Closing date 9th June 2015
Collaborative Doctoral Award,
Livestock and Landscape,
University of Sheffield.
Candidates are invited to apply for a Collaborative Doctoral Award on the subject of Livestock and landscape: changing husbandry, livestock improvement and landscape enclosure in late and post-medieval England. The project is funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) and will be co-supervised by Umberto Albarella (University of Sheffield) and Andrew Lowerre/Polydora Baker (Historic England).
Livestock improvement in England has been documented archaeologically since the 13th C AD and it continued in various forms until modern times. The dynamics that led to such improvement are, however, still only partially understood. Historians have suggested that the enclosure of open fields was part of a set of changes associated with the Agricultural Revolution and that increase in animal size was part of this general phenomenon. This project aims to test this hypothesis archaeologically, by comparing evidence of change in livestock management with available data on the timing and nature of the enclosure of fields. Various zooarchaeological methods will be adopted and the scope, scale and form of field enclosures will be examined through both the historical record and a landscape archaeology approach.
The award includes coverage of full fees (at UK/EU level) for the three year duration of the project, and a three-year maintenance scholarship of the value of £14,106 per annum. There will also be allowances for research expenses, including computer materials, and coverage of project-specific travel and subsistence (£2000 per annum provided by Historic England).
The successful applicant will join a thriving community of postgraduate students in the Department of Archaeology of the University of Sheffield and will also have the opportunity to spend periods of training and research at Historic England, where high level facilities and expertise in landscape archaeology are available.
The applicant should include a brief outline of specific interests within the wider field of the scholarship (max one page), a CV and the names of two referees.
The successful candidate will have:
- a good masters degree, either completed or in progress, which involved a strong zooarchaeology component, or equivalent experience [essential]
- familiarity with (ideally demonstrable knowledge or experience of) either archaeological applications of GIS or landscape archaeology/landscape history sources and methods [desirable]
- demonstrable interest in community engagement [essential]
- ability to work inter-disciplinarily and as part of a team [essential]
These areas will be assessed throughout the selection process.
Shortlisting will take two weeks from the application deadline and interviews are forecasted to be held on 26th June 2015.
Applications should be sent to Umberto Albarella, The Department of Archaeology, Northgate House, West Street, Sheffield, S1 4ET
Email enquiries to: u.albarella@sheffield.ac.uk
To be eligible for the full scholarship you will need to have a British passport or have resided in Britain for at least three years in a non-student capacity. EU candidates from outside Britain are only entitled to the payment of their university fees.
For queries and further details please contact Umberto Albarella (u.albarella@sheffield.ac.uk).
FMRSI 