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;
• Unless on fieldwork, attending meetings, conferences or travelling for 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 weekly meetings and seminars as possible being organised by the project

Related to Research Line 1

• 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 work in academic dissemination by assisting with the writing of at least one article to be published in a peer-reviewed publication.
• Actively participate in non-academic dissemination for wider audiences agreed by the PI.

Others

• Perform other related duties as required.

Acronym

ARTSOUNDSCAPES

FBG project number

402112

Project title

The sound of special places: exploring rock art soundscapes and the sacred

IP

Dr Margarita Díaz-Andreu García

Department

Història i Arqueologia

Gross salary per year

Negotiable between 15.500 - 16.500 gross salary

Required documents

Application letter

Curriculum vitae

Proof of experience in academic work

Proof of experience in the organisation of conferences

Proof of experience in academic writing

Proof of experience in outreach activities

1 academic reference letter

All these documents should to be sent to m.diaz-andreu@ub.edu 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

m.diaz-andreu@ub.edu

Name

Prof. Dr Margarita Díaz-Andreu

email subject

Application for a Research Assistant in Artsoundscapes