Post-Doctoral Fellow in Archaeobotany (ref.no. STARC_PDF_21_13)

The Cyprus Institute (CyI) is a non-profit research and educational institution with a strong scientific and technological orientation, emphasizing international collaborations, cross-disciplinary research, innovation, and post graduate education. CyI, through its established research centers, addresses challenging issues that are important at both the regional and international levels. Many of its research activities are being carried out in partnership with leading institutions in the respective thematic areas.

The Cyprus Institute invites applications for a post-doctoral fellow in Archaeobotany to work for the Research and Innovation Foundation funded project ‘’MEDIS-FOOD: Mediterranean Island Life Modes: Foodwebs, Agricultural Practices and Social Complexity in Crete and Cyprus in the Bronze Age’’, awarded to Assoc. Prof. Evi Margaritis. MEDIS-FOOD is an interdisciplinary project which focuses on the two larger islands of the eastern Mediterranean, Crete and Cyprus. The project examines the origins of the complex societies of the Bronze Age, by analyzing the agricultural practices, crop husbandry and land use of the period, along with the production of wine and olive oil, which are products of great economic and social value. In contrast to prior approaches, the project employs a combination of new research questions and a multidisciplinary methodology in order to elucidate this important period in human agricultural and economic history. MEDIS-FOOD will push research forward by using multiproxies (archaeobotany, isotope analysis, phytolith analysis and theoretical models) in order to shed light on the complexity of the processes that led to the creation of complex centres and agricultural systems in the eastern Mediterranean.

The successful candidate will work on archaeobotanical assemblages from Crete and Cyprus originating from Bronze Age sites. The successful candidate is expected to work on assemblages already retrieved from several sites but will also need to work in the field both in Crete and Cyprus for additional retrieval of plant remains.

The appointment will be on a full time basis, for a period of 20 months.

Responsibilities/activities to be involved in: