After 18 months of the exploratory project FALCO – Hypothesising Human-Animal Relations in Medieval Portugal (EXPL/HAR-HIS/1135/2021), the dossier “Falcoria na Idade Média” was published in the magazine Jornal de Notícias – História, in which eight members of the research team and three guests, representing sectors in heritage and nature conservation, collaborated. The publication coincides with the end of the project simultaneously focused on the production of knowledge and its dissemination to the public. FALCO aimed to develop a multidisciplinary working group, based in Portugal, whose main purpose is to reflect on the interaction between medieval communities and the animal world, favoring interdisciplinarity as a way of approaching the subject.
At the same time, a fund of around 1,400 documentary references was collected and a small reference library was set up (under consultation at FCSH). Starting from a set of possible readings around the bird of prey, and thanks to the basic research generated by the project, several general lines of research were established within the scope of medieval environmental studies, highlighting the meaning and mental representation of the bird of prey, the organization, and practice of hunting, the movement of specimens, the ecology of the relationship with birds and the heritage associated with falconry.
