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Content archived on 2022-12-23

Iron Age Society and Environment: A Case Study from the Trans-Ural Region of Russia

Objective

The primary project aim is to investigate the problem of interaction between human society and the environment in the late Prehistoric period, and to assess the forms of biological, cultural, economic and social adaptation represented archaeologically within the diverse environmental conditions of the Trans-Ural region.
It has been acknowledged that diverse landscapes and various cultural traditions represent the Trans-Ural region of Russia. It has also been noted that current ecosystems of this area had reached their contemporary state by the Iron Age period. However, the history of the Trans-Uralian forest-steppe ecosystems has never been studied systematically. There has been no attempt to focus specifically upon data acquisition relating to the early stage of human impact or the subsequent transformation of representative ecosystems.
In spite of the tremendous amount of archaeological research done in past years most analytical approaches were primarily descriptive in character and were developed within the traditional cultural-historical approach. Unfortunately, none of this work has been multi-disciplinary and no attention has been placed upon developing a combination of environmental, archaeological and anthropological approaches within the focus of one single project.
Thus, this project regards the society and environment as a whole in terms of environmental archaeology and its application, which will be the first attempt of such an approach to be applied to the area under study. The proposed project will be part of an archaeological investigation of the Uralian and Trans-Uralian cultures. The project will be developed from the interdisciplinary framework first established within the research project INTAS 93-3403 and the French-Russian project PICS-585.
The research strategy is based upon detailed multi-disciplinary field and analytical work that will be undertaken on selected sites (fortified settlement, burial ground and metallurgical site) where a large-scale biological program will accompany joint archaeological excavations. A reconsideration of past knowledge will then be evaluated through the recovery of new data. Research will incorporate the methods of archaeology, soil analysis, palynology, paleozoology, archaeo-anthropology, paleo-metallurgy and other relevant methods. Special attention will be paid to the problem of constructing a detailed chronology developed through a combination of stratigraphic data, cross-cultural dating and radiocarbon dating.
The project duration shall be 36 months. It will consist of four major research components or common tasks (A, B, C and D) These tasks include sub-tasks, or special tasks (ST), relating to selected sites and specific scientific disciplines involved in the project which are deemed relevant to such tasks. It is proposed that during 28 months a concentration on tasks A, B, and C will be underway. The remainder of the project period will be devoted to the synthesis and interpretation of evidence as well as the preparation of a collaborative publication (Task D).
The new collections of archaeological, anthropological and environmental materials will be obtained and, after scientific treatment, will be placed into museums. Various databases relating to the various project parts will be created which, in turn, will contribute to a theory of Trans-Uralian societal development during the Iron Age. The results of this project will contribute to a better understanding of the interrelationships between human society and environments within the forest-steppe and mountain ecosystems of the Trans-Ural region during the first millennium BC. The project also has educational significance in that the research will allow the formulation and development of new university courses.

Call for proposal

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Funding Scheme

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Coordinator

Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique
EU contribution
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Address
Bat. 24-25. Campus de Beaulieu, Université Rennes
35042 Rennes cedex
France

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Total cost
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Participants (4)