A PhD scholarship position is available at the University of Wollongong, Australia, focusing on geoarchaeology related to a project investigating the colonisation of Asia and Australasia by modern humans during the late Pleistocene. The deadline for applications is 31 July 2015.
Applications are invited for a fully funded PhD position within the Centre for Archaeological Science (CAS), University of Wollongong (UOW). The successful candidate will join a multi-disciplinary project that is seeking to generate new data related to the Late Pleistocene colonisation of Asia and Australasia by modern humans (Homo sapiens) and other archaic hominins present in the region at this time. This forms part of the Australian Research Council (ARC) Laureate Fellowship project led by Prof. Richard ‘Bert’ Roberts, ‘Out of Asia: unique insights into human evolution and interactions using frontier technologies in archaeological science’. To address important questions concerning the origins of our species we are developing a number of innovative archaeological science techniques, focussed on combining archaeo-chemical, geochronological and geoarchaeological research strands.
The geoarchaeological component of this project is focussing on spatially-resolved data acquisition at the micro-scale, linking on-site indicators of environmental change to the wider dynamics of the Quaternary landscape and climate systems. We are interested in how hominins interacted with the environments in which they lived, and the directionality of these interrelationships. Archaeological sediments are laid down and post-depositionally modified through the complex interplay between a broad range of geomorphic and anthropogenic processes. These processes leave behind diagnostic signatures that can be sought and identified at the micro-scale, allowing for additional dimensions of data to supplement more traditional field and laboratory techniques. The position will involve overseas fieldwork at archaeological sites in Southeast Asia, and an intensive, laboratory-based analytical research program.
Download more information here (pdf file)
Also, the Centre for Archaeological Research at the University of Wollongong is organising a short course from 16-20th November on Micromorphology.
A 1-week intensive, hands-on short course focussing on the application of micromorphology to the interpretation of archaeological and palaeoenvironmental sequences.
Course information can be downloaded here (pdf file)
