Emergence and evolution of ancient agroecosystems in Greater Iran: Biodiversity, impact and legacy

Informations

Funding country

France

Acronym

KHARMAN

URL

-

Start date

1/1/2015

End date

-

Budget

66,001 EUR

Fundings

Abstract

Emergence and evolution of ancient agroecosystems in Greater Iran: Biodiversity, impact and legacy In the framework of an international research project entitled KHARMAN (‘harvest’ in Persian) we will aim at reconstructing past human-plant and animal interactions in the area of Greater Iran. Our approach is based on archaeozoological and achaeobotanical research applied in a diachronic perspective from the Late Pleistocene until modern times. Three themes are concerned: reconstruction of wild and domesticated biodiversity; understanding how agroecosystems adapted to environmental and climatic conditions; evaluation of the impact of agropastoral activities on the environment. The French bio-archaeological community, namely archaeozoologists and archaoebotanists, has stood out during the last decades as one of the main partners of national archaeologies in Iran and adjacent countries. This status has been achieved by long term efforts and a continuous presence in the field during the last two decades and expressed by 1) a wide communication with the Iranian and adjacent areas scholars and institutions of various fields of research (archaeology, botany, zoology, environmental studies, ethnography, history); 2) a continuous expertise of bio-archaeological material; 3) the creation of an archaeozoological laboratory and the training of Iranian and French students. Besides maintaining the leading role of French scholars in this domain, we wish to associate our colleagues in an ambitious program combining scientific research, expertise and higher education. The detailed proposition submitted here aims at preparing, together with European and Asian colleagues, a large-scale scientific project that can be submitted, within two or three years, to an international funding scheme (ERC, ANR or others). Such a funding scheme will allow us to gather the leading scientific community, establish common research strategies and consolidate already obtained data by the creation of a bio-archaeological database of the Iranian domain and adjacent areas. The precise actions that are to be undertaken during the next 24 months will thus be 1) the constitution of the scientific network through our existing or blooming collaborations in Europe and in Asia in order to define the outlines and the agenda for the future collaborative research, 2) The constitution of the database as a fundamental action and as start-up project 3) The technical preparation of future research.