Project description
Understanding urban settlement in medieval riverine Africa
The urban settlements in riverine Africa during the medieval and pre-modern periods remain insufficiently explored. Tungul (Old Dongola, Sudan) was originally the capital of the kingdom of Makuria, which flourished in the Middle Nile Valley from the late 4th century to the late 15th century. Subsequently, it evolved into a city-state under the patronage of Funj sultans from the 16th to the 19th century. To address this knowledge gap, the ERC-funded Afropolis Tungul project aims to construct an urban biography of Tungul, providing a comprehensive understanding of the persistence of settlements in riverine Africa. The project will extensively document the medieval and pre-modern city of Tungul. Overall, the project aims to shed light on the historical development and significance of Tungul, contributing to a broader understanding of urban settlements in riverine Africa.
Objective
The project aims at writing an urban biography of Tungul (Old Dongola, Sudan). The use of the native Nubian designation of the city underscores its medieval African heritage, while the “biographical” approach aids in conceptualizing the city as a complex, living organism. Tungul was originally the capital of the kingdom of Makuria which transformed into a city-state under the patronage of Funj sultans (16th–19th cent.). Makuria was a medieval African kingdom that thrived in the Middle Nile Valley from the end of the 4th cent. to the late 15th cent. CE. This project is a multidisciplinary attempt at gaining a profound understanding of settlement persistence in riverine Africa and it intends to amass extensive documentation of a medieval and pre-modern city. The biography will be based on analyses of Tungul’s urban design and planning, built structures, material culture, bioarchaeology, as well as micromorphology and geochemistry. The results will significantly contribute to the Nubian datasets and offer new perspectives for broader archaeological and theoretical studies on urbanism and complex societies. The proposed biography will focus on three entangled and mutually inclusive research themes: the capital’s cityscape, its design and planning; the city’s inhabitants; climate and environment. The project intends to venture beyond the traditional narratives, steeped in either ecological or political determinism, to create a balanced narrative devoting equal attention to climatic, environmental, socioeconomic and political factors. The majority of work will focus on the collection and analysis of data on Tungul in the Makurian period (4th–15th centuries). However, the research objectives require combining this material with data for the Funj period (16th–19th centuries), which constitutes an outcome of the ERC Starting Grant UMMA, and with other information obtained through decades of excavations, to consolidate the results of all research conducted at Tungul.
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 earth and related environmental sciences geochemistry
- medical and health sciences health sciences infectious diseases RNA viruses HIV
- humanities history and archaeology archaeology bioarchaeology
You need to log in or register to use this function
We are sorry... an unexpected error occurred during execution.
You need to be authenticated. Your session might have expired.
Thank you for your feedback. You will soon receive an email to confirm the submission. If you have selected to be notified about the reporting status, you will also be contacted when the reporting status will change.
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.
-
HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC)
MAIN PROGRAMME
See all projects funded under this programme
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.
HORIZON-ERC - HORIZON ERC Grants
See all projects funded under this funding scheme
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) ERC-2022-COG
See all projects funded under this callHost institution
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.
00-927 WARSZAWA
Poland
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.