Project description
Unveiling sustained voluntary collaboration
The role of voluntary human cooperation has been invaluable throughout history. Archaeological studies on collective activities have focused mainly on actions imposed by the state, hierarchical structures or collaboration on simple technologies that enable survival. But, how can complex or "luxury" technological systems be sustained in the absence of coercive political administrations? The EU-funded REVERSEACTION project will address hypotheses on the links between cooperative technologies, cross-craft collaboration, resilience, ritual, and the emergence of innovations. It will focus on complex archaeological technologies from stateless societies of pre-Columbian America and develop world-wide comparisons. REVERSEACTION will apply archaeological science methods and environmental studies to reverse engineer archaeological artefacts, and explore collaborations with anthropology, sociology, management studies and crafts.
Objective
Cooperation is a markedly human mix of innate and learned behaviour, and a key to tackling some of our greatest concerns. Paradoxically, studies of social dynamics often focus on hierarchies, state formation and political structures ruled by coercive power, with comparatively little regard to the mechanisms whereby humans voluntarily collaborate. Encouragingly, new research on collective action is reconciling classic anthropology with game theory and empirical studies of group resource management, thus heralding a fundamental transformation.
Archaeological collective action studies have mostly concentrated on subsistence and relatively simple technologies. There is a perplexing lack of research on cooperative production of luxury items, i.e. those materialising exceptional investment in materials, skill and/or labour, and not geared towards subsistence. Evidence for goldwork, polychrome textile-making and lapidary work in stateless societies provides compelling proof that complex technologies could be sustained in the absence of coercive powers, but explanations are lacking.
How can complex technological systems be sustained in the absence of coercive political administrations? To address this question, REVERSEACTION will deploy archaeological science methods to the reverse engineering of archaeological artefacts made of multiple materials, combined with environmental studies, and fostering exploratory collaborations with anthropology, sociology, management studies and crafts.
A key focus will be placed on two stateless societies of Pre-Columbian America: Muisca and Nariño. These offer a wealth of relevant materials, including goldwork, ceramics, lithics and textiles. Incorporating technological studies, raw material sourcing, and formal analyses of skill and knowledge transmission, the data will be used to test hypotheses on the role of cross-craft interaction in ensuring resilience, and on the relationships between ritual, complex technologies, and innovations.
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: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- engineering and technology materials engineering textiles
- social sciences sociology anthropology
- engineering and technology materials engineering ceramics
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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.
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H2020-EU.1.1. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - European Research Council (ERC)
MAIN PROGRAMME
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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.
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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-ADG - Advanced Grant
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Call for proposal
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Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) ERC-2020-ADG
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CB2 1TN CAMBRIDGE
United Kingdom
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