in Archaeological Science, or a closely related discipline (e.g. palaeoecology)
• Be a specialist in the application of stable isotope approaches to archaeological and/or palaeoecological materials, ideally faunal remains
• Have demonstrated expertise to conduct and publish scientific research (mainly in English).
• Have the ability to work in a highly-collaborative international research environment.
• Be available to periodically travel in Europe to work on archaeological material and between research centres to collaborate with other members of the project.
• (Ideally) have experience in science dissemination for the public
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STATUS: EXPIRED
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