REFUGE – Religious Enclosures in Fortified Urban and Rural Geographies of the Eastern Mediterranean | REFUGE | Progetto | Scheda informativa | HORIZON | CORDIS

Descrizione del progetto

Chiese fortificate mediterranee tra il VII e il IX secolo

Le chiese fortificate sorsero in tutto il Mediterraneo e nel Levante tra il VII e il IX secolo; ciononostante, non è ancora chiaro se queste strutture fungessero da spazi sicuri e luoghi di ritrovo per le comunità, oltre che da centri per proteggere una cultura minacciata. Sostenuto dal programma di azioni Marie Skłodowska-Curie, il progetto REFUGE reinterpreterà le chiese fortificate tardoantiche concentrando l’attenzione sulla Basilica di Amathus Acropolis. Il progetto rivaluterà i dati di scavo inediti e analizzerà il paesaggio locale utilizzando la caratterizzazione del paesaggio storico. REFUGE ricostruirà la storia sociale e le reti economiche della comunità della Basilica di Amathus Acropolis ed esplorerà le interazioni culturali attraverso lo studio di anfore e vasellame, fornendo risultati che saranno pubblicati in risorse multimediali a libero accesso.

Obiettivo

REFUGE – Religious Enclosures in Fortified Urban and Rural Geographies of the Eastern Mediterranean aims to provide a new interpretation of Late Antique fortified churches. The project will explore whether these structures can be seen as safe spaces and gathering loci for communities, as well as centres for a culture under threat. With the support of the Host Institution, the University of Cyprus, and the Secondment Institution, the CNRS – UMR 8167 “Orient et Méditerranée”, alongside a long-standing partnership with the École française d’Athènes, the Principal Investigator will assess and define the roles of fortified churches in the Mediterranean and the Levant during the 7th to 9th centuries. A key case study for REFUGE is the Amathus Acropolis Basilica (AAB). The project will reassess and analyse the results of its unpublished excavations, examining the surrounding agricultural and rural landscape through new Historical Landscape Characterization (HLC) analyses and archaeological surveys in an adjacent unurbanised area. This will help collect data to map the site’s social history. REFUGE is one of the first projects to apply HLC in Cyprus. By reconstructing the social history of the AAB community, the project aims to trace its economic networks and understand its role within broader regional dynamics across the Mediterranean and the Levant. It will also investigate interactions and mutual contributions among various cultures and groups, including the analysis of specific samples of amphorae and tableware from the site, materials that remain largely unexplored. REFUGE employs an integrated, cross-disciplinary approach, combining archival research, architectural analysis, excavation data, material culture studies, and topographical reconstruction. The findings from this project will contribute to scholarly publications and be made accessible to the public through free multimedia resources, featuring multilingual voice narration to ensure broad accessibility.