PhD Studentship: Containing commodities: determining organic residues in Greek painted pottery

Applications are invited for an AHRC-funded PhD studentship in Archaeological Science (Ref: 1720984) offered as a collaborative doctoral award between the British Museum and the UCL Institute of Archaeology.

The deadline for applications is 1 May 2018.

The successful applicant will prepare a doctoral dissertation that investigates the uses of Greek decorated pottery vessels in the 8th - 4th century BC Mediterranean through organic residue analysis, the investigation of a vessel's excavation, collection and conservation history and the study of archaeological and textual evidence for its ancient use.

Data will be collected to answer questions such as:

• Which commodities, if any, did decorated Greek ceramics contain?
• How were vessels used in different ancient socio-cultural contexts?
• To what extent does the collection, display and conservation history of the pottery affect its potential for scientific analysis?

As the first systematic study of its kind, the research will contribute significant results to classical scholarship, while the development  of an integrated methodology for museum collections will be of wider scientific relevance.

The PhD will be registered at the UCL Institute of Archaeology under the co-supervision of Dr Renata Peters (Conservation) and Dr Corinna Riva (Mediterranean Archaeology). It will be co-supervised at the British Museum by Professor Carl Heron (Scientific Research) and Dr Alexandra Villing (Greece and Rome).

Each year the AHRC provides funding from the UK Government to support research and postgraduate study in the arts and humanities. The AHRC Collaborative Doctoral Partnerships (CDP) scheme enables non-HEI organisations with a strong track record in the Collaborative Doctoral Award (CDA) scheme, and supporting other doctoral students, to be allocated a cohort of CDA studentships for three academic years for which they will then be able to nominate projects with academic partners.

The UCL Institute of Archaeology has a large and flourishing postgraduate student community. The British Museum supports 25 collaborative doctoral students, and the student will benefit from joint training and other opportunities arranged by the 28 museums and other cultural organisations that support Collaborative Doctoral Partnership studentship.

Further information

• A full description of the studentship, eligibility requirements and application information is available on the UCL website
• Any enquiries about the studentship and the application process may be directed to the Institute's Graduate Programmes Administrator, Lisa Daniel
• AHRC Collaborative Doctoral Partnerships (CDP)
• The British Museum

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