Archaeozoologist (M/F)

Job Description

Missions

Under the scientific and operational authority of the DREH Project Director, Rémy Crassard (CNRS, Archéorient), the archaeozoologist will be responsible for the comprehensive analysis and scientific management of the faunal remains recovered from the excavation of the Neolithic site of Al-Mathana (KH05187), in the Khaybar region of Saudi Arabia.

The archaeozoologist will organise the day-to-day archaeozoological analysis, coordinate the documentation and data-recording workflows, and contribute to the scientific interpretation of the results, as well as to project reports and publications.

A complete dataset of the raw results is expected at the end of each fieldwork mission.

Activity

• Prepare, together with the Project Director and the excavation team, the archaeozoological analysis strategy for the extensions of Trenches SD1 and SD4, as well as for any new excavation areas opened according to field discoveries.

• Coordinate activities with the Project Manager, the Saudi Associate PI, finds specialists, bioarchaeologists and geoarchaeologists, as well as with AFALULA and RCU representatives.

• Contribute to the practical training of Saudi and international students in prehistoric excavation methods, stratigraphic interpretation, recording procedures, and finds processing.

• Ensure the daily integration of data, metadata, and stratigraphic relationships into the GIS and relational database, in coordination with the team members responsible for surveying, GIS, and database management.

• Validate excavation records, inventories, data backups, and end-of-season documentation to ensure compliance with RCU requirements.

• Organise, in coordination with collection managers and specialists, the packaging, inventory, sampling, and transfer of artefacts to the RCU storage facilities in AlUla.

• Contribute to post-excavation processing, spatial and stratigraphic analyses, the synthesis of results, and the preparation of technical reports for AFALULA and the RCU.

• Contribute to scientific publications, conference presentations, outreach materials, and the dissemination of the project's results.

Your Profil

Skills

• PhD in archaeozoology, prehistory, archaeology, or a closely related discipline.

• Strong experience in Neolithic contexts and in the archaeology of the Arabian Peninsula.

• Good command of standard office software, GIS (QGIS), databases, and digital documentation workflows.

• Excellent scientific writing and reporting skills. Fluency in French and professional proficiency in spoken and written English; knowledge of Arabic is an asset but is not required.

• Rigour, autonomy, a strong sense of responsibility, the ability to make decisions in the field, and the capacity to work effectively in a demanding international environment.

• Availability for extended field missions in Saudi Arabia. First-aid training would be an advantage.

Your Work Environment

The DREH project (Dynamics of the Regional Early Holocene in Khaybar) is a 23-month archaeological research programme led by CNRS – UMR 5133 Archéorient and directed by Rémy Crassard. It builds on the research conducted as part of the Khaybar Longue Durée Archaeological Project on the earliest Neolithic occupations of the region.

Al-Mathana, discovered in 2023, preserves a stratified occupation dated between 7200 and 6800 cal. BC. The site has yielded dry-stone circular architecture, more than 48,000 lithic artefacts, over 35,000 faunal remains, bone tools, shells, personal ornaments, and a sandstone animal figurine from a Neolithic context. DREH will extend the excavations in order to refine our understanding of the settlement organisation, occupational sequence, technical practices, subsistence economies, and symbolic expressions of the Early Holocene in north-western Arabia.

The position is based at Archéorient, Maison de l'Orient et de la Méditerranée, 7 rue Raulin, Lyon 7th arrondissement, France. It involves regular and sometimes extended stays in Khaybar, as well as periods of work on collections stored in the RCU facilities in AlUla. Activities will alternate between fieldwork preparation, on-site analysis, post-excavation processing, scientific coordination, and report and publication writing.

Compensation and benefits

Compensation

from €3,071 gross per month, depending on experience

Annual leave and RTT

44 jours

Remote Working practice and compensation

Pratique et indemnisation du TT

Transport

Prise en charge à 75% du coût et forfait mobilité durable jusqu’à 300€

About the offer

About the CNRS

The CNRS is a major player in fundamental research on a global scale. The CNRS is the only French organization active in all scientific fields. Its unique position as a multi-specialist allows it to bring together different disciplines to address the most important challenges of the contemporary world, in connection with the actors of change.

CNRS

The research professions