Project description
Identity formation and social dynamics in Bronze Age Minoan communities
Emerging on Bronze Age Crete, the Minoans developed one of Europe’s earliest complex societies, renowned for its palaces, trade networks and cultural influence. Supported by the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme, the BIOSOCIAL project moves beyond traditional studies focused on palaces and hierarchies to examine how identity, status, sex and age shaped lived experiences. Researchers will analyse funerary practices, health, diet, mobility and biological relationships using an approach that combines bioarchaeology, isotope analysis, archaeothanatology and advanced statistics. More than 200 human skeletons from two Bronze Age sites will be studied to reconstruct social relations and regional networks. The goal is to offer new perspectives on inequality, migration, gender and social cohesion in past and present societies.
Objective
This project explores aspects of social inequality and identity in one of the earliest complex societies in Europe, the Minoan society. Despite the volume of research on Minoan social organisation, complexity has mostly been investigated through the emergence of palatial centers and hierarchical relationships. BIOSOCIAL adopts a novel theoretical approach by emphasizing human agency and examining how identity categories intersected in lived experience. The main objectives of the project are: 1) To examine the relationship between funerary practices and social strategies in order to compare staged vs lived identities; 2) to explore patterns of inequality in disease, stress and diet in relation to sex, age and social status; 3) to assess whether biological affinity shaped mortuary practices and social relations, and 4) to identify mobility patterns and reconstruct interregional networks. To do so, the project applies an interdisciplinary and multi-proxy methodology. BIOSOCIAL will be the first systematic study to combine bioarchaeological, isotopic, biocultural, archaeothanatological, and theoretical approaches. These will be applied to over 200 human skeletons from two distinct sites, illuminating how human relations were formed and structured throughout the Early to Middle Bronze Age and across different regions. All raw data will be openly shared through an open access database while the project will result in the first extensive analysis of Neopalatial skeletal material, addressing a previously understudied period. The host institution will provide training in biodistance analysis and advanced statistics, while a secondment at VUB will expand the fellow's expertise in isotope analysis. By examining how Minoan communities structured social hierarchies, BIOSOCIAL will provide a historical perspective on the mechanisms that create and mitigate inequality, offering comparative insights relevant to contemporary debates on gender, migration, and social cohesion.
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
- social sciences sociology social issues social inequalities
- medical and health sciences health sciences nutrition
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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.1.2 - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)
MAIN PROGRAMME
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Topic(s)
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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-2025-PF
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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.
2121 Nicosia
Cyprus
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.