*Postdoctoral research positions 2007*


The CNRS annual recruitment drive for Postdoctoral Research positions is 
designed to offer young researchers an opportunity to spend time either 
in CNRS Laboratories or those it runs with other organizations or higher 
educational institutions.
This recruitment drive offering post doctororal contracts is aimed at 
the most brilliant researchers, either from France or abroad to enable 
them to move from the laboratory where they did their Ph.D. to acquire 
additional high-level research experience. Thereby, enabling them to 
prepare uninterruptedly, and under good working conditions, for 
recruitment into a company or laboratory any where in the world. Young 
French Ph.D.s who having spent time abroad and want to return to France, 
can use the post doctoral positions as a way to become better known by 
their French colleagues, increasing their chances of obtaining permanent 
positions in France.

These short-term contracts are for one year – or renewable for a further 
year. Monthly pay is 2500 euros gross.

*Applicants must:*
• have a Ph.D. or equivalent degree at the time of employment;
• not have worked previously in the lab applied for. The only exception 
to this rule is for someone returning to the lab after a period of 
absence of at least one year;
• There are no nationality restrictions.
• Be in possession of your diploma for less than two years

*How to apply:*
1 – applicants must look through the job descriptions on the web site 
for open positions in their field of expertise (an English version 
exists for all job descriptions). We invite you to look carefully at the 
interdisciplinary menu : it displays more than sixty job offers in 
several disciplinary fields or at an interdisciplinary lab.
2 – applicants have until *April 30 2007* to make contact with the labs 
listed and send them a completed application form.
3 – a local selection committee under the instructions of the lab 
director selects one candidate from the application forms received. The 
relevant regional offices are responsible for drawing up the contract.
4 – selected candidates begin work on September or October 1st 2007. 
This date can be postponed in exceptional circumstances.

*Recruitment for those with special needs*
The CNRS has undertaken a policy to facilitate the professional 
integration of those with special needs giving scientists an opportunity 
to benefit from postdoctoral contracts and thus to have easier access to 
scientific careers.
As of this year those with special needs have two options :
1 – to apply for any post advertised in the recruitment drive,
And also :
2 – to apply for a certain number of positions reserved for those with 
special needs by submitting their research project under the section « 
applicants with special needs » (left menu).

Applications must be received by the lab directors by *April 30, 2007*.


Please note that the list of job openings will be updated on several 
occasions. Please check back regularly.


        detail of the offer : S.H.S./28


          • Heading of offer

*Human-horse relationship in the nomadic societies of **Central Asia**: 
stable isotope approach combining skeletal (bone, teeth) and keratinized 
(hair, hoof) tissues.*


          • Description of the project

French research teams including the Mission Archéologique Française en 
Asie Centrale (MAFAC) directed by H-P Francfort and the Mission 
archéologique franco-chinoise au Xinjiang directed by C. 
Debaine-Francfort and A. Idriss have unearthed several tombs which are 
extremely well preserved and date from the second half of the first 
millenium BC. Mummified bodies were discovered in association with 
different objects and horses that were sacrificed during funeral 
ceremonies.
Between 1998 and 1999, the MAFAC team excavated a large burial mound (a 
‘kurgan’) at Berel (Altay mountains, Eastern Kazakhstan). In this third 
century BC kurgan, two human mummies were found as well as many objects 
and thirteen horses that had been preserved in the permafrost and placed 
on two levels under plates of birch bark for protection. These horses 
were bridled and saddled and some of them were equipped with wooden or 
golden masks with dummy tusks or, for one of them a Persepolis-type 
griffin. Each horse’s tack had its own set of themes that H-P Francfort 
in his iconographic analysis was able to relate to various influences: 
Siberian, Sino-Mongolian and Middle-Eastern ones. In addition to these 
ornaments samples of horse muscles, organs, stomach contents, skin or 
coat were taken. These remains have been submitted to specific 
paleogenetic or parasitologic investigations which, combined with the 
more traditional archeozoologic approach, contributed to describing the 
herd and the animals’ living and dying conditions. However, this 
research has not made it possible to test the hypothesis stemming from 
the stylistic analysis of the objects according to which the animals may 
have been offered by allied tribes during funerals, a practice Herodotus 
did describe. The other possibility is that the horses came from one 
herd belonging to the deceased. This question is yet to be solved and is 
essential to our knowledge of the relationships between the steppe 
people and our understanding of their funeral rites.
Isotope geochemistry can provide valuable information on this issue. 
Stable isotope analyses performed on biological tissues allows 
reconstruction of several aspects of human and animal individual 
histories (diet, movements, etc.). To date, most of the applications 
have focused on the mineral (bioapatite) or on the organic (collagen) 
fraction of skeletal tissues (bone, teeth). But the information gathered 
from these tissues is either restricted to the early life of the animal 
(in the case of teeth), or gives a blurred picture that is averaged over 
the animal’s life (in the case of bone). In contrast, the sequential 
sampling and stable isotope analysis of keratinized tissues (hair, hoof) 
records with great temporal precision, dietary (d13C, d15N) or seasonal 
(d18O, d2H) changes that occurred during the last months/year of an 
animal’s life. Skeletal tissues and keratinized tissues are well 
preserved in Berel’. Working in parallel with both tissues will give 
information at two different time scales. Stable isotope profiles (d13C) 
performed in tooth enamel will give information regarding the horse’s 
diet during the first 2-4 years of life, and the measurement of 
strontium isotope ratios 87Sr/86Sr will document animal movement during 
this time period. A similar approach will be undertaken on keratinized 
tissues in order to document features of their individual history during 
the last month prior to slaughter. The comparison between individual 
isotope profiles will determine if the horses originate from a single 
herd or not.
The Altay region has provided other similar archaeological sites (Arzhan 
2, Ukok plateau) yielding organic remains, which could also be 
investigated using the stable isotope approach. Finally, another set of 
data is available in the desert of Taklamakan (Xinjiang province, RPC) 
where contemporaneous series have been discovered. The conditions of 
preservation are very different (humans and horses are preserved as dry 
mummies), but the information that can be extracted from these remains 
located south of the Altay region is also potentially very important.
Due to the quality of the remains unearthed and the use of new 
analytical techniques, the excavation and analysis of these 
archaeological sites bring data that renew our understanding of Scythian 
nomadic societies. The goal of this post-doctoral project is to 
participate to this renewal. The details of the research program can be 
adjusted based on the background and expertise of the successful candidate


          • Candidat profile

Candidates must have a strong publication record and a previous 
expertise in stable isotope measurements performed in organic matter or 
biomineralizations and applied to paleontology and archaeology.


          • Duration of project

1 year


          • Laboratory of project

*UMR 5197*

Ile-de-France Est (03) <http://www.dr3.cnrs.fr/>

Archéozoologie, histoire des sociétés humaines et des peuplements animaux.

Paris

http://www.mnhn.fr/mnhn/anc/esa/esa.html


          • Contact

*Vigne Jean-Denis*

01 40 79 33 10

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