Project description
Tracing Rome’s hidden supply chains
For centuries, cattle-herding pastoralists roamed eastern Africa, guided by grasslands and water, yet their role in shaping trade and urban growth along the Swahili coast remains a mystery. Did their overland routes help spark early forms of global exchange? Supported by the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme, the SAFARI project, named after the Swahili word for ‘journey’, aims to find out. Combining satellite remote sensing, computational modelling, archaeology, and historical data, SAFARI retraces ancient mobility corridors from the inland to the coast. The project explores how these pastoralist routes may have influenced the rise of Swahili cities and caravan trade networks between the eighth and nineteenth centuries CE, offering fresh insights into Africa’s role in early globalisation.
Objective
Simulating African Agro-Pastoralist Routes and Interactions (SAFARI, the Swahili word for journey) uses computational modelling, satellite remote sensing, statistical analyses and targeted archaeological field surveys to investigate overland pastoralist mobility corridors in a broad region across eastern Africa. Through a state-of-the art interdisciplinary methodology, it evaluates relationships between pastoralist mobility corridors, the emergence of coastal Swahili urbanism, and the expansion of caravan trading during the Middle-Late Iron Age (MIA-LIA, eighth-nineteenth centuries CE). Results from this study will inform an understanding of the emergence of early globalization in this part of the world. Though pastoralist presence has been hypothesized at early coastal Swahili urban centres, it remains unclear to what extent MIA-LIA pastoralist mobility between inland regions and the coast impacted spatiotemporal developments in Swahili urbanism and the emergence of caravan trade routes. Pastoralist interaction routes would have been conditioned by the ecological considerations of cattle herders, who relied on access to water and grasslands. Comparing modelled mobility pathways to spatial databases of coastal and inland settlement and maps of caravan routes in the nineteenth century, SAFARI will explore whether pastoralist mobility was a significant factor in shaping early connections between eastern Africa and the Indian Ocean. Satellite remote sensing and targeted field surveys will be used to test and refine models, and narrow down the affordances and limitations structuring the spatial organization of mobility corridors. Training and analysis will occur at the McDonald Institute for Archaeology at Cambridge University, primarily within the Computational and Digital Archaeology Lab.
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 computer and information sciences databases
- engineering and technology mechanical engineering vehicle engineering aerospace engineering satellite technology
- humanities history and archaeology archaeology
- agricultural sciences animal and dairy science domestic animals animal husbandry
- social sciences other social sciences development studies development theories global development studies globalization
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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)
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
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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-2024-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.
CB2 1TN CAMBRIDGE
United Kingdom
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.