Biological and cultural identity of first farmers - Project aims and objectives

Project aims and objectives

The focus of this research project are the human skeletal remains from the Široká u Lesa cemetery, and by employing a range of bio-archaeological approaches the project´s aims and objectives are:

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To produce a precise chronology of this period by dating selected burials directly by AMS radiocarbon dating and in so doing, to test the relative ceramic typological scheme for the region.
To ascertain the health and nutritional condition of the skeletal population through bone stable isotopes, and dental macro/ micro wear analysis.
Using the same methods, to establish the nature of regional agro-pastoralism and the relative importance of crops, animals, and riverine resources to compare with the preceding Mesolithic and succeeding Neolithic populations.
To identify the most likely genetic relations and thereby source population, using ancient DNA.
To identify the extent and nature of human migrational patterns using several isotopic traces and to assess the implications of this for the spread of agriculture in the region.
To reconstruct community ecology of the Vedrovice population based on the analyses above, and to elucidate it in broader regional and inter-regional patterns.
To assess the biological and cultural origins of the community at Vedrovice based on the analyses above.