Objective This interdisciplinary project will show that inter-imperial zones and small to mid-size regional networks of exchange were crucial for ancient Transeurasian exchange connections. It will demonstrate the significance of exchange in imperial frontier zones emerging from political, economic, infrastructural, institutional and technological development within empires. This will lead to a new conceptual frame for analyzing inter-imperiality and the morphology of exchange networks within and across imperial zones.The centuries from 300 BCE to 300 CE were a period of accelerated empire transformation involving also new regions of the Afro-Eurasian world. Consumption centres shifted, affecting production, settlement, and regional exchange networks. They changed the dynamics of exchange, created new geographies, and greater cultural convergence between imperial spheres of influence. The development of imperial frontier zones of intense exchange and mobility (e.g. Northern China, Bactria, Gandhara, Syria, and the Red Sea/Gulf/Indian Ocean coasts) was related to imperial hinterlands, their fiscal-military-administrative regimes, the development of media of exchange and infrastructures, settlement, urban growth, and so on. It was also related to new forms and levels of consumption in imperial centres. In order to understand Transeurasian connectivity, the interdependence of frontier zone and inner-imperial development is crucial. We will reveal that competitions for social power within empires mobilized and concentrated resources reclaimed from natural landscapes and subsistence economies. Greater mobility of resources, both human and material, endowed competitions for power with economic force, feeding into inter-imperial prestige economies and trade. This new model of Afro-Eurasian connectivity will abandon some problematic assumptions of Silk Road trade, while maintaining the Afro-Eurasian macro-region as a meaningful unit for cultural and economic analysis. Fields of science humanitieshistory and archaeologyhistorysocial sciencessocial geographycultural and economic geography Keywords Transcultural exchange ancient globalization Silk Road Studies Programme(s) H2020-EU.1.1. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - European Research Council (ERC) Main Programme Topic(s) ERC-2016-ADG - ERC Advanced Grant Call for proposal ERC-2016-ADG See other projects for this call Funding Scheme ERC-ADG - Advanced Grant Host institution ALBERT-LUDWIGS-UNIVERSITAET FREIBURG Net EU contribution € 2 498 750,00 Address FAHNENBERGPLATZ 79098 Freiburg Germany See on map Region Baden-Württemberg Freiburg Freiburg im Breisgau, Stadtkreis Activity type Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Participation in EU R&I programmes Opens in new window HORIZON collaboration network Opens in new window Total cost € 2 498 750,00 Beneficiaries (1) Sort alphabetically Sort by Net EU contribution Expand all Collapse all ALBERT-LUDWIGS-UNIVERSITAET FREIBURG Germany Net EU contribution € 2 498 750,00 Address FAHNENBERGPLATZ 79098 Freiburg See on map Region Baden-Württemberg Freiburg Freiburg im Breisgau, Stadtkreis Activity type Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Participation in EU R&I programmes Opens in new window HORIZON collaboration network Opens in new window Total cost € 2 498 750,00
