[Aqualist] PhD in geoarchaeology

[Richard Cosgrove]

PhD opportunity in geoarchaeology

As part of a 4-year Australian Research Council project on the antiquity of Aboriginal landuse in eastern Tasmania, jointly supervised by Richard Cosgrove, John Webb and Gillian Garvey, we are seeking to appoint a PhD student in the area of geoarchaeology, particularly the sourcing of artefact lithologies.

The artefact and linguistic evidence in Tasmania suggests little contact between Aborigines living in eastern and western parts of the state in the past, but the genetic evidence indicates considerable gene flow between Aboriginal tribes. To resolve this paradox, it is intended to track Aboriginal connections between regions using stone artefact raw material, particularly hornfels, which is widespread in northern and eastern Tasmania. Hornfels from different areas of the State is chemically distinct so it is intended to analyse hornfels from Aboriginal quarry sites using portable X-Ray Fluorescence (pXRF) and compare the results with analyses of artefacts in museum collections and from systematic archaeological excavations that will provide a time frame.

As one part of the project the PhD student will be responsible for the artefact source analysis i.e. analysing hornfels at a number of quarry sites and unquarried hornfels outcrops, in order to identify what factors determined the Aborigines preference for particular sites (location, ease of access, mechanical properties, appearance etc). The results will be integrated with those of a second PhD student on the project, who will analyse museum collections, quarried artefact technology and excavated hornfels artefacts.

The PhD scholarship includes a stipend for three years currently valued at AUD$25,406 p.a. with costs associated with travel, fieldwork and laboratory analysis covered by the project. The anticipated start date is February-March 2015. Applicants with a Masters Degree or 1st class honours degree and an appropriate background in Earth Sciences and/or Archaeology should contact Dr John Webb (john.webb at latrobe.edu.au) for further information.

Assoc Prof John Webb
Environmental Geoscience
Department of Ecology, Environment and Evolutionary Biology
La Trobe University, Victoria 3086
Email: john.webb at latrobe.edu.au
T: 03 9479 1273

http://www.latrobe.edu.au/scitecheng/about/staff/profile?uname=JAWebb

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Cheers
Richard

Associate Professor Richard Cosgrove
Reader in Archaeology
Archaeology Program
La Trobe University
Melbourne 3086
Victoria, AUSTRALIA
Ph 61 (0) 3 9479 1424
Fx 61 (0) 3 9479 1881

Visit the Australian archaeology mammal bone image database at the URL below. It contains over 550 images of 25 marsupial species, plus cat, rabbit and dog specimens. Examples of aged macropod molar eruption images, bone points, and archaeological bone are included.

http://insight.lib.latrobe.edu.au:8180/luna/servlet/LTUCM~2~2