Seeking Palaeozoologist(s) for Alalakh

The Alalakh Excavations project is seeking a paleozoologist starting in the 2016 season. We are located in the Turkish province of Hatay 20km east of Antakya (www.alalakh.org).  Tell Atchana is a terminal Early Bronze Age – Iron Age site.  Our aim is to recruit a specialist who will work to document our collection, produce comprehensive primary publications, generate a research agenda, and mentor students (their own or others).  Unpublished material spans a period of nine years of major excavations and consists of both elite and non-elite contexts from the Middle Bronze II-Iron II periods.  Alalakh has produced a huge range of faunal taxa, from domestic and game species to fish and crustaceans, ostriches, elephants, hyenas, lions, and dolphins.

Both pre- and post-graduates may apply. We would also consider applications to study only one temporal or taxonomic segment of the collection, with an expectation of collaboration with zoologists studying the other periods or taxa. Familiarity with paleoclimatology, secondary uses of bone and shell, the use of Access and eSQL databases, and the method and theory of Household Archaeology is desirable. 

Requirements include staying at Atchana in our dig house (room and board free of charge) for the entire field season each year, consisting of 9 weeks from June into August.  The removal of faunal samples to universities within Turkey for further study would require a legal agreement between Alalakh Excavations and that university. 

As there is a deadline for applications for the 2016 season onNovember 1, 2015, if you are interested please contact Aslıhan Yener at [log in to unmask] cc Mara Horowitz at[log in to unmask] and Murat Akar at [log in to unmask], as soon as possible.

We welcome preliminary inquiries.  From formal candidates we would request a current CV, a short statement of interest including the applicant’s research goals, and a letter of reference, which may be emailed directly from the writer to the above.

Professor Dr. K. Aslihan Yener
Director, Alalakh Excavations
Archaeology and History of Art Department
Koc University Rumelifeneri Yolu 
34450 Sariyer, Istanbul Turkey