Aarhus University Graduate School of Science and Technology PhD Fellowship 2018, Denmark

Applications are invited for one PhD fellowship/scholarship at Graduate School of Science and Technology, Aarhus University, Denmark, within the Physics and Astronomy programme. The position is available from 1 May 2018 or later.

Research area and project description:

Candiates are invited to apply for a PhD fellowship focused on improving and developing the method for radiocarbon dating of lime mortars. Radiocarbon of lime mortars have developed over the past 10–15 years and have been successfully applied for radiocarbon dating of e.g. the churches of Åland, Sweden. However, the method have proven to fail or be partly successful in other settings such as Jerash, Jordan. With this project, we wish to develop the method further to include some of the more challenging settings.

The first stage of the proposed PhD project, the successful candidate will apply geochemical and micro morphological methods and PIXE/PIGE to characterize known age mortars in order to modify the CO2 extraction method to obtain 14C chronologies. Secondly, the improved CO2 extraction method will be applied to construct improved chronologies of Jerash site in Jordan. Overall the aim will be to find new pathways for improving the accuracy and reproducibility of radiocarbon mortar dating.

This project will be in close collaboration with international radiocarbon mortar specialist in Finland and Switzerland among others.

This PhD fellowship is funded by The Danish National Research Foundation’s Centre of Excellence, Centre for Urban Network Evolutions (UrbNet) at School of Culture and Society, Aarhus University. The overall aim of the project is to develop methods for 14C dating of mortars on sites of interest to UrbNet where an absolute chronology is essential to advance our understanding of urban networks.

Qualifications and specific competences:

The ideal candidate will have a MSc within Physics, Chemistry, Geoscience, Archaeological sciences, Geochemistry or related fields, demonstrated analytical skills, a good command of English, excellent interpersonal skills, an open attitude to interdisciplinary research, and the ability to work in international collaborations.

Place of Employment and Place of Work:

The place of employment is Aarhus University, and the place of work is Department of Physics and Astronomy, Munkegade 120, DK-8000 Aarhus C. The project is in close collaboration affiliation with The Danish National Research Foundation’s Centre of Excellence, Centre for Urban Network Evolutions (UrbNet) at School of Culture and Society, Aarhus University.
Contacts:
Applicants seeking further information are invited to contact:

Associate professor Jesper Olsen, Department of Physics and Astronomy, jesper.olsen@phys.au.dk or Professor Rubina Raja, School of Culture and Society, rubina.raja@cas.au.dk.  

For more information please click "Further Official Information" below.