Restricted or even extinct for long in mainland France, carnivores are gradually recolonizing the territories they occupied for millennia. This doctoral project aims to participate in better understanding how humans and carnivores shared their spaces before the introduction of agricultural practices.
Based on a transdisciplinary study, this project will focus on the evolution of past biodiversity, eco-ethological aspects and the places held by carnivores within human societies at the end of the Paleolithic.

Competitors with humans for the acquisition of prey or the use of shelters and caves, carnivores are rare in archaeological bone remains as well as in Paleolithic art. However, at the end of the Upper Pleistocene, carnivores seem to have occupied a special place for the Paleolithic societies of central-western France. Between dynamic representations, use for adornment or fur, occasional consumption… what places did prehistoric societies give to these animals? How humans and carnivores shared their spaces before the introduction of agricultural practices? Finally, did environmental and/or biodiversity changes impact the carnivore guild and/or humans at the end of the Pleistocene?

The project will address these issues in one of the richest archaeological contexts in representations and uses of carnivore remains: the Magdalenian of central-western France. To do this, a holistic approach will be applied, tackling head-on faunal remains and utilitarian or ‘symbolic’ productions (objects, adornment, movable or parietal art). Based on a transdisciplinary study, combining methods and data from the earth sciences and the human sciences, this project will focus on the evolution of past biodiversity, the eco-ethological aspects and the places held by carnivores in late Paleolithic human societies.

The doctoral student will carry out the identification and the analysis of paleontological and archaeozoological of natural and cultural bone elements from the collections of various museum institutions. Together with his/her PhD advisors, he/she will put in place a relevant strategy for the application of paleoecological and paleobiological investigation methods at a high level of resolution to understand his/her studied material and the issues raised (dental micro-wear, isotopic geochemistry, direct dating if necessary, etc.). A review of literature data from different disciplines (paleontology, ethology, archaeology, prehistoric art, etc.) will be produced in parallel. Finally, he/she will have to apply different quantification methods to make objective comparisons between the different materials and fields of study considered.

The candidate must be familiar with the methods of comparative anatomy and taphonomy. He/She must know the different approaches necessary to carry out his work and integrate his/her study within a multidisciplinary project involving different specialists. The candidate will be in charge of creating and querying a complex database of all the data acquired and compiled. Finally, based on his/her readings, he/she will have to propose interpretations of the observations made.
Prior training in the recognition of modified bones and/or Paleolithic art will be appreciated. During the course of his/her doctoral contract, the candidate must be able to produce international publications of rank A, and to participate in international conferences. Geographical mobility on the national territory, and occasionally internationally, as well as a good command of scientific English is required.

The apprehension of our evolution through the analysis of faunal dynamics, the global responses of fauna to environmental variations, and the comparison of these responses not only locally over time, but also in their inter-regional dimension is a promising avenue of research, yet still limited. In this context, the doctoral topic proposes to evaluate the dynamics of faunal responses to environmental changes at different times within two basins, the Chad Basin in Central Africa and the Omo Basin in Eastern Africa, and to compare these dynamics between these basins. Thus, the study will focus on the eco-morphological responses of fauna to changes in the environmental framework. It will involve using biometric data independently of taxonomy as proxies for the environments. A Master’s degree in Paleontology and a strong motivation for fieldwork are expected.

The discoveries of fossil humans in Eastern and Southern Africa have led to the development of evolutionary paradigms and hypotheses based on a biased view of the distribution of fauna. The proposed paleoscenarios present an evolution largely driven by climate-related factors (expansion of the « savanna » biome, global cooling and aridification, more marked seasonality, increasing climate instability over time, etc.).
Paleontological research in Chad has uncovered thousands of fossil vertebrate remains shedding new light on Miocene-Pliocene paleoenvironments and faunal evolution in a region of Africa whose paleontological history was still largely unknown. These discoveries suggest a more complex history than the one formulated mainly from work in Eastern Africa and make it possible to reconsider evolutionary hypotheses.

This subject proposes to evaluate the dynamics of faunal responses to environmental changes at different times within two basins, those of Chad in Central Africa and Omo in Eastern Africa, and to compare these dynamics between these basins. These two study workshops are located at the same latitude but subjected to different climate regimes and environmental histories, which are presumably very different: desert/wetland alternations in the Chad basin; the continuity of water supply through two monsoon regimes on the Ethiopian highlands in the Turkana basin. Have these different environmental contexts generated different ecological responses in each basin? Have biotic interactions had different dynamics between these basins? Has Chad been a center of diversification and dispersion in a context of environmental pressures?

The project will be based on studying the ecomorphological responses of fauna (mammals) to environmental changes. It will involve using biometric data independently of taxonomy as proxies for the environments. The main ecomorphometric approaches employed will be based on the example of work carried out in the Turkana basin and, more specifically, for the Shungura Formation. This includes, in particular: dental measurements and codings describing crown height (hypsodonty) and tooth shape, which have been used as proxies for humidity in Turkana; postcranial measurements (including autopod measurements), which have been used as proxies for substrate type in Omo; and the evolution of body size in ectotherms, which has recently been used as a proxy for climate.

A doctoral thesis corresponds to a high level of professional expectation. Although the person recruited will be a beginner and receive support and guidance from the thesis supervisors, they will be considered a full colleague. Therefore, a high level of motivation, personal commitment to the research, real ability to work in a team (the new data acquired in the framework of this doctoral thesis must be incorporated into the rest of the team’s productions) while remaining highly autonomous, good writing skills, acceptance of the deontology specific to paleontology, and finally, a commitment to complete the doctoral contract, research project, and thesis to the best of their ability, are all expected. It is expected that the candidate has a Master’s degree in Paleontology and a strong motivation for fieldwork.