Sofija Stefanović

Birth and death: Infant burials from Vlasac and Lepenski Vir

Why were infants buried beneath house-floors at the Mesolithic and early Neolithic site of Lepenski Vir? Undertaking a new analysis of the neonate remains at Vlasac and Lepenski Vir the authors reject the idea of sacrificial infanticide, and demonstrate a consistency of respect in these burials. They suggest that the deaths were mourned and the dead, like the living, were given protection by the houses they were buried in. The treatment of mothers and children suggests increasing social cohesion from the Mesolithic at Vlasac to the early Neolithic at Lepenski Vir.

Demography of the Early Neolithic Population in Central Balkans: Population Dynamics Reconstruction Using Summed Radiocarbon Probability Distributions.

The Central Balkans region is of great importance for understanding the spread of the Neolithic in Europe but the Early Neolithic population dynamics of the region is unknown. In this study we apply the method of summed calibrated probability distributions to a set of published radiocarbon dates from the Republic of Serbia in order to reconstruct population dynamics in the Early Neolithic in this part of the Central Balkans. The results indicate that there was a significant population growth after ~6200 calBC, when the Neolithic was introduced into the region, followed by a bust at the end of the Early Neolithic phase (~5400 calBC). These results are broadly consistent with the predictions of the Neolithic Demographic Transition theory and the patterns of population booms and busts detected in other regions of Europe. These results suggest that the cultural process that underlies the patterns observed in Central and Western Europe was also in operation in the Central Balkan Neolithic and that the population increase component of this process can be considered as an important factor for the spread of the Neolithic as envisioned in the demic diffusion hypothesis.