Looking for hominins in Museum drawers - possible Upper Pleistocene specimens from Serbia: morphological descriptions and radiocarbon dating
Authors
Roksandic, MirjanaRadović, Predrag
Alex, Bridget A.
Pavić, Sanja
Paunović, Milan
Marković, Zoran
Contributors
Mihailović, DušanBook part (Published version)
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
With the exact nature of the interactions between Neanderthals and anatomically modern humans, and the identity of the of the bearers of early Upper Paleolithic technology still open questions essential to expand the human fossil data of Southeast Europe. In our attempt to do so, we investigated a small collection of six previously unpublished human cranial fragments from Serbia, housed at the Natural History Museum in Belgrade and the National Museum in Kraljevo. Tenuous contextual evidence suggested a possible Pleistocene age for the specimens. We conducted a macro-morphological analysis and accelerator mass spectrometry radiocarbon dating in order to assess taxonomical positions and absolute dates for the specimens. Thorough prescreening and chemical characterization of bone samples were used to ensure high reliability of 14C dates. Although the results showed all specimens to be Holocene-aged anatomically modern humans, this should not discourage future research. On the contrary, i...f indeed we want to understand the early presence of modern humans in the Central Balkans, more research is needed. This includes further checking of old museum collections, but emphasis will need to be placed on new excavations of Pleistocene sites in the region.
Keywords:
hominins / Pleistocene / Serbia / Upper PalaeolithicSource:
Palaeolithic and Mesolithic Research in the Central Balkans, 2014, 7-19Publisher:
- Serbian Archaeological Society – Commission for the Palaeolithic and Mesolithic
Funding / projects:
- National Science Foundation (NSF) Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant #1334615
- Fulbright Student Scholarship from the USIsrael Educational Foundation, and NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program Award DGE1144152
- Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada project 371077-2010
Institution/Community
Arheologija / ArchaeologyTY - CHAP AU - Roksandic, Mirjana AU - Radović, Predrag AU - Alex, Bridget A. AU - Pavić, Sanja AU - Paunović, Milan AU - Marković, Zoran PY - 2014 UR - http://reff.f.bg.ac.rs/handle/123456789/3684 AB - With the exact nature of the interactions between Neanderthals and anatomically modern humans, and the identity of the of the bearers of early Upper Paleolithic technology still open questions essential to expand the human fossil data of Southeast Europe. In our attempt to do so, we investigated a small collection of six previously unpublished human cranial fragments from Serbia, housed at the Natural History Museum in Belgrade and the National Museum in Kraljevo. Tenuous contextual evidence suggested a possible Pleistocene age for the specimens. We conducted a macro-morphological analysis and accelerator mass spectrometry radiocarbon dating in order to assess taxonomical positions and absolute dates for the specimens. Thorough prescreening and chemical characterization of bone samples were used to ensure high reliability of 14C dates. Although the results showed all specimens to be Holocene-aged anatomically modern humans, this should not discourage future research. On the contrary, if indeed we want to understand the early presence of modern humans in the Central Balkans, more research is needed. This includes further checking of old museum collections, but emphasis will need to be placed on new excavations of Pleistocene sites in the region. PB - Serbian Archaeological Society – Commission for the Palaeolithic and Mesolithic T2 - Palaeolithic and Mesolithic Research in the Central Balkans T1 - Looking for hominins in Museum drawers - possible Upper Pleistocene specimens from Serbia: morphological descriptions and radiocarbon dating EP - 19 SP - 7 UR - https://hdl.handle.net/21.15107/rcub_reff_3684 ER -
@inbook{ author = "Roksandic, Mirjana and Radović, Predrag and Alex, Bridget A. and Pavić, Sanja and Paunović, Milan and Marković, Zoran", year = "2014", abstract = "With the exact nature of the interactions between Neanderthals and anatomically modern humans, and the identity of the of the bearers of early Upper Paleolithic technology still open questions essential to expand the human fossil data of Southeast Europe. In our attempt to do so, we investigated a small collection of six previously unpublished human cranial fragments from Serbia, housed at the Natural History Museum in Belgrade and the National Museum in Kraljevo. Tenuous contextual evidence suggested a possible Pleistocene age for the specimens. We conducted a macro-morphological analysis and accelerator mass spectrometry radiocarbon dating in order to assess taxonomical positions and absolute dates for the specimens. Thorough prescreening and chemical characterization of bone samples were used to ensure high reliability of 14C dates. Although the results showed all specimens to be Holocene-aged anatomically modern humans, this should not discourage future research. On the contrary, if indeed we want to understand the early presence of modern humans in the Central Balkans, more research is needed. This includes further checking of old museum collections, but emphasis will need to be placed on new excavations of Pleistocene sites in the region.", publisher = "Serbian Archaeological Society – Commission for the Palaeolithic and Mesolithic", journal = "Palaeolithic and Mesolithic Research in the Central Balkans", booktitle = "Looking for hominins in Museum drawers - possible Upper Pleistocene specimens from Serbia: morphological descriptions and radiocarbon dating", pages = "19-7", url = "https://hdl.handle.net/21.15107/rcub_reff_3684" }
Roksandic, M., Radović, P., Alex, B. A., Pavić, S., Paunović, M.,& Marković, Z.. (2014). Looking for hominins in Museum drawers - possible Upper Pleistocene specimens from Serbia: morphological descriptions and radiocarbon dating. in Palaeolithic and Mesolithic Research in the Central Balkans Serbian Archaeological Society – Commission for the Palaeolithic and Mesolithic., 7-19. https://hdl.handle.net/21.15107/rcub_reff_3684
Roksandic M, Radović P, Alex BA, Pavić S, Paunović M, Marković Z. Looking for hominins in Museum drawers - possible Upper Pleistocene specimens from Serbia: morphological descriptions and radiocarbon dating. in Palaeolithic and Mesolithic Research in the Central Balkans. 2014;:7-19. https://hdl.handle.net/21.15107/rcub_reff_3684 .
Roksandic, Mirjana, Radović, Predrag, Alex, Bridget A., Pavić, Sanja, Paunović, Milan, Marković, Zoran, "Looking for hominins in Museum drawers - possible Upper Pleistocene specimens from Serbia: morphological descriptions and radiocarbon dating" in Palaeolithic and Mesolithic Research in the Central Balkans (2014):7-19, https://hdl.handle.net/21.15107/rcub_reff_3684 .