Project description
A closer look at Egypt’s Eastern Desert mining communities
An interdisciplinary and thorough analysis of Egypt’s Eastern Desert mining communities for more than 2 000 years is being undertaken to advance research in this field. Supported by the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme, the MineLife project combines archaeological evidence, ancient textual sources, spatial analysis, environmental studies and dietary analyses to reconstruct the social history of ancient extractive landscapes. It investigates how people interacted with desert environments, how mining settlements developed over time, and how communities adapted to arid and logistically challenging conditions. Remote sensing and geographic information systems will be used to map and model settlement organisation, while textual and environmental evidence will clarify the exploitation of natural resources and the provisioning strategies that sustained life in the desert.
Objective
MineLife is a groundbreaking project aimed at advancing research on Eastern Desert mining communities by integrating
archaeological, textual, spatial, and environmental data from different historical periods. It proposes to create a new social history by
examining mining landscapes and their interaction with human life over two millennia. The project focuses on four main objectives:
1. Reconstruct ancient Egyptian knowledge about the desert environment, capturing their understanding of its natural resources and
changes over time. This will involve analysing ancient Egyptian and Greek texts, including inscriptions and administrative documents,
to gather information on landscape features like wells, vegetation, and geographical landmarks.
2. Model the socio-environmental evolution of mining communities by studying settlement patterns and paleoenvironments. This
will be achieved through remote sensing technologies, GIS, and analysis of soil samples. Story-maps will merge archaeological data
with historical and environmental information to visualise mining settlements' spatial distribution and their relationship with the
landscape.
3. Investigate how dietary habits evolved over time and differed across various regions of the Eastern Desert, thereby gaining a clearer
insight into the living conditions within specific communities and among diverse human groups.
4. Examine long-term socio-environmental dynamics and culture-landscape relationships using an interdisciplinary approach. The
project will combine textual, archaeological, spatial, and environmental data to understand mining communities' life conditions and
survival strategies.
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
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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)
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-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.
75794 Paris
France
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.