Project description
A closer look at human-beaver interaction
The European beaver (Castor fiber) plays a critical role in rewilding programmes in north-west Europe, despite its conflicting interactions with humans. However, before nearly going extinct, beavers had been interacting with the human environment for over 10 000 years. Unfortunately, there is little systematic data on these interactions, and our knowledge of how human and wild fauna domains intersected in the past is limited. With this in mind, the MSCA-funded KEYCON project aims to conduct comparative research on the changing interactions between humans and beavers during the Atlantic period (6000-3000 BC) in Denmark and the Netherlands. The project will combine archaeology, multi-species anthropology and conservation biology. It will integrate computational ecological modelling and zooarchaeological techniques.
Objective
The European beaver (Castor fiber) is central to rewilding schemes in north-west Europe today due to its role as a keystone species. However, its engineering feats are also an increasing source of human-wildlife conflict. While these challenges are unique to our time, prior to near-extinction beavers interacted with humans and their environments for over 10,000 years. Yet, there is little systematic data on these dynamics in the past. KEYCON comparatively investigates the changing interactions between humans and beavers – two keystone species – during the Atlantic period (6000-3000 BC) in Denmark and the Netherlands, across the pivotal transition from foraging to farming and a period of changing climate. Few studies have considered how the critical changes in human land use and subsistence impacted human-wildlife relationships beyond diet. Achieving new understanding of these issues is hampered by the lack of knowledge of how human and wild fauna domains intersected in the past, a lack of focused studies of wild fauna remains, and a persevering anthropocentric perspective on past human-nonhuman relationships. To address these challenges, KEYCON integrates computational ecological modelling and zooarchaeological techniques in a transdisciplinary approach encompassing archaeology, multi-species anthropology, and conservation biology. Utilising the rich yet untapped dataset of prehistoric beaver assemblages from Denmark and the Netherlands, KEYCON provides a novel perspective on human-beaver interactions in the past. Using the resulting insights, KEYCON seeks also to contribute a data-driven, deep-time perspective on current rewilding schemes, the success of which is predicated on how the socio-ecological dynamics between humans and wild animals are addressed, and on robust ecological baselines. Mobilising a unique archaeological dataset, KEYCON will provide essential longue durée data and perspectives on both of these aspects.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
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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.
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- medical and health sciences health sciences nutrition
- humanities history and archaeology archaeology
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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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HORIZON.1.2 - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)
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Topic(s)
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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.
Funding Scheme
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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.
HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
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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) HORIZON-MSCA-2022-PF-01
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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.
8000 Aarhus C
Denmark
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