Periodic Reporting for period 2 - DEEPMED (Discovering the Deep Mediterranean Environment: A History of Science and Strategy (1860-2020))
Reporting period: 2023-09-01 to 2025-02-28
Think of a map of the Mediterranean Sea. You are likely to picture the usual bird-view of the region, with the known land features revolving around a blank space divided in two by the boot of Italy. This is the Mediterranean of historians and anthropologists, including those with an interest in the role of the environment in history. Fernand Braudel’s seminal history of the Mediterranean area most notably included the environment as an agent of history, but considered the Mediterranean Sea as an immutable stage that shaped modes of production and commerce. For Braudel, the maritime routes enabled by surface currents gave way to the connectivity that defined the Mediterranean as a historical space but his sea remained a "surface," a "plain," and a "plateau."
Now, think of how the Mediterranean Sea looks to environmental and marine scientists dealing with the multiple processes below the surface that shape the Mediterranean environment. Their Mediterranean is no longer a blank space. Instead, depth takes center stage. The column of water becomes full of color, tones, and connections. Temperature drops and rises and salinity reveals a lively dance of bodies of water activated by gradients of pressure and convection cycles. Particles of CO2 are captured at the atmospheric layer by phytoplankton, which feeds zooplankton, fish, and marine mammals. A good number of these particles get stored at the bottom. Ocean and atmospheric geochemistry coevolve with the aquatic food chain. With depths up to five thousand meters, scientists often referred to the Mediterranean Sea as a miniature ocean, a laboratory where one can track global change at a regional scale.
Descend a little further down the column of water, and you'll hit the mountainous bottom. The boot of Italy now becomes the steep ridge of the Strait of Sicily, which divides and connects two distinct bodies of water. Scientists are only beginning to understand the interactions between biochemical processes in the water and the geological composition of the bottom, both in current times and in the deep past–for instance, when the Mediterranean Sea almost became a dessert during the Messinian-salinity crisis. Scientists are also learning about the productive potential of volcanic fumaroles in sustaining local ecosystems near the seabed. Countries and companies extract gas and oil and prospect for the rare earth and other elements on the bottom and beneath it. Underground exploration adds an extra level to this multilayered sea environment.
DEEPMED tracks the historical transformation of the Mediterranean environment from surface to volume. The Mediterranean Sea environment—like any other environment—is historic in at least two senses. The first is that the physical and biogeochemical environment changes through time. The second is that the perceptions of this environment attach new meanings and scope to it as a factor of cultural, technological, and scientific practices. Both senses are, of course, intimately related, mainly because humans are also a factor of environmental change. This means that historical practices and imaginations can play various roles in the physical evolution of the Mediterranean environment–and of any other environment, except in this case, with remarkable intensity and significant specificities. DEEPMED delves into how the Mediterranean environment came to be in these two senses–both as a concept and a reality.
Now, think of how the Mediterranean Sea looks to environmental and marine scientists dealing with the multiple processes below the surface that shape the Mediterranean environment. Their Mediterranean is no longer a blank space. Instead, depth takes center stage. The column of water becomes full of color, tones, and connections. Temperature drops and rises and salinity reveals a lively dance of bodies of water activated by gradients of pressure and convection cycles. Particles of CO2 are captured at the atmospheric layer by phytoplankton, which feeds zooplankton, fish, and marine mammals. A good number of these particles get stored at the bottom. Ocean and atmospheric geochemistry coevolve with the aquatic food chain. With depths up to five thousand meters, scientists often referred to the Mediterranean Sea as a miniature ocean, a laboratory where one can track global change at a regional scale.
Descend a little further down the column of water, and you'll hit the mountainous bottom. The boot of Italy now becomes the steep ridge of the Strait of Sicily, which divides and connects two distinct bodies of water. Scientists are only beginning to understand the interactions between biochemical processes in the water and the geological composition of the bottom, both in current times and in the deep past–for instance, when the Mediterranean Sea almost became a dessert during the Messinian-salinity crisis. Scientists are also learning about the productive potential of volcanic fumaroles in sustaining local ecosystems near the seabed. Countries and companies extract gas and oil and prospect for the rare earth and other elements on the bottom and beneath it. Underground exploration adds an extra level to this multilayered sea environment.
DEEPMED tracks the historical transformation of the Mediterranean environment from surface to volume. The Mediterranean Sea environment—like any other environment—is historic in at least two senses. The first is that the physical and biogeochemical environment changes through time. The second is that the perceptions of this environment attach new meanings and scope to it as a factor of cultural, technological, and scientific practices. Both senses are, of course, intimately related, mainly because humans are also a factor of environmental change. This means that historical practices and imaginations can play various roles in the physical evolution of the Mediterranean environment–and of any other environment, except in this case, with remarkable intensity and significant specificities. DEEPMED delves into how the Mediterranean environment came to be in these two senses–both as a concept and a reality.
