Project description: The recruitment for a Project Engineer in database and GIS falls within the research of the Ausonius members regarding cities and the mapping of urban spaces. The successful candidate will work within the “Cities” team (Action 6 of WP3), which brings together faculty members, researchers, doctoral students, and archaeologists from INRAP, from Ausonius and Archéosciences Bordeaux. He will also work in collaboration with the Ausohnum department, in particular with Nathalie Prévôt, Digital Humanities Engineer and Clément Coutelier, Geomatics Engineer.

Action 6, 'Villes', of Work Package 3 (WP3) aims to analyse urban trajectories over the long term, from Greek and Roman antiquity and the protohistory of Western Europe to the medieval period. This is achieved by employing comparative, quantitative and spatial approaches, with a particular focus on tipping points, communication networks and urban hierarchies. The research specifically focuses on the tipping point represented by the emergence of urbanisation in human societal evolution. Phase 2 of the project explicitly emphasises the development and migration of databases, the creation of WebGIS and cartography.

Principal supervisor: Natacha Trippé (MCF, UMR Ausonius)

Workpackage Action: WP3A6

Place of work: Laboratoire Ausonius, UMR 5607, Maison de l’archéologie, Université Bordeaux Montaigne, 8 esplanade des Antilles, 33607 Pessac cedex, France

Contract duration: 24 months

Expected starting date: June 1st 2026

Application deadline: May 1st 2026

Project description: The position of research assistant in chemical analyses falls within the chronology research area, which includes the luminescence and electron spin resonance laboratories. Scientific responsibility will be shared by Maïlys Richard (co-PI WP2, in charge of Action 3 of WP2) and Michael Toffolo (in charge of Action 3 of WP2), and Chantal Tribolo (head of the luminescence group). This full-timeposition will be based primarily at the Maison de l’Archéologie (UBM campus). Approximately 75% of work will take place in low-light conditions. Travel between laboratories on the Bordeaux and Bordeaux Montaigne university campuses, as well as potential fieldwork, will be required.

This position is part of Action 3 of the GPR « Environmental and Chronological Context of Pleistocene Human Occupations », coordinated by Maïlys Richard and Michael Toffolo. It is primarily dedicated to the preparation of samples for geochronological analysis (sediment, heated rocks, and teeth) using trapped-charge dating methods (luminescence and electron spin resonance). Additional responsibilities include instrument maintenance, conducting experiments, developing sample preparation protocols, and participating in the supervision of interns/students.

Principal supervisors: Maïlys Richard, Michael Toffolo, Chantal Tribolo (Archéosciences Bordeaux)

Workpackage Action: WP2A3

Place of work: Archéosciences Bordeaux UMR6034, Maison de l’archéologie, Université Bordeaux Montaigne, 33607 Pessac cedex, France

Contract duration: 24 months

Expected starting date: May 1st 2026

Application deadline: April 19th 2026

Project description: The study of Palaeolithic art has to date mainly focused on the paintings and engravings present in hundreds of subterranean contexts, yet relatively little attention has been paid to the global phenomenon of the cultural use of caves. We build upon both existing and new data to draw an overarching history of the relationship between Palaeolithic and Mesolithic communities, and underground world. Our results will improve our understanding of the motivations behind the use of caves by Neanderthals and modern humans in western Europe.
The project aligns perfectly with the objectives of WP4-Action 3 “How did symbolic systems emerge and how did they affect societal organisation?”.

Study the anthropogenic deposits in the Neanderthalian Bruniquel and Cussac, presumed Gravettian caves using ‘speleofacts’: identify structures, carry out 3D surveys, establish their relative and radio-digital diachronic, test pairings, understand their topographical logic in the general context of the site occupied by the respective human groups and, as far as possible, interpret their function.

Principal supervisors: Jacques Jaubert (PACEA) and Nathalie Fourment (MNP)

Workpackage Action: WP4A3

Place of work: PACEA, Université de Bordeaux, 33615 PESSAC, France

Contract duration: 12 months

Expected starting date: May 1st 2026

Application deadline: April 9th 2026