Technical and Social Innovations in the Caucasus: between the Eurasian Steppe and the Earliest Cities in the 4th and 3rd millennia BC

Project description

Technical and social invention in the Caucasus

The civilizations of Ancient Mesopotamia gave birth to many important advances in science and technology. The oldest wheel, for example, was discovered in the particular region, used for chariots some 5 000 years ago. The EU-funded ARCHCAUCASUS project challenges this theory, prevalent in the world of science and archeology, creating space for alternative hypotheses: that new technologies and techniques claim to have been discovered in Mesopotamia were actually adaptation from different ‘peripheries’. The ARCHCAUCASUS study will expand on this by probing four axial innovations: wheel and wagon, metal alloys, silver metallurgy and woolly sheep. The project is multidisciplinary, making use of the most up-to-date analytical methods.

Fields of science

Funding Scheme

ERC-ADG - Advanced Grant

Host institution

DEUTSCHES ARCHAOLOGISCHES INSTITUT

Address

Podbielskiallee 69/71
14195 Berlin
Germany

Activity type

Research Organisations

EU contribution

€ 2 487 875

Website

Contact the organisation

Beneficiaries (1)

DEUTSCHES ARCHAOLOGISCHES INSTITUT

Germany