Project description
The impact of wool in prehistoric Europe
Studies on European prehistory often prioritise durable materials such as stone, bronze, and iron as the defining elements of the period, overlooking the impact of perishable materials like wool. This has created a need for a deeper understanding of how materials like wool have influenced societies. Supported by Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA), the WOOL project will investigate the transition from early domesticated sheep, which possessed coarse fleece unsuitable for spinning into yarn, to the emergence of wool-bearing sheep and their substantial impact on pastoral life and textile production. The project will explore the varying timelines of wool adoption across Europe, as well as the changes in husbandry practices prompted by the introduction of wool sheep.
Objective
The story of European prehistory is written in durable materials – stone, bronze and iron define the major archaeological periods and are taken to have shaped corresponding societies. Perishable materials, such as wool, have comparatively little impact on our understandings. However, wool production is highly demanding on societal and economic organisation and produces its own embodied experiences through seasonal production cycles. The earliest domesticated sheep had a hairy fleece, unsuitable for spinning into yarn, so the arrival of wool-bearing sheep fundamentally reorganised pastoral life: requiring novel husbandry practices (plucking/gathering shed wool, castration to increase quality, etc.) and huge investment in yarn/textile production. Its adoption in Bronze Age Europe has even been termed a ‘revolution’ (Sabatini & Bergerbrant 2020), bringing a new material with unique insulating properties, new ways of expressing identities, and new forms of human/animal interaction.
Critically, the timing of this process appears to be uneven. The earliest evidence for wool in Britain is the Rylstone textile, dated to 840–590 BC, while Danish examples, for instance, occur from 1700 BC. This is curious given a known rise in sheep numbers in Southern England throughout the second millennium BC. Could wool really be absent from Britain while revolutionising Europe? ‘The Wool Age’ will define the emergence and growth of the prehistoric wool economy in Britain for the first time and characterise the societal consequences. This will be achieved through a novel triangulation of available evidence (animal bone reports, textile tools, and landscape organisation) which avoids waiting for the chance survival of delicate textiles. Thus, a critical issue to our understanding of societal organisation and European interconnection can be revealed.
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.
- humanities history and archaeology history prehistory
- social sciences political sciences political transitions revolutions
- engineering and technology materials engineering textiles
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.1.2 - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)
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-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
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) HORIZON-MSCA-2023-PF-01
See all projects funded under this callCoordinator
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.
4 DUBLIN
Ireland
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.