ERC Consolidator Grant: Few geographical spaces have been more relevant to human life and more intensively theorized than the Mediterranean Sea. Today, this sea poses some of the most pressing challenges and opportunities for European economic, security, and environmental policies. Answers to how to manage the region depend on ideas and perceptions of integration and division of the basin and its peoples. But the Mediterranean as a spatial concept has radically changed in the last 150 years as humans have gained access to its depths, unveiling an underwater world to discover, exploit, and navigate. The Mediterranean has become a volume.
VOLUMED is the first historical account of the making of a 3D Sea, aiming at a meta-analysis of the technological, scientific, strategic, and environmental retooling of the Mediterranean. Through the historical examination of these four domains, VOLUMED pursues three specific objectives: 1) identifying the actors and contexts that have contributed to the plurality of Mediterranean topographies, 2) describing how natural and human temporalities interact in this body of water, and 3) tracking key conceptual landmarks defining the uniqueness and representativeness of the Mediterranean volume vis à vis the global ocean.

VOLUMED is the first basin-scale step in a novel approach to oceanic history that incorporates deep and  bottom layers to gauge the causes and effects of the historical emergence of depth. This requires an innovative interdisciplinary, transnational and digital methodology. The challenge is identifying overarching trajectories from the late 19th century to the present, including contrasting timelines and perspectives. The availability of digital tools for creating a digital database and for geospatial and visual analysis make the project timely. The current security and environmental Mediterranean crises make it essential.