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Face Off. Understanding Ancient Masks

Project description

Unmasking the role of masks in Mediterranean’s Iron Age

During the Mediterranean’s Iron Age, masks were used for various reasons. The role masks played has not been fully studied. The EU-funded Face Off project will conduct the first comprehensive investigation and comparison of masking phenomena in the Mediterranean between the 12th and 2nd centuries BC. It will study why humans needed masks and shed light on the connection between masks and ancient societies, examining the Aegean, Cypriot, and Phoenician/Punic corpora of masks. Face Off will use advanced scientific methods to investigate the transmission of mask models, the impact of ancient masks on the spectators, the age and gender of the characters represented, and other mask related activities.

Objective

“Face Off” is designed as an interdisciplinary project, whose main goal is the first comprehensive investigation and comparison of masking phenomena in the Iron Age Mediterranean (c. 12th-2nd centuries BC), aiming to explain why humans need masks and understand the connection between masks and ancient societies. Apart from focusing on the examination of the Aegean, Cypriot and Phoenician/Punic corpora of masks, this project will use scientific methods (i.e. 3D modelling, pXRF, Face Expression Recognition; Machine Learning) to investigate the transmission of mask models and the impact of ancient masks on the spectators, and to understand the age and gender of the characters represented in these faces, of the persons wearing the masks and of those attending the masked activities. A project on this chronological and geographical coverage and based on such multidisciplinary methodology is unprecedented. Investigating this complexity will provide insights into the role that masks played in some Iron Age communities across the Mediterranean basin. This project is designed to take place at Universitat Pompeu Fabra, which has the expertise, facilities and resources necessary to support such research. By viewing the ancient masks of the Iron Age Mediterranean through the lens of various disciplines and scientific methods, the proposed project entails a significant component of an exchange of knowledge, together with training through research. With its dissemination (seminar, publications) and public engagement activities (articles, lectures, exhibition), this project constitutes an innovative way of doing archaeology and intends to bring together different traditions within the European schools of Mediterranean archaeology.

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Keywords

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Programme(s)

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Topic(s)

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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.

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.

(opens in new window) H2020-MSCA-IF-2020

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Coordinator

UNIVERSIDAD POMPEU FABRA
Net EU contribution

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.

€ 160 932,48
Address
PLACA DE LA MERCE, 10-12
08002 Barcelona
Spain

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Region
Este Cataluña Barcelona
Activity type
Higher or Secondary Education Establishments
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Total cost

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.

€ 160 932,48
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