Postdoc - The Study of health-and-well-being materials and connective materials in the 2nd mill. BCE Aegean

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Responsibilities

The acronym ODYSSEIA stands for: Organic Data Yields in Aegean Bronze Age material culture. Scientific, Sensory, Ethnographic, Experimental, and Iconographic Approaches to human-environment interactions through crafting. In this project, we aim to revise our understanding of how Aegean people in the 2nd millennium BCE related to their physical environment. For this, we will investigate the socio-economic roles of their organic materials in a world known for its elite conspicuous consumption of durable materials and richly decorated palaces. We will achieve this via a multidisciplinary survey of a wide range of organic materials and objects of faunal and floral origins. In order to reconstruct the workflows of how these organic objects have been produced but also used, our holistic and novel methodology combines Aegean and Egyptian iconography, Bronze Age and later texts, ethnographic and experimental studies, 3D modelling, and scientific analyses of archaeological remains. Based on the workflows and how these intersect, their labour cost rates will be calculated. These calculations, based on optimal socio-economic work patterns, and on pre-industrial agricultural subsistence activities, will redress the socio-economic and political imbalances in the power between elites and others in the 2nd millennium BCE. It will complement existing labour data on Late Bronze Age Aegean inorganic workflows. These new data will render visible both organics and a fuller range of Bronze Age people interacting with them, and it will result in a comprehensive, gendered taskscape narrative.

Key tasks and responsibilities

As a member of a larger team, the advertised Post-Doctoral Researcher (PDR) position is embedded within the ODYSSEIA programme, funded by an FWO ODYSSEUS Type I Grant, and supervised by Prof. Dr. Ann Brysbaert. As PDR scholar, you carry out research in the framework of this project and according to a set of tasks linked to this project. You will also have the possibilities to take part in Faculty of Arts training programmes and university-wide ones, developed for scholars at this stage of their career. The Faculty of Arts is a large vibrant research community of PhD students and PDRs from all corners of the world, and they often come together in social and professional activities which are open to all.

Health-and-wellbeing materials and technologies are being covered in ongoing research for present-day usage, but increasingly so also for past populations. These technologies crossed over with aromatic oils, colorants, faunal and floral technologies, religious practices, food and inorganic materials. Extracting medicinal products from plants and animals to remedy ailments has been studied and analysed, and medicinal plants were collected, but in limited ways for the Aegean's 2nd millennium. The Amarna tablets tell of physicians being sent between royal courts in the 2nd millennium East Mediterranean. 

Connective technologies received very little attention even though they criss-cross all organic and inorganic raw sources: wood joints, treads and cordage, keratin/collagen-based adhesives. These were also essential in daily life: in building activities, to extract from mines and wells, to string up and connect materials. Tiryns’s torch holders contained resin, and terebinth was found on the Ulu Burun shipwreck. Water, needed for many crafts, is a connective material, so fresh or salty water requirements will be reported on in their respective production processes.

This PDR project will thus collect, document, and analyse evidence for connective technologies and technologies relating to health and well-being. Data on oils, aromatics, and herbs, next to wax, ropes, thread, hinges, glues, and mortars, will enhance insights in many chaînes opératoires worked on by different other team members. Residue analyses literature and collaboration with the team members carrying out experimental work will be crucial and joint experimental work is encouraged. Research on connective technologies has so far not been conducted in Egypt, but ancient medicinal research is well known and can be usefully compared with the Aegean. The expected deliveries will be: OA database, 4 papers in a peer-reviewed journal and/or conference papers, 1 Handbook chapter.

You will carry out the following:

1. Write the papers jointly and/or as single author
2. Take part in PDR training offered by the KU Leuven and through external partners where relevant
3. Participate in meetings-workshops organised by the ODYSSEIA team to share and discuss data among the group members and the PI towards the common goals.
4. Present papers at inter/national conferences and workshops, together with other team members and collaborators, as required by the project (co-authored and individual)
5. Submit research results for publication, together with other team members and collaborators, in peer-reviewed journals, synthetic publications, and conference proceedings (co-authored and individual)
6. Undertake/participate in limited teaching during your appointment (practicals, classes, exam invigilation, field school, etc.), and minor project administration tasks, as is the case for all PDR scholars at KU Leuven.

Profile

Candidate’s profile

The project seeks to employ a highly motivated and proactive candidate who will need to work both independently and as part of a larger team. S/he is willing to travel between Belgium and Greece, and to stay for periods in Greece to carry out research in libraries, and in excavation- and museum stores. The candidate will be a team player together with several other PhD candidates and postdoctoral researchers and the PI. As such, you will share data, results and findings with the team members and the PI on a regular basis in project meetings and in writing reports. You will work together with the group on a day-to-day basis at the Archaeology Research Unit, while also being able to work independently.

Crucial

1. Degrees (MA/MSc. and PhD, certificates to be submitted) in archaeology with a specific focus on Bronze/Iron Age Archaeology and Bio-Archaeology.
2. An explicit interest in prehistoric organic material culture and landscape studies in the East Mediterranean, visible in the previously taken courses, written theses, and publications
3. Excellent verbal and written communication skills
4. The candidate’s obtained PhD thesis and publications show well-developed research skills (both analytical and descriptive) and collaborative research
5. The ability to work with databases, excel, and statistical packages are a necessary skill
6. The research needs to result in an OA database, co-written and individually written papers for peer-reviewed journals, edited volumes and other project publications
7. An excellent command of English (reading, understanding, speaking, writing)
8. A command of modern Greek (reading, speaking, understanding) or willing to commit to take classes in modern Greek in year one of the position and as long as it takes to converse and read it well is an added bonus

Desirable

1. Specialisation in archaeobotany / bio-archaeology / ethnoarchaeology / experimental archaeology
2. Relevant working experience in museums and excavation depots and working with microscopes, dinolites and other relevant analytical instrumentation
3. Knowledge of and experience in studying and analysing organic materials and proven collaborations in this field
4. Other modern language skills (French, German)
5. Relevant publications and/or experimental projects in archaeological contexts
6. Valid European driving license

Offer

More information

Details on PhD and PDR communities
Details on salary
Details on salary

Interested?

For more information please contact Prof. dr. Ann Brysbaert, mail: [email protected] or Prof. dr. Ilse Schoep, mail: [email protected].

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