Project description
Timing the emergence of dairy pastoralism in the Zagros mountains
Eleven thousand years ago, the Zagros mountains (Iran) witnessed the development of agro-pastoralism and residential mobility. Meat and milk exploitation played an important role in culinary practices of ancient human communities. The use of dairy products by early pastoralists is not fully understood, due to lacking direct proof of milk consumption and when and how it started. The EU-funded VARGAH project will fill these gaps through palaeodietary reconstruction, using ancient proteins and lipids preserved in human dental tartar and pottery vessels. It will determine chronology using the radiocarbon method on bone collagen and lipid residues preserved in ceramics. VARGAH will provide robust answers on early mobile and sedentary pastoralism in a region central to our understanding of agricultural development.
Objective
The development of agriculture and the domestication of animals has influenced past human diet up to the modern food industry. Archaeology contributes to enriching our knowledge of past societies, including the exploitation of natural resources by human groups and adaptation to various environments. Human societies associated with the beginnings of agriculture and domestication began in the Neolithic. Recent bioarchaeological studies have highlighted the role of the Zagros mountains (Iran) in the dynamics of plant and animal domestication in the Near East and their spread eastwards. This region has also witnessed the development of nomadic pastoralism throughout its history. Nonetheless, the overall subsistence strategy and beginnings of milk exploitation by these early pastoralists are not yet understood, due to the lack of analysis of absorbed food residue from pottery and difficulties in dating the mobile camps in this area.
VARGAH (“mobile camps” in Persian) aims to fill the gaps in our understanding of the development of agriculture and animal management in Iranian archaeology by (1) paleodietary reconstruction, using ancient proteins preserved in human dental calculus and lipid residues preserved in pottery vessels, (2) resolving the chronology using bone collagen dating and compound-specific radiocarbon dating of lipid residues and (3) contextualisation of pastoralism through the comparison of sedentary and mobile groups. This project is based on a synergy between advances in analytical chemistry applied to archaeometry (fellow), cutting-edge expertise in Iranian archaeology and biomolecular geochemistry (host), and advances in 14C geochronology measurements (secondment). VARGAH will provide robust answers on early pastoralism in a region central to our understanding for agricultural development. The project will also enable the fellow to reach an idependant leading position by developping sought-after expertise linking archaeology, chemistry and geosciences.
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.
- natural sciences chemical sciences analytical chemistry
- humanities history and archaeology history
- natural sciences biological sciences biochemistry biomolecules lipids
- humanities history and archaeology archaeology archaeometry
- agricultural sciences agriculture, forestry, and fisheries agriculture
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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.1.3. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
MAIN PROGRAMME
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H2020-EU.1.3.2. - Nurturing excellence by means of cross-border and cross-sector mobility
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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.
MSCA-IF - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF)
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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) H2020-MSCA-IF-2020
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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.
75005 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.