Project description
Sasanian Empire landscape and organisation
How did ancient empires organise their space, resources and populations across vast territories remains? It is a puzzle, particularly since information is unevenly distributed across core and peripheral regions. For the Sassanid Empire (224-651 CE), which was the last pre-Islamic Persian dynasty, it is difficult to explain how imperial power was transferred into regional development, infrastructure and long-term landscape transformation. Supported by the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme, the SIBE project will try to find answers by comparing archaeological data from its heartland in Pars with five other core and frontier areas. Ultimately, the project expects to shed light on how imperial power shaped settlement, agriculture, infrastructure and defence systems, offering new insights into how the empire functioned and adapted across diverse environments.
Objective
The Sasanian Empire (224 to 651 CE) was one of the largest and longest-lived polities of the Late Antique world, holding significant influence across West and Central Asia. SIBE (Sasanian Investment from Birthplace to Empire: A Comparative Archaeological Data Analysis of Pars with Other Regions) will examine the social, political and economic organisation of the Sasanian Empire through its transformation of the landscape. It will compare investment in their birthplace, the Pars region (Iran), with several other regions across the empire. The study focuses on unpublished data of the Pars region, gathered through recent landscape archaeological surveys, and published and unpublished data from five other regions representing core and frontier territories (Gorgan Plain, Southern Mesopotamia, Khuzestan, Iranian Azerbaijan, and Marv). It examines the relationship between imperial power and regional projects, strategies for exploiting the semi-arid landscape, and insights into the empire's overall functionality. The project will enhance the candidate’s skills, professional network and outreach abilities through a comprehensive training program in big data integration and analysis, GIS, spatial analysis, and the creation of research opportunities and collaboration with established experts in Landscape archaeology and Sasanian studies. By drawing together rich datasets at unprecedented spatial scales across diverse regions, employing new methodologies and comparative perspectives, this project will create a step change in our understanding of the structure of the empire. The results of SIBE will improve our understanding of Sasanian settlement patterns, population growth, land use system, regional infrastructures, agriculture and defence systems, and will shed light on the Empire's formation, development and resilience against diverse social and environmental challenges.
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.
- humanities history and archaeology history ancient history
- humanities history and archaeology archaeology
- agricultural sciences agriculture, forestry, and fisheries agriculture
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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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HORIZON.1.2 - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)
MAIN PROGRAMME
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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
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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.
HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
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Call for proposal
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Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) HORIZON-MSCA-2025-PF
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DH1 3LE DURHAM
United Kingdom
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