Objetivo
The ComPAg research program will produce the first global comparative synthesis of the convergent evolution of domesticated plants and early agricultural systems based primarily on empirical archaeobotanical data. We will produce ground-breaking data on the earliest crop packages across large parts of Eurasia and Africa, comparisons of the nature of early cultivation inferred from associated weed floras, quantified time series data on evolution of domestication traits for over 30 crops, including both primary and secondary domestications. This program will pursue primary archaeobotanical research in East and Southeast Asia, India, and parts of Africa, with synthesis of existing evidence from Southwest Asia and Europe. We aim to achieve a new framework for explaining the multiple routes from foraging to agriculture on a global scale. The origins of agriculture is widely regarded as the most significant ecological and economic change in the history of human populations, constituting the basis of a fundamental demographic transition towards higher and denser human populations. Plant cultivation is common to all instances of food production that supported sedentism, and thus the origins of crop agriculture is a core issue of socioeconomic evolution in long-term human history. This program will pursue cutting edge research to produce a new critical understanding of early agricultural transformations.
Ámbito científico
Convocatoria de propuestas
ERC-2012-ADG_20120411
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Régimen de financiación
ERC-AG - ERC Advanced GrantInstitución de acogida
WC1E 6BT London
Reino Unido