Objective The role of plant foods among prehistoric hunter-gatherer societies remains one of the major issues of World Prehistory. Recovering evidence for the use of plants in ancient forager diets presents many difficulties due to the low rate of survival of organic remains. More recently, developments of various methodological tools and analytical procedures for studying the importance of plant foods in the past have started to provide means for reaching realistic estimates about the role of plant foods in early prehistoric diets. The HIDDEN FOODS project aims to further develop a suite of methodological and experimental approaches in order to (a) obtain systematic and incontrovertible evidence about the importance of plant foods in European early prehistory; (b) study causal links between plant foods processing and technological changes in artefact production; and (c) assess the role of plant foods for prehistoric hunter-gatherers’ health status. The project will take a comparative, novel and integrated approach and investigate the importance of plant foods by studying three different categories of archaeological materials: ground stone tools, macro-botanical remains and human skeletal remains. The main methodological approaches involve (a) use-wear traces analysis; (b) starch identification; (c) parenchyma tissue analysis in macro-botanical remains recovered from archaeological sites; and, (d) study of dental pathologies related to plant foods on ancient human remains. The project will examine direct and indirect evidence of plant foods for Palaeolithic (~40,000–11,600 calibrated [henceforth cal] before present [henceforth BP]) and Mesolithic (~11,600–7900 cal BP) societies of southeast Europe and Italy. The integrated approach proposed by HIDDEN FOODS for identifying the role and consequences of plant foods’ consumption in ancient foragers’ diet, technological change and health status is, to date, unprecedented in the studies of European prehistoric hunter-gatherers. Fields of science natural sciencesearth and related environmental sciencesphysical geographycartographygeographic information systemsnatural sciencesbiological sciencesbiochemistrybiomoleculesproteinsnatural sciencesbiological sciencesbiochemistrybiomoleculescarbohydratesnatural sciencesmathematicspure mathematicsmathematical analysisfunctional analysisnatural sciencesbiological sciencesmicrobiology Programme(s) H2020-EU.1.1. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - European Research Council (ERC) Main Programme Topic(s) ERC-StG-2014 - ERC Starting Grant Call for proposal ERC-2014-STG See other projects for this call Funding Scheme ERC-STG - Starting Grant Coordinator UNIVERSITA DEGLI STUDI DI ROMA LA SAPIENZA Net EU contribution € 1 372 394,93 Address Piazzale aldo moro 5 00185 Roma Italy See on map Region Centro (IT) Lazio Roma Activity type Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Participation in EU R&I programmes Opens in new window HORIZON collaboration network Opens in new window Other funding € 0,00 Beneficiaries (2) Sort alphabetically Sort by Net EU contribution Expand all Collapse all UNIVERSITA DEGLI STUDI DI ROMA LA SAPIENZA Italy Net EU contribution € 1 372 394,93 Address Piazzale aldo moro 5 00185 Roma See on map Region Centro (IT) Lazio Roma Activity type Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Participation in EU R&I programmes Opens in new window HORIZON collaboration network Opens in new window Other funding € 0,00 THE CHANCELLOR MASTERS AND SCHOLARS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE Participation ended United Kingdom Net EU contribution € 127 461,07 Address Trinity lane the old schools CB2 1TN Cambridge See on map Region East of England East Anglia Cambridgeshire CC Activity type Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Participation in EU R&I programmes Opens in new window HORIZON collaboration network Opens in new window Other funding € 0,00