DEEPMED pursues three specific objectives: 1) identifying the actors and contexts that enabled perceptions and practices of depth in the Mediterranean Sea; 2) describing how natural and human timescales interact in this body of water, and 3) tracking key conceptual landmarks defining the uniqueness and representativeness of the Mediterranean volume vis à vis the global ocean. With these goals in mind, we have assembled a highly interdisciplinary team of nine researchers (six post-docs and three PhD students), a digital humanities expert, and a project manager. We have divided work into four scientific Work Packages (WPs) and obtained significant results in each.
WP1. The production of space: charts, currents, and points of passage.
This WP offers the first historical analysis of evolving knowledge and visual representations of the Mediterranean depths. Results include an account of marine geology during the Cold War, a comparison of nautical charts of the Strait of Gibraltar from the early modern period to the 19th century, and a comprehensive review of bathymetric studies of the Mediterranean in the 20th century–including some revealing blank spots.
WP2. The territorialization of the sea: infrastructures, resources and borders.
WP2 asks for the role of science and strategy in the territorialization of the Mediterranean Sea. We have pursued two main lines of inquiry. On the one hand, we have asked how infrastructures such as the underwater telegraph cable reshaped colonial power balances in the Mediterranean in the late 19th century and the first half of the 20th.
On the other hand, we have investigated the development of territorial claims in the Mediterranean vis-à-vis global changes regarding water sovereignty and the Law of the Sea.
WP3. A changing Mediterranean: measuring, monitoring, and modeling.
WP3 seeks to understand the Mediterranean's significance in global deep sciences and strategy. The Mediterranean's role as a hot spot for earth and environmental sciences, including climate change, has centered our attention.
The Mediterranean emerges as a natural model for earth scientists, historians, and philosophers of the earth sciences. As such, we have been tracing the institutional and scientific links of research on the Mediterranean Sea to broader patterns of scientific change in physical oceanography, climate sciences, ecology, and environmental monitoring.
WP4. A new environment: Digital Synthesis.
This work package consists of a historical GIS that enables visualization for both research and public outreach on the making of the deep Mediterranean. Preliminary work with prototypes of this geoviewer allows us to forge connections between the work of different DEEPMED researchers. Thus, we use this visual tool to reveal unforeseen patterns in the historical fabric of this geographical space.
WP1. The production of space: charts, currents, and points of passage.
This WP offers the first historical analysis of evolving knowledge and visual representations of the Mediterranean depths. Results include an account of marine geology during the Cold War, a comparison of nautical charts of the Strait of Gibraltar from the early modern period to the 19th century, and a comprehensive review of bathymetric studies of the Mediterranean in the 20th century–including some revealing blank spots.
WP2. The territorialization of the sea: infrastructures, resources and borders.
WP2 asks for the role of science and strategy in the territorialization of the Mediterranean Sea. We have pursued two main lines of inquiry. On the one hand, we have asked how infrastructures such as the underwater telegraph cable reshaped colonial power balances in the Mediterranean in the late 19th century and the first half of the 20th.
On the other hand, we have investigated the development of territorial claims in the Mediterranean vis-à-vis global changes regarding water sovereignty and the Law of the Sea.
WP3. A changing Mediterranean: measuring, monitoring, and modeling.
WP3 seeks to understand the Mediterranean's significance in global deep sciences and strategy. The Mediterranean's role as a hot spot for earth and environmental sciences, including climate change, has centered our attention.
The Mediterranean emerges as a natural model for earth scientists, historians, and philosophers of the earth sciences. As such, we have been tracing the institutional and scientific links of research on the Mediterranean Sea to broader patterns of scientific change in physical oceanography, climate sciences, ecology, and environmental monitoring.
WP4. A new environment: Digital Synthesis.
This work package consists of a historical GIS that enables visualization for both research and public outreach on the making of the deep Mediterranean. Preliminary work with prototypes of this geoviewer allows us to forge connections between the work of different DEEPMED researchers. Thus, we use this visual tool to reveal unforeseen patterns in the historical fabric of this geographical space.
While the Mediterranean Sea has received attention from scholars in the humanities, including geographers and historians, few have asked about the historicity of the deep Mediterranean Sea. DEEPMED is the first basin-scale step in a novel approach to oceanic history that incorporates analyses of deep and bottom layers of the sea to gauge the causes and effects of the historical emergence of depth.
We expect to contribute to a more solid understanding of the development of volumetric notions of the Mediterranean from the 19th century to the present, the interplay between human and natural temporalities in past and present three-dimensional conceptions of the Mediterranean, and the place of the 3D Mediterranean in the world oceans, global climate, and world history.
Some results from us and our colleagues are available at our Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@deepmedhistoryofthe3dmedit68(opens in new window)
We expect to contribute to a more solid understanding of the development of volumetric notions of the Mediterranean from the 19th century to the present, the interplay between human and natural temporalities in past and present three-dimensional conceptions of the Mediterranean, and the place of the 3D Mediterranean in the world oceans, global climate, and world history.
Some results from us and our colleagues are available at our Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@deepmedhistoryofthe3dmedit68(opens in new window)