You can apply for this PhD position until May 31st 2024, more information here.
Maximising the potential of fragmented bone to gain new insights into the coexistence of Neanderthals and Homo sapiens in Central and Southeast Europe.
While studies of ancient DNA have been revolutionary in demonstrating we interbred with Neanderthals, archaeological evidence for their coexistence remains sparse. Recent discoveries show that early groups of Homo sapiens already arrived in Germany, Bulgaria and Czechia more than 47,000 years ago. These findings raise fundamental questions concerning current models on the timing and extent of coexistence between late Neanderthals and early Homo sapiens, suggesting a potential overlap in Central and Southeast Europe for several millennia. The associated faunal assemblages are dominated by small non-diagnostic bone fragments and for 70-90% of these we do not know what type of animal (or human) they belonged to. However, the last decade has seen fundamental advances in archaeological science, including in biomolecular archaeology, which can now be applied broadly to fragmented bone. The aim of this PhD is to fully unlock novel biological, chronological and behavioural data from small pieces of archaeological bone and establish a new regional chronological framework to better understand human presence across the study area.
This project contains three major components, which can be developed according to the interest and experience of the PhD candidate:
1) The PhD candidate will be trained in Zooarchaeology by Mass Spectrometry (ZooMS) by Dr Karen Ruebens at the University of Reading. ZooMS uses variations in collagen peptides and MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry to taxonomically identify archaeological bone fragments.
2) The candidate will be trained by Dr Helen Fewlass in applying near-infrared spectroscopy (NIR) screening to assess collagen preservation in ancient bone, alongside training in the pretreatment of bone for radiocarbon dating and synthesis of the chronological data.
3) The candidate will undertake a secondment at the Globe Institute, University of Copenhagen, with Dr Frido Welker to be introduced to further proteomic methods using LC-MS/MS, which can be applied to any hominin specimens discovered.
The multi-disciplinary supervisory team will consist of Dr Karen Ruebens (University of Reading), Dr Helen Fewlass (University of Bristol) and Dr Frido Welker (University of Copenhagen). They will offer a broad range of specialist training, which the candidate will apply to bone material available for study as part of the COEXIST project