The Department of Archaeology, Conservation and History in Oslo has had several openings for new PhD students this spring, and here is two more. They are at different research projects so I cut and paste the description of both and post a link. As always, read the requirements carefully and apply on time (if you are so inclined). Good luck!
The first is in Critical Heritage Studies /Archaeology:
The doctoral fellowship is affiliated with the research project «Relics of Nature: An Archaeology of Natural Heritage in the High North», led by Associate Professor Þóra Pétursdóttir and funded by the Norwegian Research Council. Rooted in archaeology, critical heritage studies and environmental humanities, Relics of Nature explores understandings and manifestations of natural heritage, as well as relations between natural and cultural heritage. With special focus on the High North, and with case studies in Iceland and Svalbard/Northern Norway, a central concern is to scrutinize the values and preferences grounding definitions and management of natural heritage in the context of climate change. To what extent do we need to rethink the conceptual and material preferences associated with heritage landscapes? What do terms such as sustainability and environmental ethics imply in a changing Anthropocene world? And, how can natural heritage perform as a venue where concerns for the environment are shared and critically negotiated? The project will reach its objectives by combining empirical and theoretical approaches, fieldwork and conceptual analysis.
The PhD candidate will be part of the project‘s core team and will contribute to its chief objectives in collaboration with the team. The candidate should apply with their own project proposal and while open to the selected candidate to define, the proposed research project must correspond with the overall framework of Relics of Nature (in terms of thematic and northern focus).
And the second is a cross-disciplinary project in Archaeology:
Central Asia is a key route for ancient human expansion out of Africa, with early human migrants leaving behind stone tools in thick wind-blown dust (loess) deposits in Tajikistan, deposited over the last 2-3 million years. However, much remains unknown about the timing and environmental context associated with the first presence of modern humans and ancient hominins in Central Asia. This PhD scholarship is part of an exciting cross-disciplinary project, involving scientists from Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Russia and Tajikistan, that will answer questions such as when humans arrived in Central Asia and what environmental and climatic conditions were at the time. The PhD scholarship will likely involve extended stays at one or more of the partner institutions.
The PhD project will be positioned within the field of Environmental Archaeology, and will explore connections in the past between humans and their environments in Central Asia. The successful candidate will be responsible for collecting, processing and analyzing soil and sediment samples from archaeological sites in Tajikistan using archaeometric tools such as stable isotope analysis and organic chemistry (e.g., coprostanols, bile acids), and inorganic chemistry (e.g., phosphate analysis). The project will be supervised by Professor David Wright