Dear Zooarchers
Find below information on PhD opportunities:
A PhD position is available at the Institute of Prehistory of the University of Cantabria (Spain). The position is funded by the Government of Spain to work in the project TRACECHANGE: Tracing Climatic Abrupt Change Events and their Social Impact during the Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene (15-7 ky calBP).
Supervisors: Manuel González-Morales and Igor Gutiérrez-Zugasti
Closing date for applications: 3pm (Spanish time), Friday 26th September 2014.
TRACECHANGE: Tracing Climatic Abrupt Change Events and their Social Impact during the Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene (15-7 ky calBP)
The detailed study of the environmental variations along the Tardiglacial and the Early Holocene increasingly shows the presence of abrupt climatic change events, of relatively short duration but very marked in terms of intensity, instead of slow processes of gradual change. Under this perspective, the study of their impact over human societies must move away of the models of smooth gradualistic adaptation and it is forced to enquire about the effect of abrupt change over the populations of the Cantabrian Coast, already in situation of resource stress. In this direction, one must expect in those moments rapid changes in cultural responses, including the reorganization of group structures over more reduced territories, the reformulation of resource exploitation strategies and migratory movements. The problem of the detection of abrupt change in the past is its own characteristic, that render difficult the use of traditional climatic proxies, as changes in vegetation, faunas or even sediments; instead, marine shells, present in abundance on a regular basis in Cantabrian archaeological sites across this period, carry a very precise record, detectable through oxygen isotope and Mg/Ca ratio analysis of their carbonates. The possibility of direct dating and their association with other food or technological remains is a strong base to correlate climatic change with the behavior of social groups and their spatial distribution. The chosen period (15-7ky), bracketing the Pleistocene-Holocene transition, is relevant as the moment of dissolution of the Upper Palaeolithic hunter-gatherers’ world along the Final Magdalenian and the Azilian, and the development of Mesolithic societies, with radical changes in site types, their distribution and contents, the economic activities and the fast disappearance of symbolic graphic manifestations. The project aims the identification of four events of abrupt climatic change in the Spanish Cantabrian Coast along the 15-7ky interval: the inception of the Tardiglacial Interstadial (GIS1) (ca.14.7ky), the abrupt “freezing” of the Younger Dryas (GS1)(12.9-11.5 ky), the sudden marine water warming around 11.3ky and the abrupt cooling around 8.2ky. The ensemble study of the key contexts selected for each period aims to establish the variation in the set of environmental exploitation activities, seasonal use of sites, technological solutions and symbolic formulations, their possible correlation with the identified climatic events, and their spatial distribution.
The application process
Applicants should have a Masters degree in a subject relevant to the main discipline highlighted in the studentship. A willingness to undergo sufficient training when needed in other disciplines is essential. A good level of English is required (Spanish is not mandatory but it is recommended). Please, note that the application process is in Spanish.
More details on the position and the application process can be found in the next links: