Topic of Call for Proposals: Cluster of Excellence NaviSense
Project Title: AnHuNav - Animal and Human Navigation in the Ancient Southern Levant: An Interdisciplinary Project on Spatial Perception, Route Formation, and Orientation between Environmental Knowledge and Textual Tradition (Iron Age to Roman Imperial Period)
Participating Schools: IV and V

Were migrating animals the precursors of modern navigation systems, helping humans to find their way in ancient times? The booster unit Animal and Human Navigation in the Ancient Southern Levant will seek answers to this and related questions in an approach that combines biblical and biological perspectives. Numerous references to animal navigation can be found in Jewish, Greco-Roman and Christian texts that date back to antiquity. Ancient philosophers and naturalists also developed theories about how animals navigate across long distances using, for example, celestial bodies for guidance.

The research team also aims to examine the extent to which knowledge about animal navigation shaped the behaviour of people who lived in the south-eastern Mediterranean region encompassing Palestine, Israel, Jordan and Lebanon in ancient times, and incorporate the current migratory movements of birds and mammals into their research. A specific aim of the project is to generate a computer model that simulates the key trade and communication routes of this region in ancient times as well as the factors that influenced them.