Project description
How early farmers lived with wildlife in ancient Europe
Between 6000 and 2000 BCE, as farming became common in western Europe, people’s lifestyles and their animal interactions changed. The ERC-funded WILDERFARM project aims to study these early farmers. It will mainly investigate how they dealt with animals, and how things like grazing and growing crops impacted the local environment. The project will also track changes over time in places such as Germany, the Netherlands, and Scandinavia. Researchers will draw on zooarchaeology, archaeobotany, biomolecular science, and ecological modelling. WILDERFARM’s goal is to determine how wild animals influenced these first farmers to see what we can learn for today.
Objective
WILDERFARM explores the significant changes in human-wildlife relationships that occurred with the rise of farming in western Europe between 6000 and 2000 BCE. Up until now, research on this period has focused strongly on the domestication of animals and plants and the emergence of the new relationship between humans and domesticates. WILDERFARM shifts the perspective, examining how farmers renegotiated the age-old relationship with wild animals and how the rise of farming and its activities, such as livestock grazing and crop husbandry, affected wildlife.
WILDERFARM addresses three critical gaps in current research: wild animals are under-represented in archaeological research compared to domestic ones, particularly in research on farming societies; there is still much debate on the nature and timing of the Neolithic transition in western Europe; and in light of the current biodiversity crisis, archaeological perspectives on human-wildlife relationships are valuable but under-utilised.
To achieve novel, multi-dimensional insights on the human-wildlife relationship, WILDERFARM integrates methods from zooarchaeology, archaeobotany, biomolecular science, and ecological modelling within a conceptual framework encompassing archaeology, multispecies anthropology, and conservation biology. Three case study areas in western Europe form the basis for a comparative, diachronic exploration of human-wildlife relationships: central Germany, the Netherlands, and southern Scandinavia. Through targeted dissemination and outreach, WILDERFARM seeks to generate an alternative perspective on the emergence of farming, increase awareness of the importance of wild animals in the human past, and offer valuable insights for today’s wildlife conservation education.
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.
- engineering and technology environmental engineering ecosystem-based management habitat conservation
- social sciences sociology anthropology
- natural sciences biological sciences ecology ecosystems
- agricultural sciences animal and dairy science domestic animals animal husbandry
- humanities history and archaeology archaeology bioarchaeology
You need to log in or register to use this function
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-2025-STG
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.
2311 EZ Leiden
Netherlands
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.