Paleodemographic and osteological analyses of the Neolithic population in Macedonia

In 2017, CPR has signed a memorandum of cooperation with BioSense Institute within their project BIRTH: Prehistoric fertility in the Balkans between 10 000 - 5 000 cal BC supported by the European Research Council. Foreseen for the period from 2017 till 2020, in this cooperation CPR will mediate the analysis of human and animal remains found at Neolithic sites in Macedonia. This project will enable results in multiple domains: bones and teeth found at Neolithic sites will be chronologically analyzed with AMS method; based on chronological and osteological analyses, Neolithic paleodemogaphic processes in Macedonia will be detected; anthropological analyses of Neolithic mothers and babies will provide an insight into the diseases, stresses, pathology, pregnancy and the nutrition of these individuals; the same analyses will be performed onto the animal bones, which would provide data on the quantity of the species, their nutrition, diseases and migration.
Apart from the research, the exhibition ‘New Age: the life of mothers and babies of the Neolithic in the Balkans’ was realized as part of this project. CRP together with BioSense Institute has provided 3D animations and illustrations of Neolithic house models from Macedonia. The display of these digital projections is a result of the photogrammetric documentation of Neolithic house models performed with the cooperation of the Museum of the City of Skopje and the museums and institutes for protection of cultural heritage from Bitola and Prilep. Multiple lectures of the team included in the research are planned as part of the project, which would present the methods applied in the scientific analyses and the results they would provide.