Project description
Ancient human migrations through Libya’s arid landscapes
Understanding early human behaviour and migration patterns in North Africa is crucial for piecing together our species’ global dispersal. Yet, scant archaeological data from the Saharan and peri-Saharan regions hampers our understanding of these historical dynamics. The EU-funded BREATHE project will examine the archaeological records of southern and northern Libya. Spanning the Jebel Gharbi and the Acacus-Messak regions, BREATHE employs cutting-edge techniques like geospatial statistics and geometric morphometrics to analyse surface lithics from the Early and Middle Stone Ages. This approach aims to unravel land use patterns and adaptive strategies, offering insights into human migration and behaviour in this pivotal arid corridor between sub-Saharan Africa and the Mediterranean.
Objective
Project BREATHE aims to contribute a new understanding of cultural and behavioral traits of North African early humans through the archaeological record of southern and northern Libya. This is a crucial region for understanding the trans-Saharan connections that contributed to the global dispersal of our species. However, the current scant archaeological and chronometric data for the Saharan and peri-Saharan regions limits our knowledge of biogeographic dynamics that linked different regions of North Africa at key moments of human biological and cultural evolution, especially around the emergence of H. sapiens ca. 300 ka. The project research areas, the Jebel Gharbi to the north and the Acacus and Messak to the south, represent the extremes of an ideal North-South transect with different environments and archaeological records, an important axis between sub-Saharan Africa and the Mediterranean. These arid regions have deeply eroded landscapes where Pleistocene geoarchaeological archives are rare. Except for few buried contexts, the evidence is mostly comprised of lithic artefacts found on open-air surfaces. Nevertheless, these surface lithics can provide a wealth of information when an array of cutting-edge analytical techniques (geospatial statistics, geometric morphometrics and wear analyses) are combined in the way proposed by BREATHE. These artefacts span the final phases of the Early Stone Age, the early emergence of the Middle Stone Age and its later manifestations, particularly the Aterian. The spatial amplitude of the research areas enables large-scale landscape analyses to be carried out, identifying land use and occupation patterns not detectable at a site-oriented research scale. This provides a unique window into past human behaviour and biogeographic dynamics in a central arid area that may have played a key role in the adaptive strategies that enabled our species to colonise new and challenging environments across Africa and beyond.
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.
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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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HORIZON.4.1 - Widening participation and spreading excellence
MAIN PROGRAMME
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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.
HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
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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) HORIZON-WIDERA-2023-TALENTS-02
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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.
8005 139 FARO
Portugal
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.