PhD Position in Archaeology

At the Department of Archaeology and Ancient History,
Application no later than 2013-07-15. UFV-PA 2013/1859

The position is subject to final approval of funding from the EU.

Post-graduate training encompasses four years. The first three years are financed by the REAL project (see below). The fourth year is financed through funding from the Historical-Philosophical Faculty. PhD students are expected to study full-time and to actively participate in the activities of the department. Administrative or teaching duties up to 20% at the department may be included, in which case the employment period will be extended. During the first three years, additional funding is available for travel, fieldwork and conference participation.

The position correspond to Early State Researcher and is tied to the international EU project Resilience in East African Landscapes: Identifying critical thresholds and sustainable trajectories  (REAL) and will commence in September 2013 or as soon as possible thereafter.

This is an EU funded Marie Curie Initial Training Network (ITN) (proposal 606879, REAL). The overall project focus is on the temporal, spatial and social dynamics of human-landscape interaction in East Africa over the last millennia, with particular reference to the Ewaso Basin and Eastern Rift Valley in central Kenya, and the Pangani Basin & Amboseli catchment in north-eastern Tanzania & south-eastern Kenya. These two areas cover a range of environments, presenting a mixed topography between the Rift Valley and adjacent uplands. A core consideration of the project will be on how societies, landscapes and ecosystems have responded to climate change both currently and in the past under different conditions, so as to better understand how they may respond to future climate change.

Archaeological Project
Settlement and economic change and continuity, c. AD 900-1750, in the Lake Baringo basin, Kenya.

This archaeological project will focus on documenting the evidence for continuity and change in food production strategies and settlement patterns around Lake Baringo during major climatic change coeval with the Medieval Warm Period & Little Ice Age in Europe. Particular attention will be directed at determining whether these climatic stresses resulted in social-ecological collapse/restructuring, or alternatively promoted development of greater societal resilience to climate change through changes in subsistence strategies, exchange networks and relations of production.

Landscape surveys coupled with targeted site excavation will be the main means of data collection, supplemented by remote sensing data (aerial photographs, satellite imagery) and re-study of existing collections. Emphasis will be placed on obtaining well-dated faunal, botanical and artefactual samples for identification of subsistence and resource procurement strategies (including stable-isotope studies) and exchange networks (archaeometry of lithic & ceramic artefacts & isotopic analysis of faunal remains). Candidates will also be expected to make use of a relational GIS, linked to climate and vegetation models produced by other members of the network, to analyse spatial and temporal patterning, and prepare their archaeological data in formats suitable for inclusion in this database.

Both REAL PhD projects will be supervised by Paul Lane, professor of Global Archaeology at the department.

The archaeological sub-projects are part of a work package aimed at reconstructing past scenarios for the period ca. AD800 – 1930, with an emphasis on collection and analysis of time-series data about continuing and changing human-environment relationships in regional social-ecological systems over long temporal scales. Three broad time windows, each known to have been characterised by particular climatic conditions, will be the primary focus: the period ~900-1250, when frequent and prolonged regional droughts are believed to have triggered social and cultural upheaval; the climatically moist period ~1250-1750 which witnessed the expansion of intensive irrigation agriculture, along with the expansion of pastoralist settlement in dry upland areas; and the period ~1750-1930, which witnessed both major droughts and the significantly wetter conditions enjoyed by early European colonialism. The key research questions to be addressed are: What has been the magnitude and variability of ecosystem change over the last c. 1500 years, and did notable spatial differences occur? How much variability were the prevailing social-ecological systems able to accommodate without reaching a limiting tipping point or threshold? At what point, and why, did changes in ecological and social parameters force the restructuring of communities? And, what were the consequences of this restructuring in terms of the organisation of human society, subsistence strategies, and their resilience to stress?

PhD-candidates in this multi-partner project will be part of a network of early stage researchers and senior researchers involving several European and African universities and institutions (Uppsala University; University of York; University of Stockholm; University of Cologne; Ghent University; Ecole des hautes en sciences sociales, Paris; University of Warwick; Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, Nairobi; University of Dar es Salaam) as well as industry partners. A number of shared, cross-disciplinary doctoral courses and training events will be organised within the project.

