Project description
Agricultural intensification practices in the Middle Ages
Irrigation, fertilisers, overgrazing, deforestation and cash cropping were among the medieval Islamic agricultural intensification practices in southern Greater Syria. Based on research and historic resources, the later medieval Islamic eras were marked by the collapse of the Mamluk state, the decline of major agricultural centres and a shift to seasonal basis occupation partly due to climatic stressors at the end of the 14th and 15th centuries as well as the lack of state resources and support. The EU-funded HumanLand project will use botanical micro remains and stable isotope data from crop remains to understand the agricultural practices of medieval communities in Jordan and Israel. It will identify the changes in agricultural intensification in relation to climatic, political and economic shifts. It will also investigate the impact of political structures on the ecology in semi-arid regions.
Objective
Medieval Islamic Archaeology in Southern Greater Syria is relevant to the sustainable agricultural intensification discourse due the implementation of state intensive land use for profit that affected the lives of peasants and the ecology of semi-arid regions. Medieval Islamic agricultural intensification practices included irrigation, fertilizers, overgrazing, deforestation and cash cropping, which increase agricultural yields. The project “Human Landscapes: agricultural intensification and peasant resilience in medieval Southern Greater Syria” (HumanLand), offers a deep-time perspective on these issues. According to surveys and historic resources, the later medieval Islamic eras were marked by the collapse of the Mamluk state, the decline of major agricultural centers, and a shift to a seasonal basis occupation partly due to climatic stressors of the end of the 14th and 15th centuries, as well as the lack of state resources and support. HumanLand will use new environmental and textual data for medieval land-use to investigate these three objectives: 1) 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, 2) To investigate the use of sustainable strategies and impact of imperial regimes on medieval communities, and 3) To investigate the impact of political structures on the ecology in semi-arid regions. The project will use botanical micro remains (phytolith, starches and spherulites) and stable isotope data from crop remains to understand agricultural practices of six medieval communities of Jordan and Israel. This evidence will be evaluated with information on land-use in medieval texts. These methods combined, provide evidence for intensified agriculture making this research one of the few studies done, which combine the different approaches proposed to approach the big picture of medieval Islamic agricultural history.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- engineering and technology civil engineering water engineering irrigation
- humanities history and archaeology history
- natural sciences biological sciences ecology
- humanities history and archaeology archaeology
- agricultural sciences agriculture, forestry, and fisheries agriculture
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Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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H2020-EU.1.3. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
MAIN PROGRAMME
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H2020-EU.1.3.2. - Nurturing excellence by means of cross-border and cross-sector mobility
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Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
MSCA-IF - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF)
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) H2020-MSCA-IF-2019
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
53113 Bonn
Germany
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.