Objective
The production of beef and dairy today is a major business with a huge global footprint, yet the historical origins of this phenomenon remain unclear. DeepCattle aims to uncover the emergence of commercial cattle farming by looking at Europe from c.1240 to 1840 AD. It asks when and how more intensive, market-focused cattle farming developed, fuelling urban growth and trade, and it reveals its social and environmental consequences for rural regions over time. This will be achieved through a novel landscape approach. There will be 3 primary case studies in Ireland, Scotland and Sweden and 2 secondary case studies in the north-west Alps and Hungarian Plain, the latter two acting as a control for findings in northern Europe. One strand of work will reconstruct the cattle- and land-management practices that made production possible and examine social change in communities using historic manuscripts and maps, remote sensing, archaeological fieldwork and GIS. A second strand will identify the expansion of cattle grazing and its impacts on biodiversity through pollen analysis and sedimentary DNA. A third will trace the movement of cattle and dairy out of these areas to cities using landscape analysis, economic history data and urban excavation reports. The project opens a new avenue of study in global environmental history, highlighting the pre-industrial roots of capitalist meat and dairy production. In doing so, it forces a rethink of economic change in Europe in the medieval-to-modern transition. It foregrounds the costs of urban growth and consumption for rural communities and environments and reveals the contingency of such growth on the actions of people at the ‘periphery’, everyday populations who had to navigate not only market demand but also local social structures, terrain and climate. The PI, Eugene Costello, is ideally placed to lead this work given his expertise in pastoralism and skills in archaeology, historical ecology and multi-lingual historical research.
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
- natural sciences earth and related environmental sciences physical geography cartography geographic information systems
- agricultural sciences animal and dairy science dairy
- humanities history and archaeology archaeology
- agricultural sciences animal and dairy science domestic animals animal husbandry
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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.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC)
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-ERC - HORIZON ERC Grants
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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) ERC-2025-COG
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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.
T12 YN60 Cork
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.