Who is eligible to apply?
The successful applicant to postgraduate studies in Archaeology at Uppsala University has a) a first degree encompassing at least 180 credits, and b) has been awarded a degree at advanced level (MA/MSc or equivalent) with a major in Archaeology or a cognate subject. An applicant may also be considered qualified if s/he has acquired the corresponding competence in other ways. Additionally, for this position the applicant must have no more than four years (fulltime equivalent) of postgraduate research experience by the time of appointment.

Applicants will be assessed according to the following criteria:
•practical experience and academic background of relevance for the project, e.g. experience of archaeological survey and excavation work in Eastern Africa, or in a comparable rural environment

•quality of outline proposal in terms of originality, feasibility, theoretical framing and methods

•knowledge of scientific theory and method of relevance to the research project (e.g. environmental archaeology, landscape archaeology, historical ecology, archaeology of pastoralism),

•analytical ability and skills in writing, as demonstrated by the submission of written work for assessment by the appointments panel

•additional skills and expertise pertinent to the project (e.g. archaeological GIS; zooarchaeology; geoarchaeology; knowledge of KiSwahili; previous field research in the study area/s)

•references from two academic referees closely familiar with the applicant’s work.

The language of instruction will be in English, and the thesis will be expected to be written in English, thus demonstrable, good English skills are a requirement.

There are no nationality restrictions. However, to fulfil Marie Curie mobility requirements applicants at the time of recruitment by the host organisation must not have resided or carried out their main activity (work, studies, etc.) in Sweden for more than 12 months in the 3 years immediately prior to the commencement of the award in October 2013 (compulsory national service and/or short stays such as holidays are not taken into account). Further details of the requirements of the Marie Curie scheme can be found athttp://www.ukro.ac.uk/mariecurie/schemes_orgs/Documents/120710_2013_gfa_itn.pdf

For your application, please use the following form: http://uadm.uu.se/digitalAssets/81/81626_ansokan_forskarniva.pdf
The application should include a letter (of no more than 2 pages) stating why you are interested in this post and why you consider yourself well suited to undertake the research, as well as a CV listing previous education and (archaeological) fieldwork, other relevant research experience, a list of publications and unpublished dissertations and previous employment records.

In addition, a 3-4 page PhD proposal should be included, outlining an archaeological study of Settlement and economic change and continuity, c. AD 900-1750, in the Lake Baringo Basin. This should adhere to the following structure: Title, aims, theoretical and intellectual background (including prior research) data sets to be recovered and analysed, methods, expected results, references and timetable.

For this position, we also demand two written academic references (see above).

Information on the PhD education programme in Archaeology can be found athttp://www.arkeologi.uu.se/digitalAssets/148/148873_fn_130122_arkeologi.pdf  (Swedish only).

For information and regulations, see Högskoleförordningen kap. 5, 8 och 9, the guidelines for PhD education of Uppsala University and those of the Historical-Philosophical Faculty at http://www.histfilfak.uu.se/Forskning/Forskarutbildning/
For more information, please contact the coordinator for the REAL project, professor Paul Lane, paul.lane@arkeologi.uu.se, phone +46 (0)18-471 2897; the director of post-graduate studies; professor Paul Sinclair,paul.sinclair@arkeologi.uu.se, phone +46-(0)18-471 20 95; head of department Lars Karlsson, lars.karlsson@antiken.uu.se tel. phone +46-(0)18-471 7552  and the faculty head of education Malin Sigvardsson, malin.sigvardsson@uadm.uu.se, phone +46-(0)18-471 18 79. Trade Union representatives are Anders Grundström, SACO (the Swedish Confederation of Professional Associations), phone +46-(0)18-471 5380 and Carin Söderhäll, TCO/ST (the Swedish Confederation of Professional Employees), phone +46-(0)18-471 1996, Stefan Djurström, SEKO (the Union of Service and Communication Employees), phone +46-(0)18-471 3315.

Deadline for application is July 15, 2013. Dnr  UFV-PA 2013/1859. Please use the link below to access the application form

PhD position in Archaeology