PhD Fellowships in a non-academic environment

You want to start a PhD in prehistoric archaeology and be paid for your research?
You are interested in research but want to keep a foot in the non-academic world?

Check below some projects we would like to develop, in collaboration between ERA Arqueologia the leader in Professional Archaeology in Portugal, and ICArEHB at the University of Algarve. If you think this project could be yours, we could develop together an application to the FCT PhD fellowship (deadline 31^st March). Contact us at icarehb@ualg.pt mentioning your favourite project and attaching your complete CV before the 1^st of March.

Classes at the University of Algarve will start in September 2023, and the main language is English. The fellowships include a monthly salary of 1199.64€ (value 2023) during 48 months, social security, tuition, and fees, as well as yearly hotel and travel for congress presentation. The fellows will also have 22 days of vacation yearly.

A session of information about the application process of FCT will be held in early March and applicants will receive support to write their proposal.

Below, you can find the six potential topics with their supervisors in ERA Arqueologia and ICArEHB.

Optimization of archaeological mapping in the scope of Environmental Impact Studies through Remote Sensing

Supervisor ERA: João Fonte (joaofonte@gmail.com)

Supervisor ICArEHB: Erich Fisher

The descriptor Archaeological Heritage is one of the fundamental components of Environmental Impact Studies (EIS) in order to fully determine the direct and indirect effects of public or private projects within the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA). In the Preliminary Study and Design phase, the use of remote sensing techniques can contribute significantly to the speed and effectiveness of mapping the existing archaeological heritage in a given area. Many of these projects occur in rural areas and with dense vegetation cover, which makes the identification of archaeological heritage very difficult. In this case the Airborne LiDAR appears to be a suitable technique for mapping archaeological sites and structures with topographic expression and that may be hidden by vegetation. This will contribute to the expeditious and early mapping of the archaeological heritage of a given area, complementing the archaeological methodologies traditionally used in the context of EIAs, contributing to increase the accuracy and reliability of the results and, consequently, to the sustained and integrated planning of territories. The goal is to develop a protocol of best practices for the integration of Remote Sensing in the descriptor Archaeological Heritage of the EIS and that can then be applied in business and academic context.

Evaluation of the potential of multispectral and thermal imaging in mapping prehistoric pit enclosures

Supervisor ERA: João Fonte (joaofonte@gmail.com)

Supervisor ICArEHB: Erich Fisher

The exponential increase in the number of prehistoric pit enclosures identified in the Alentejo is largely due to the use of remote sensing techniques, in particular aerial and satellite imagery. These allow the identification of cropmarks and soilmarks caused by the presence of negative structures (e.g. pits) related to these archaeological sites. However, the analysis of these images has been largely limited to observation of the visible light (RGB) of the electromagnetic spectrum, and the potential of other spectral regions (e.g. red-edge, near IR, thermal) has been less explored. Combining spectral bands and applying vegetation indices, as well as other image processing and computer vision techniques, can result in improved contrast of archaeological marks. Due to the apparent material invisibility that characterizes this type of archaeological site, and given the current context of agricultural intensification in the Alentejo, these sites are at serious risk of destruction. Thus, the aim is to evaluate the potential of multispectral and thermal imaging for the systematic mapping of prehistoric pit enclosures in the Alentejo, contributing to the definition of a best practice protocol that can then be used in a business and academic context.

Land management in the 3rd millennium BC and AD

Supervisor ERA: António Valera (antoniovalera@era-arqueologia.pt)

Supervisor ICArEHB: Célia Gonçalves

Approach to the development of social complexity in Recent Prehistory and ways it is expressed in territorial organization in a given region through geographic information systems. It should aim to develop predictive models for the settlement of particular archaeological site types (e.g. pit enclosures, necropolises, settlements, resource exploitation areas or pit camps) and to identify the underlying relational logics between sites. The aim will be to develop a tool potentially usable in integrated territorial management processes for the heritage type(s) in question and, at the same time, to contribute to the knowledge of the forms of spatial expression arising from the historical processes of social complexification and their dynamics of expansion and contraction, at the scale of the region. The region to be selected and the type(s) of site(s) should, from the outset, present a known material base that allows the development of predictive models.

Seasonality and subsistence of prehistoric populations

Supervisor ERA: Rita Dias (ritadias@era-arqueologia.pt)

Supervisor ICArEHB: Anna Rufà

The evolution of human behavior is marked by the origin and emergence of different patterns of subsistence, occupation, and mobility of prehistoric populations and is a key research topic in the context of the evolution of human behavior. In the archaeological record, patterns of occupation and exploitation of resources and territory can be based on a number of proxies. In archaeological research, these studies focus on high-resolution data, obtained through a set of disciplines, techniques and tools such as zooarchaeology (sclerochronology, stable isotopes…), geomorphology (micromorphology…), paleobotany, among others. These methodologies, aim to contribute to the discussion about occupation models, subsistence strategies and exploitation of available resources, integrating the data in a chronological, geographic and paleoenvironmental context. Although these methodologies are common practice in research projects linked to the academic context, their application in safeguard excavations is currently limited. Given their impact on archaeological research and knowledge, they should overflow into safeguarding work practices, from which an unavoidable amount of data is systematically obtained. Although there is a growing recognition, by the supervisory entities and the scientific community, of the potential of a set of data, often discarded or collected, the safeguard works lack a strategy that enhances the information that can be collected from there. The implementation of this type of research in a mixed context (academic-corporate), benefits not only the creation of specialized skills outside academia, but also establishes, as a principle, the best scientific practices in this context, in all phases of archaeological works, from the management and logistics of projects to the execution in the field in the laboratory and fosters the collaborative relationship between academia and business and the access to the huge amount of data from the safeguard archaeology and the integration in the labor market of highly differentiated resources.

Spaces of death in the recent Prehistory of southern Portugal

Supervisors ERA: Lucy Evangelista (lucyevangelista@era-arqueologia.pt) and António Valera (antoniovalera@era-arqueologia.pt)

Supervisor ICArEHB: Ricardo Godinho

The funerary spaces related to the communities of Recent Prehistory in southern Portugal have an immense potential for study considering the numerous archaeological interventions carried out in recent years. One of the most relevant contexts is the Perdigões enclosure, which ERA Archaeology has been investigating for 25 years and where funerary issues are central. Among them the practice of cremation and secondary deposition of human remains is particularly relevant, which present at the Perdigões a unique situation in the Peninsular Chalcolithic. The bioanthropological study of the whole context of deposition of cremation remains appears to be fundamental for the knowledge of these practices, namely in the previous processes of body treatment, during cremation, and post cremation, providing information that, together with other ongoing approaches (anthracological study of charcoal, material culture, isotopic characterization of human remains), will allow a new vision of the diversity of funerary practices in the Recent Prehistoric Peninsula, while allowing the development of specific skills in the bio-anthropology of cremated remains, uncommon in professionals in the area who are in the market.