Postdoctoral Resarch Assistant

In connection with the European Research Council Advanced Grant ‘The Hyksos Enigma’ (http://thehyksosenigma.oeaw.ac.at), awarded to Prof Manfred Bietak, Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW) – Institute for Oriental and European Archaeology (OREA), and co-hosted by Bournemouth University, UK, we are offering a post-doctoral position aligned to Research Track 7 (Bioarchaeology I – Human Remains). The appointment will be in the Department of Archaeology, Anthropology, and Forensic Science, Faculty of Science and Technology, for a duration of 1 year to start with.

Background
This project seeks to elucidate an obscure and little understood part of Egyptian history, the so called Hyksos Period and its prelude (c. 1750-1530 BCE), during which Egypt was confronted withtwo unparalleled phenomena: the influx of a substantial foreign population and – probably as a result – the rule of a foreign dynasty over large parts of Egypt. The bioarchaeological components of the project are concerned with the characterization of the Hyksos in comparison with other Egyptian and Near Eastern populations through the study of their skeletal remains. The advertised position will focus particularly on ascertaining aspects of health and disease through morphological and biomolecular analyses and will complement ongoing analyses on diet,
migration and mobility.

Main Responsibilities
• To undertake palaeopathological investigations of Hyksos-period skeletal assemblages of Egyptian and Near Eastern provenance. The focus will be on osteological and paleopathological examination, but enhanced and complemented by DNA analyses. This task will involve travel.
• To reconstruct patterns of disease and health in the populations studied.
• To engage in a contextualized bioarchaeological interpretation of skeletal and biomolecular data.
• Assist in collaborative decisions about how to achieve, develop and promote the project’s research objectives.
• To play an active role in the publication of results.