Human Landscapes: agricultural intensification and peasant resilience in medieval Southern Greater Syria.

Project Information

HumanLand

Grant agreement ID: 893431

DOI

10.3030/893431

Project terminated on 24 March 2022

EC signature date 24 February 2020

Start date 1 January 2022

End date 14 January 2024

Funded under

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Total cost

€ 174 806,40

EU contribution

€ 174 806,40

Coordinated by

RHEINISCHE FRIEDRICH-WILHELMS-UNIVERSITAT BONN
Germany

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - HumanLand (Human Landscapes: agricultural intensification and peasant resilience in medieval Southern Greater Syria.)

Reporting period: 2022-01-01 to 2023-12-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

No conclusions for the action reached yet due to the Early Termination of the Grant Agreement. The overall objective of project “Human Landscapes: agricultural intensification and peasant resilience in medieval Southern Greater Syria” (HumanLand) was to offer a longue durée perspective on issues of intensified agricultural and pastoral methods practiced in medieval Eastern Mediterranean region. Particularly, this project aimed to identify whether medieval empires intensified agro-pastoral pursuits despite negative environmental impacts on the semi-arid regions of Southern Greater Syria and whether traditional agro-pastoral systems worked towards peasant and environmental resilience. Specifically, HumanLand has three research objectives (ROs):
•RO1: To identify changes in agricultural intensification in relation to climatic, political and economic shifts that took place in the late 14th and much of the 15th centuries.
•RO2: To investigate the use of sustainable strategies and impact of imperial regimes on medieval communities.
•RO3: To investigate the impact of political structures on the ecology in semi-arid regions.
To pursue this, HumanLand uses botanical micro-remains (phytolith, starches and spherulites) and stable isotope data from crop remains derived from on- and off- site contexts of medieval Jordan and Israel that, combined, provide evidence for intensified agriculture. This evidence will be evaluated with information on land-use in medieval texts. Using a geodatabase in a GIS environment, the quantitative and qualitative data on medieval land-use will be evaluated against the backdrop of the settlement history of each site up until the 1870s and the history of local and regional politics and economy. This project approach to environmental history is important for the society, as it initiates awareness to some of these issues and letting us all think of who we are as species and how we dominate and alter our environments from the medieval Period through the current day.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

No final results, dissemination or exploitation were achieved due to the Early Termination of the Grant Agreement. At that early stage of the project the ER made arrangements for setting up the laboratory for micro-botanical analysis, conducted the relevant meetings with the project Supervisor in Bonn to set up a research and data plan as well as to introduce the ER to the University system; conducted a meeting with the GIS professor and created a research plan for the digital analysis of the project data using a GIS geodatabase and ArcGIS StoryMaps; made arrangements to equip laboratory at the Steinmann Institute with all consumables necessary for micro-botanical analysis, as well as the shipment of research sediment samples from Texas and Greece to the lab. In addition, the ER worked on the creation of a reading list for the State of the Art report and on the initial writing of the draft State of the Art.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

There were no results achieved until the Early Termination period. The methods adopted for this project included 1) micro-botanical data (phytoliths, starches, spherulites) from archaeological sediments, 2) stable isotope data from crop remains; 3) historical textual archives and 4) creation and management of a geo-database for synthesis and analysis of environmental and historical data. Expected results would help us identify irrigation signals and the use of manure as fertilizer, along with the identification of the production of economic crops and their by-products using micro-botanical analysis and stable isotope analysis. These intensified methods of agriculture will be evaluated as the resilient mechanisms of medieval peasant societies in times of political and environmental stress, as well. The botanical record produced would be used to verify economic and social data on land use and agrarian practice mentioned in contemporary historic sources.