Bio-Archaeology

Pre-requisites: To have passed the course Physical Anthropology during the basic academic studies.

Course objectives: Understanding the bioarchaeological perspective when analyzing prehistoric and historic periods in Serbia. Becoming familiar with which questions have all ready been answered by the analysis of human remains in Serbia.

Course description: Students will familiarize themselves with bioarchaeological research in Serbia. Special attention will be given to: prehistoric births; the problem of keeping infants warm; thermal conditions in houses at Lepenski Vir; burials in the Vinca culture; physical activities of the prehistoric people; biological and social status in the Bronze Age.

Learning Outcomes: Midterm examination and oral examination.

Literature/Reading:

• Larsen, C. S. 2002. Bioarchaeology-interpreting behavior from the human skeleton. Cambridge University Press., Cambridge.
• Stefanović, S. 2008. Rad, rod i status u bronzanom dobu: tragovi fizičkih aktivnosti na skeletima sa nekropole u Mokrinu. Filozofski fakultet: Beograd.
• Stefanović, S. 2006. The Domestication of human birth. Documenta Praehistorica XXXIII: 574-581.
• Stefanović, S. 2006. Animal canines as possible symbol of rank in Early Bronze Age Mokrin, in: Structural and Semiotic Investigations in Archaeology, ed. A. V. Yevglevsky. Donetsk: Donetsk University Press. pp.488-494.
• Borić, D., Stefanović, S. 2004. Birth and death: infant burials from Vlasac and Lepenski Vir. Antiquity 78:582-601.
• D.Borić, G.Grupe, J.Peters, Mikić, Ž. 2004. Is Mesolithic/Neolithic subsistence dichotomy real? New stable isotope evidence from the Danube Gorges, European Journal of Archaeology, Vol 7(3): 221-248.
• Grupe, G., Peters, J.,Mikić, Ž.2003. The exploitation of freshwater food resources by Meso-and Neolithic populations of Central Europe, BAR International Series 1201, The Basingstoke Press, pp.177-188