Research Assistant in Artsoundscapes

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 the 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.
• Research line 2: The psychoacoustics of rock art landscapes.
• Research line 3: Neuropsychology and emotion in rock art landscapes.
• Research line 4: Ethnographic and ethnohistorical sources.
• Research line 5: Phenomenological analysis of sacred emotion and rock art soundscapes.

KEY RESPONSABILITIES WILL INCLUDE:

• Work closely with the project PI, the Senior Post Doctoral Researcher(s) and the other team members;
• Assist project members with basic research in Artsoundscapes, with the research and dissemination tasks associated to the project, including the information for the webpage and social media, which the appointee will coordinate together with the PI;
• Unless attending meetings, conferences or travelling for anything related to the basic research tasks of the project, including archival and literature research allowed by the PI, a key responsibility of the researcher will be to work in the Department of History and Archaeology, University of Barcelona.

FUNCTIONS AND/OR TASKS OF THE POSITION

Related to the whole project

• Collaborate with the PI, the senior PD and other team members for all required tasks and RLs in the project.
• Attend to all meetings and seminars as possible being organised by the project
• Assist the PI in writing the meeting minutes

Related to Research Line 1 (rock art and physical acoustics)

• Join fieldwork if needed and assist the project PI and the Senior postdoctoral researcher(s) in the field;
• Assist team members associated to this research line to the research and dissemination tasks associated to it.

 Outcomes

• Actively participate in non-academic dissemination for wider audiences agreed by the PI.
• Create content and coordinate social media
• Actively participate in the organisation of Artsoundscapes conferences

Others

• Perform other related duties as required.

How to apply