Research Fellow, School of Natural and Built Environment

About the job: Landscapes of Catastrophe: archaeology, social-ecological and biological contexts for the Great Irish Famine, 1845-52 is an interdisciplinary project investigating the ecological, biological and social contexts of An Gorta Mór, the most profound demographic and diasporic event in Ireland over the last millennium during which more than two million people died or emigrated. The project develops new approaches to constraining environmental and landscape chronologies for the period CE and uses these to reconstruct demographic and agricultural change through bioarchaeological and palaeoenvironmental evidence. Six case-study landscapes across Ireland form the core analytical framework, each illuminating different demographic, environmental, social, and religious impacts of the Famine. The successful candidate will contribute a broad, multi-isotopic skillset to the project. They will both collate published bioarchaeological data and undertake multi-isotope analyses (C/N/Sr/O/H/Pb) of famine era human and animal remains from across Ireland. They will have expertise in dentine incremental analysis and an understanding of how isotopes can provide insights concerning physiological stress and diet, in addition to other relevant themes related to the palaeodemographic and socio-economic changes caused by the Famine. They will work closely with the project Co-Leads to deliver integrated biogeochemical work packages within the context of broader archaeological and archival ..... full job details .....