PhD candidate (M/F)

Job Description

Thesis Subject

Title – FORFER: “Retracing and characterising the forests exploited for iron production in ancient periods in Bourgogne-Franche-Comté: insights from anthracological, dendroarchaeological and dendrochronological approaches”
This PhD project forms part of the ECOFER large-scale research project, “Ecological legacies of iron production: the pre-industrial forests of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté”, funded by the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté Region and led by V. Py-Saragaglia. The project seeks to understand how almost two millennia of iron production, from the Iron Age to the beginning of the early modern period, transformed forests, woodland management practices and the organisation of regional landscapes. Before the introduction of coke, iron production relied entirely on charcoal, which required considerable quantities of woodland resources. Charcoal remains preserved in smelting and smithing workshops therefore constitute direct archives of the woodlands that were exploited and of the methods used to harvest wood.
The 36-month PhD project constitutes the analytical core of ECOFER. It will draw on the substantial corpus of archaeological charcoal assembled through the TerriFer programme and the collective research programme (PCR) “Iron production in Bourgogne-Franche-Comté”, particularly in the Puisaye area, but also in other parts of the region. Its main objective will be to reconstruct long-term relationships between iron production, fuel procurement and woodland management.
The doctoral research will comprise three closely interconnected components:
-Determining the provenance of the wood used to produce charcoal by measuring tree-ring series preserved in archaeological charcoal and comparing them with regional dendrochronological chronologies;
-Characterising past woodland management practices from wood diameters, ages and growth patterns, together with the distinction between trunk wood and branch wood, in order to identify systems such as coppice, coppice-with-standards and high forest, as well as woodland cutting cycles;
Tracing changes in these practices and in wood-procurement areas over time by comparing the results with archaeological, chronological and spatial data, including LiDAR-derived evidence.
The PhD candidate will also contribute to the development of new dendrochronological and dendro-anthracological reference datasets for oak species and, in particular, European beech, which remains insufficiently documented for ancient periods. These reference datasets will be established through sampling campaigns in several forest stands around the Puisaye area and will subsequently be supplemented by controlled charring experiments and experimental bloomery smelting. The PhD project will therefore contribute primarily to WP1 and WP2, while its results will be integrated with the LiDAR and territorial analyses conducted within WP3.
The expected outcomes include the reconstruction of historical trajectories of woodland exploitation across the region, the identification of strategies developed to secure fuel supplies and ensure resource renewal, and a better understanding of the legacy left by ancient iron production in present-day forest landscapes.
The disciplinary core of the PhD lies in archaeobotany, through the combined application of anthracology, dendro-anthracology and dendrochronology to archaeological charcoal. The project is nevertheless situated within a broader interdisciplinary framework at the interface of archaeology, archaeometry and historical ecology. It will combine the study of woody plant remains, quantitative approaches to wood characterisation and provenance, experimental research, and the diachronic analysis of relationships between societies, woodland resources and landscapes.
The PhD will lead to several publications in international journals, presentations at scientific conferences, and the production and dissemination of databases and methodological reference datasets. It will provide advanced training in a combination of specialised and still relatively rare fields, including anthracology, dendro-anthracology, dendrochronology applied to archaeological charcoal, and historical ecology.

Your Work Environment

The PhD will be hosted by the IRAMAT-LMC laboratory at the UTBM campus in Sévenans (Territoire de Belfort). It will be conducted under the scientific supervision of Vanessa Py-Saragaglia, an archaeobotanist and CNRS researcher holding the French habilitation to supervise research (HDR) at IRAMAT-LMC, and co-supervised by Mélanie Saulnier, a dendrochronologist and CNRS researcher at the GEODE laboratory, a scientific partner in the project.
The PhD candidate will also interact, at both local and regional levels, with the archaeometallurgy and spatial-analysis specialists involved in the project. The PhD is further embedded in the development of IRAMAT-LMC's PYRAE analytical platform and will benefit from equipment upgrades funded through the regional ECOFER project.
The doctoral research will include field sampling campaigns, laboratory analysis sessions and, during the first year, participation in the summer excavation campaign focusing on iron-production sites in the study area.
The PhD is scheduled to begin on 1 October 2026, with the defence envisaged for September 2029, at the end of the project.

Constraints and risks

The position involves no particular constraints. Field and laboratory activities will be carried out in accordance with current safety procedures and using appropriate personal protective equipment.

Compensation and benefits

Compensation

2300 € gross monthly

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

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