MRECS | Managing Risk in Early Complex Societies in Syria-Palestine: An Investigation of Changing Animal Herding Strategies through the 4th-2nd Millennia BC Using Multi-Element Isotopic Analysis

Summary
The proposed research at Durham investigates the role of pastoral mobility in the rise of urban societies and large, integrated supra-regional economies in western Syria during the 3rd millennium BC through isotopic analysis of skeletal remains. During this period, state-level political systems developed and there was a massive expansion of urban settlement into the arid Syrian steppe. Scholars at Durham have proposed that elite exploitation of the economic opportunities provided by the humble sheep for the development of a vast new livestock-based economy lay at the heart of this transformation, representing a fundamental shift in socio-political networks, economic resilience and risk management strategies. Although material culture and texts provide clear indications about the vital significance of the wool industry in these major socio-economic changes, the proposed research will provide the first reliable means of directly testing these hypotheses by using multi-element isotopic analysis of archaeological animal enamel and bone to examine changes in animal management and herding strategies in Syria-Palestine in the 4th-2nd millennia BC. Two case studies will represent areas close to the core of this emerging system of economic intensification, and more peripheral areas that were likely impacted by these changes in more subtle ways.
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More information & hyperlinks
Web resources: https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/749872
Start date: 29-08-2018
End date: 28-08-2020
Total budget - Public funding: 183 454,80 Euro - 183 454,00 Euro
Cordis data

Original description

The proposed research at Durham investigates the role of pastoral mobility in the rise of urban societies and large, integrated supra-regional economies in western Syria during the 3rd millennium BC through isotopic analysis of skeletal remains. During this period, state-level political systems developed and there was a massive expansion of urban settlement into the arid Syrian steppe. Scholars at Durham have proposed that elite exploitation of the economic opportunities provided by the humble sheep for the development of a vast new livestock-based economy lay at the heart of this transformation, representing a fundamental shift in socio-political networks, economic resilience and risk management strategies. Although material culture and texts provide clear indications about the vital significance of the wool industry in these major socio-economic changes, the proposed research will provide the first reliable means of directly testing these hypotheses by using multi-element isotopic analysis of archaeological animal enamel and bone to examine changes in animal management and herding strategies in Syria-Palestine in the 4th-2nd millennia BC. Two case studies will represent areas close to the core of this emerging system of economic intensification, and more peripheral areas that were likely impacted by these changes in more subtle ways.

Status

CLOSED

Call topic

MSCA-IF-2016

Update Date

28-04-2024
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Horizon 2020
H2020-EU.1. EXCELLENT SCIENCE
H2020-EU.1.3. EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)
H2020-EU.1.3.2. Nurturing excellence by means of cross-border and cross-sector mobility
H2020-MSCA-IF-2016
MSCA-IF-2016