Junior researcher position in room acoustics applied to heritage sites

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

The ARTSOUNDSCAPES project deals with sound, rock art and sacred landscapes among past hunter-gatherers and early agricultural societies around the world. The potential of sound to stimulate powerful emotions makes it a common medium for conferring places with extraordinary agency. Ethnographic and ethnohistorical sources indicate that these sites are often endowed with a sacred significance and, in many cases, they also receive special treatment, including the production of rock paintings. Despite aural experience being an integral component of the human condition and a key element in ritual, archaeology has largely been unable to study it systematically. Rock art landscapes are no exception and, although some studies have been made, they have largely been reproached for their lack of scientific rigour and subjectivity. ARTSOUNDSCAPES will fully address this weakness by investigating the perception of sound in rock art landscapes from an interdisciplinary approach reflected in its five Research Lines:

• Research Line 1: Characterising the acoustic properties of rock art landscapes. Aim: to undertake a comprehensive analysis of the acoustic properties of a series of rock art landscapes around the world in order to acquire scientifically accurate data for surveying relationships between sonic effects, soundscape perception and the positioning of rock art.
• Research Line 2: The psychoacoustics of rock art landscapes. Aim: to examine the sensations evoked in people by sounds and how they relate to auditory interpretations and physically measurable quantities; to explore auditory perceptions such as echolocation and the augmented audibility and intelligibility of distant sounds.
• Research Line 3: Neuropsychology and emotion in rock art landscapes. Aim: to test whether stimulation of the brain with the sound recorded in RL1 can induce patterns of brain activity related to particular emotions such as those provoked by altered or mystical states
• Research Line 4: Ethnographic and ethnohistorical sources. Aim: to critically revise ethnohistorical and ethnographic records related to music and sound among hunter-gatherers and early agriculturalists and/or also, if agreed with the PI, of other type of societies in the world, and to look at the ethnographic variation in sacred beliefs associated with sound in these same societies.
• Research Line 5: Phenomenological analysis of sacred emotion and rock art soundscapes. Aim: to combine the results obtained in the previous lines and to attempt a phenomenological understanding of sacred soundscapes among late hunter-gatherers and early agriculturalists around the world.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES WILL INCLUDE:

• Work closely with the PI and/or Senior Staff and the other members of the team;
• Assist with all acoustic technical tasks of the project, including those related to measurements in fieldwork, post-processing of data and laboratory experiments.
• Write as first author at least one academic publication every 6 months.

FUNCTIONS AND/OR TASKS OF THE POSITION

Related to the whole project

• Assist with acoustic technical tasks and data processing and analysis before, during and after fieldworks in the areas of the world where the project is being developed at any time, and actively join fieldwork seasons if needed by the project and required by the PI;
• Assist with acoustical technical tasks related to the operation of the Immersive PsychoAcoustics Laboratory (ImmpaLAB).

Outcomes

• Actively participate in non-academic dissemination for wider audiences agreed by the PI.

Others

 Gross Salary per year: negotiable between 16.000 and 18.500€ groos salary

How to apply

Required documents

Application letter in English

Curriculum vitae in English

2 academic reference letters (*)

Demonstrable experience in room acoustics (*)

(*) if these documents are in other language than Spanish, Catalan, English, Italian or French, an extra document with the translation is also required by the deadline

All these documents should to be sent to both [email protected] and Lidia Alvarez-Morales by the deadline. Large documents may be sent by alternative media such as Hightail or similar. Please, ask for acknowledgement of receipt.

Send your application to:

email

[email protected] ; [email protected]

Name

Prof. Dr Margarita Díaz-Andreu; Dr Lidia Alvarez-Morales

email subject

Application for Junior researcher position in room acoustics applied to heritage sites