Within the framework of the WEAVE project "Welcome to the Dark Side – disclosing the invisible stages of medieval urbanization through the integrated study of European Dark Earths" (host institutions: MARI-VUB and IPAS-University of Basel), MARI is opening a call for a 4 year fully funded doctoral position in geoarchaeology (micromorphology). Dark Earths are a common phenomenon in European towns. Geoarchaeological research has demonstrated that Dark Earths contain highly valuable information impossible to access with traditional methods. For the Early and High Medieval Period, Dark Earths represent some of the least known aspects of town development. Micromorphological data from numerous case studies, primarily in Belgium and Switzerland, will be re-evaluated in an integrated study in order to answer fundamental questions about medieval towns, through characterization of human activities, natural processes, and taphonomical changes that shaped them. All data will be entered into a novel two-pillar database system – the first online standardized tool publicly accessible to the scientific community. The large amount of comparable data thus created will lead to a geoarchaeological synthesis of medieval urban Dark Earths in Europe. Moreover, thanks to this unique open access system and image reference collection, the project will have a significant and lasting impact on how Dark Earths are studied in the future, preventing further loss of irreplaceable information.
Plus d’informations :
[Website The Maritime Cultures Research Institute]