M/F Ceramic studies of Late Antique and Islamic period Khaybar

Organisation/Company CNRS Department Environnements et sociétés de l'orient ancien Research Field History History » Archaeology History » Medieval history Researcher Profile Established Researcher (R3) Application Deadline 18 Aug 2026 - 23:59 (UTC) Country France Type of Contract Temporary Job Status Full-time Hours Per Week 35 Offer Starting Date 1 Oct 2026 Is the job funded through the EU Research Framework Programme? Not funded by a EU programme Is the Job related to staff position within a Research Infrastructure? No

Offer Description

Under the supervision of the scientific director of the IKAP project (The Islamic Khaybar Archaeological Project), a large-scale project carried out within the Khaybar oasis in northwestern Saudi Arabia, the researcher will be responsible for the study and publication of the ceramic assemblages recovered from the excavations and surveys carried out as part of the IKAP project. He or she will develop a reference corpus based on the project's excavations, which will be published in a monograph.

Technical and scientific activities

• Record the ceramic material recovered from the excavations and surveys at Khaybar.
• Conduct a typological and chronological study of the ceramic assemblages, in coordination with the archaeologists responsible for the excavations and surveys, and in collaboration with the other researchers and specialists involved in the project.
• Produce detailed scientific reports.
• Contribute to the scientific publications of the project (writing or participating in the writing of articles, participation in conferences and seminars).

Training activities

• Participate in the training of French and Saudi students in ceramics study.

Logistics

• Contribute to the preparation of field missions, in collaboration with the director and project manager (definition of requirements, timetable).

The Khaybar oasis, located in western Saudi Arabia, is an important site in local history. It has been preserved for millennia, and human occupation appears to have been almost continuous from the earliest prehistory to the present day.The new IKAP project (The Islamic Khaybar Archaeological Project) began in December 2024 and will continue until the end of 2028. The project is led by S. McPhillips (CNRS, Archéorient - UMR 5133, Environment and Societies of the Ancient Near East) and is funded by the French Agency for the Development of AlUla (AFALULA, France), in partnership with the Royal Commission for AlUla (RCU, Saudi Arabia).The project aims, in particular, to provide new archaeological documentation to better understand human occupation and environmental dynamics in the Khaybar oasis during the Islamic period.The researcher will be hosted within the UMR 5133 team in Jalès (Ardèche). Travel to Saudi Arabia is planned, including 5-6 weeks of fieldwork. The work will take place in a hot desert environment.

• PhD. in archaeology or related discipline ;
• Experience in Islamic archaeology of the Near East and the Arabian Peninsula;
• Good knowledge of site recording and documentation methods in archaeology ;
• Fluency in spoken and written English (minimum level C1);
• Ability to communicate at a basic level in Arabic;
• Ability to lead a team and to train technicians and/or students in an international linguistic and cultural context;
• Writing of scientific publications in international peer-reviewed journals;
• Field experience in the Middle East, ideally in the Arabian Peninsula.
• Ability to develop collaborative studies on topics such as petrography, residue analyses, use wear etc.;
• Solid background knowledge of published literature in the field.