Vacancy number
15821
Job type
PhD positions
Hours (in fte)
1,0
External/ internal
External
Location
Leiden
Placed on
1 July 2025
Closing date
1 August 2025 31 more days to apply

VACANCY NUMBER

15821
The Department of World Archaeology, Faculty of Archaeology, Leiden University, is looking for a PhD candidate in the field of Archaeology to join the Inequal Cyprus project funded by the European Research Council (ERC) and carried out at the Faculty of Aarchaeology of Leiden University.

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

The Faculty of Archaeology, Leiden University, seeks to appoint a full-time PhD candidate to research indications for social inequalities in figurative objects in late prehistoric Cyprus, between ca 4000 – 1700 BCE, by analysing pendants, figurines, and ceramic figurative plaques and vessels using quantitative and contextual approaches. The aim is to reconstruct what figurative objects can tell us about the (idealised) social order in Cyprus during the Chalcolithic, Early Bronze Age and Middle Bronze Age.
The successful candidate will work closely with colleagues in the World Archaeology department at the Faculty of Archaeology, and with colleagues working on prehistoric Cyprus on the island and across the globe. The research should lead you to obtain a PhD within a four-year timeframe (1.0 FTE). Candidates with a good knowledge of Cypriot prehistory and figurative studies are especially encouraged to apply.
The PhD candidate will be supervised by Professor Bleda Düring (the project leader) and Dr. Aris Politopoulos, who is a specialist on the archaeology of social inequalities.
The ERC AdG project Inequal Cyprus projects investigates the consolidation of social inequalities – a so far poorly understood development of crucial importance in the rise of complex societies in West Asia. Recent archaeological research into social inequalities has either used quantitative methods, such as the GINI measure, to demonstrate the emergence of inequalities, or questioned the existence of inequalities in early complex societies, for example in work of Graeber and Wengrow, leaving the complex question of how social inequalities were first consolidated unresolved.
To move this topic forward we need a mixed methods approach that combines quantitative and qualitative analysis, to reconstruct the significance and durability of social inequalities in prehistoric societies. In this project, the focus is on late prehistoric Cyprus (4000-1700 BCE). Decades of research have produced rich datasets from settlements and cemeteries, that suggest clear transformations in the articulation of social inequalities. In the Chalcolithic (4000-2500 BCE) we have evidence for short-lived social inequalities, especially in house sizes. By contrast, in the Prehistoric Bronze Age (2500-1700 BCE), social inequalities appear more consolidated, for example in graves.
This project will investigate social inequalities in everyday life (houses, objects, mobility, and diet), and in performed settings (burials, feasts, and figurative objects), to reconstruct how social inequalities featured in these social arenas. The aim is to both quantify evidence for social inequalities, and study how inequalities were culturally negotiated. The results will shed light on how and why social inequalities were consolidated in late prehistoric societies in Cyprus and contribute to broader discussions on the emergence of social inequalities.
The candidate will work as part of a research team. The PI will focus on methodological challenges for reconstructing social inequalities in late prehistoric Cyprus. Two postdocs will investigate the articulation of exchange networks and how diet and feasting played a role in the reproduction of society in late prehistoric Cyprus. Four PhD candidates will investigate how migration, buildings, burial practices, and figurative objects were used to negotiate social inequalities.

• Conduct collaborative and novel research in the field of figurative archaeology;
• Contribute to the overall aims of the Inequal Cyprus project;
• Participate in fieldwork related to the Inequal Cyprus project and have the willingness to act as an ambassador of the project;
• Conduct research activities, including museum collections research, with project partners in the Cyprus, the Netherlands, and beyond;
• Carry out analyses of figurative objects and materials;
• Analyse and integrate various types of archaeological and spatial datasets;
• Publish and present the work in international peer-reviewed journals and to academic and professional audiences, both independently and with team members;
• Actively participate in discussions at the faculty, department, and research group level on research innovation;
• Follow PhD courses based on an individual training and supervision plan, including through the Graduate School;