[Sasnet] CNRS Post-doc position at NMNH of Paris

[jhburton]

From: Antoine Zazzo <a_zazzo at HOTMAIL.COM>



Hi all,

The French CNRS is looking for applicants
for a 1 year post doc position at the National Museum of Natural History
(http://www.mnhn.fr/museum/foffice/transverse/transverse/accueil.xsp)
starting between the 1 of September 2007 and the 1 of January 2008.


Candidates must have a strong publication record and a previous
expertise in stable isotope measurements performed in organic matter or
biomineralizations and applied to paleontology and archaeology.


The net salary will be of about 1750 euro a month.


Candidates must fill the application form that must be downloaded from
the CNRS web site (https://www2.cnrs.fr/DRH/post-docs07/?pid=8&lang=en)
and send it along with a CV to Jean-Denis Vigne (vigne at mnhn.fr) and/or
Sebastien Lepetz (lepetz at mnhn.fr) before the 30th of April (if the
position is not filled then, applications received until the end of May
might be considered).

Description of the project SHS/28 :
Title : Human-horse relationship in the nomadic societies of Central
Asia: stable isotope approach combining skeletal (bone, teeth) and
keratinized (hair, hoof) tissues.

French research teams including the Mission Archéologique Française en
Asie Centrale (MAFAC) directed by H-P Francfort and the Mission
archéologique franco-chinoise au Xinjiang directed by C.
Debaine-Francfort and A. Idriss have unearthed several tombs which are
extremely well preserved and date from the second half of the first
millenium BC. Mummified bodies were discovered in association with
different objects and horses that were sacrificed during funeral
ceremonies.
Between 1998 and 1999, the MAFAC team excavated a large burial mound (a
‘kurgan’) at Berel (Altay mountains, Eastern Kazakhstan). In this third
century BC kurgan, two human mummies were found as well as many objects
and thirteen horses that had been preserved in the permafrost and placed
on two levels under plates of birch bark for protection. These horses
were bridled and saddled and some of them were equipped with wooden or
golden masks with dummy tusks or, for one of them a Persepolis-type
griffin. Each horse’s tack had its own set of themes that H-P Francfort
in his iconographic analysis was able to relate to various influences:
Siberian, Sino-Mongolian and Middle-Eastern ones. In addition to these
ornaments samples of horse muscles, organs, stomach contents, skin or
coat were taken. These remains have been submitted to specific
paleogenetic or parasitologic investigations which, combined with the
more traditional archeozoologic approach, contributed to describing the
herd and the animals’ living and dying conditions. However, this
research has not made it possible to test the hypothesis stemming from
the stylistic analysis of the objects according to which the animals may
have been offered by allied tribes during funerals, a practice Herodotus
did describe. The other possibility is that the horses came from one
herd belonging to the deceased. This question is yet to be solved and is
essential to our knowledge of the relationships between the steppe
people and our understanding of their funeral rites.
Isotope geochemistry can provide valuable information on this issue.
Stable isotope analyses performed on biological tissues allows
reconstruction of several aspects of human and animal individual
histories (diet, movements, etc.). To date, most of the applications
have focused on the mineral (bioapatite) or on the organic (collagen)
fraction of skeletal tissues (bone, teeth). But the information gathered
from these tissues is either restricted to the early life of the animal
(in the case of teeth), or gives a blurred picture that is averaged over
the animal’s life (in the case of bone). In contrast, the sequential
sampling and stable isotope analysis of keratinized tissues (hair, hoof)
records with great temporal precision, dietary (d13C, d15N) or seasonal
(d18O, d2H) changes that occurred during the last months/year of an
animal’s life. Skeletal tissues and keratinized tissues are well
preserved in Berel’. Working in parallel with both tissues will give
information at two different time scales. Stable isotope profiles (d13C)
performed in tooth enamel will give information regarding the horse’s
diet during the first 2-4 years of life, and the measurement of
strontium isotope ratios 87Sr/86Sr will document animal movement during
this time period. A similar approach will be undertaken on keratinized
tissues in order to document features of their individual history during
the last month prior to slaughter. The comparison between individual
isotope profiles will determine if the horses originate from a single
herd or not.
The Altay region has provided other similar archaeological sites (Arzhan
2, Ukok plateau) yielding organic remains, which could also be
investigated using the stable isotope approach. Finally, another set of
data is available in the desert of Taklamakan (Xinjiang province, RPC)
where contemporaneous series have been discovered. The conditions of
preservation are very different (humans and horses are preserved as dry
mummies), but the information that can be extracted from these remains
located south of the Altay region is also potentially very important.
Due to the quality of the remains unearthed and the use of new
analytical techniques, the excavation and analysis of these
archaeological sites bring data that renew our understanding of Scythian
nomadic societies. The goal of this post-doctoral project is to
participate to this renewal. The details of the research program can be
adjusted based on the background and expertise of the successful  
candidate.

For all information : vigne at mnhn.fr or lepetz at mnhn.fr

Jean-Denis VIGNE, Dr HDR
Head researcher at the CNRS
Director of the Lab : Archaeozoology, history of human societies and
animal communities
CNRS - Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle
Dpt Ecology and Biodiversity Management
USM 303, Case postale N° 56 (Bâtiment d'anatomie comparée)
55 rue Buffon, F-75231 Paris cedex 05, France
tel : 33 (0)1 40 79 33 10
fax : 33 (0)1 40 79 33 14
________________________________________
visit the website of the lab : http://www.mnhn.fr/mnhn/anc/esa/esa.html
and the sites that this lab built for the community :
http://www.histoire-archeologie-animal.org/
http://arkzoo.archeozoologie-archaeozoology.org/
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