PRR Project

Summary

The field of Prehistoric Archaeology and Human Evolution is now one of the main key areas of research for the University of Algarve (UAlg). Various avenues lead to this fact: the growth of doctoral students (close to 30, both national and international) and respective dissertations in the PhD degree in Archaeology; the number of researchers investigating Paleoanthropology and Human Evolution in UAlg (now more than 40 in-house researchers, in addition to the 30 directly associated researchers from countries from all continents coming from many prestigious institutions (https://www.icarehb.com/team/); the presence of the research center ICArEHB; the number of grants and field work projects spread all over Europe, Asia and Africa; and finally by the clear international  recognition of the high quality, risk, and cutting-edge research developed at UAlg as seen in the funding of three ERC grants, all in the area of Prehistoric Archaeology, i.e., DISPERSALS - Dispersals, resilience, and innovation in  Late Pleistocene SE Africa (PI Nuno Bicho), FINISTERRA - Population Trajectories and Cultural Dynamics of late Neanderthals in Far Western Eurasia (PI João Cascalheira), and MATRIX - Into the Sedimentary Matrix:  Mapping the Replacement of Neanderthals by early Modern Humans using micro-contextualized biomolecules (PI Vera Aldeias).In this context, it is particularly relevant to develop a senior Chair in Geoarchaeology. This is a discipline that is fundamental to understanding the processes of site formation and provides unique and relevant data at the microscopic level that allows for an accurate and detailed knowledge of the past in general, and in particular for the integrity of the archaeological record at each site, its chronology and its prehistoric human activities. Geoarchaeology provides the primordial data for all the following studies in Human Evolution. Without it, very little can be studied in Prehistory or replicable, and thus, Geoarchaeology provides the tools for more accurate and precise use of archaeological sciences in Archaeology.Many of our projects, students, and researchers work in the area of geoarchaeology and the team has produced many fundamental papers in the last years that are now the reference for the study of Paleolithic, with particular relevance for the use of fire. However, presently we do not have a permanent senior researcher who can lead the research in Geoarchaeology in UAlg. It is, thus, vital for UAlg and for ICArEHB to be able to create a Chair in Geoarchaeology for a senior career researcher.The chair-holder should have a Ph.D. in Earth and Environmental Sciences, with an academic background in Archaeology and a specialization in Geoarchaeology, and a large field experience in geoarchaeology across Europe, Africa, and SW Asia. It should also have a lot of experience in geoarchaeological laboratory work, particularly in soil micromorphological studies and experimental studies. The chair-holder should have important experience as PI in various projects and as a student supervisor, preferably of MA and Doctoral students, in addition to post-doc supervision. The publication record, particularly on the topic of the Chair, should be highly relevant and internationally recognized as such. Finally, the fundraising should be highly successful and diverse, preferably with a demonstrated capacity to attract funds from both national (FCT I&D programs) and EU programs such as the ERC grants and supervision of MSCA grants.The chair-holder´s main task will be the coordination of all ICArEHB’s geoarchaeology research. This task includes, among other aspects, the development of strategic planning for the geoarchaeological area that includes researchers and students, both PhD and MA levels. This plan rovers over aspects of funding, higher education training, instrument and application development for fieldwork and laboratory analysis. The chair-holder should also supervise at least one of the following ICArEHB laboratories: the Microscopy Laboratory (MICROLab), the Geoarchaeological Laboratory (ArchaeoDirt) and/or the Archaeological Sedimentary Biomolecules Laboratory Ancient DNA from Sediments Lab (ArcheoMATRIX) (please see next section with the info on ICArEHB’s laboratories). Finally, the chair-holder should also supervise doctoral students as well as to be able to have a teaching workload of 3 to 4 weekly hours, corresponding to a course a semester, covering the area of geoarchaeology, microstratigraphy, and site formation processes to all three degrees (BA., MA, and Ph.D.).