Project description
A deeper look at plant and animal domestication in the past
Named after the Greek goddess of harvest, grain and fertility, the EU-funded DEMETER project will investigate crop and breed evolution from the Neolithic to the present. It will trace how societies influenced domestic crops and animals under different farming and environmental regimes and socio-economic contexts. Specifically, the project will find out how and why the diversity of domestic forms evolved and led to the large number of breeds and varieties that exist today. It will also determine how this diversity allowed societies to adapt to the environmental and socio-economic changes that occurred repeatedly since the onset of agriculture. The project’s findings will shed light on the regional synthesis of the links between domesticates and humans over the last eight millennia.
Objective
The domestication of plants and animals marks a major transition in human history and is a key element in the development of modern societies. Local and traditional domestic breeds and varieties are the result of millennia of selection of landraces by farmers. However, we are now experiencing a major crisis with a drastic loss in the diversity of food production systems and the progressive disappearance of traditional practices. The local knowledge and culture of farmers are under threat, as well as the diversity of harvested species, varieties and breeds. In this context, DEMETER’s objective is to trace how societies influenced crop and breed evolution under different farming and environmental regimes, and socio-economic contexts since the onset of agriculture. More specifically, DEMETER aims at identifying: 1) how and why the diversity of domestic forms evolved and led to the large number of breeds and varieties that exist today, and 2) how this diversity allowed societies to adapt to the environmental and socio-economic changes that occurred repeatedly since the onset of agriculture. DEMETER aims at studying the evolution, from the Neolithic until the present of a selection animal and plant models: pigs, sheep, goats and barley, in a given region, the Northwestern Occidental Mediterranean basin, i.e. outside their primary ‘domestication centre’. DEMETER will be based on an unprecedented and unconventional combination of approaches, including phenomics (through geometric morphometrics), databasing, zooarchaeology, archaeobotany, climate modelling, palaeoproteins (ZooMs) and statistical analyses, implemented to analyse 10,000 domestic specimens (i.e. mammal teeth and barley grains).
DEMETER will produce an unprecedented regional synthesis of the relationships between humans and domesticates over the last 8 millennia in a new way and at a fine-scale resolution never envisioned before.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: https://op.europa.eu/en/web/eu-vocabularies/euroscivoc.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: https://op.europa.eu/en/web/eu-vocabularies/euroscivoc.
- humanities history and archaeology history
- agricultural sciences agriculture, forestry, and fisheries agriculture grains and oilseeds
- humanities history and archaeology archaeology bioarchaeology
You need to log in or register to use this function
We are sorry... an unexpected error occurred during execution.
You need to be authenticated. Your session might have expired.
Thank you for your feedback. You will soon receive an email to confirm the submission. If you have selected to be notified about the reporting status, you will also be contacted when the reporting status will change.
Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
-
H2020-EU.1.1. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - European Research Council (ERC)
MAIN PROGRAMME
See all projects funded under this programme
Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
ERC-STG - Starting Grant
See all projects funded under this funding scheme
Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) ERC-2019-STG
See all projects funded under this callHost institution
Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
75794 PARIS
France
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.