This study addresses the dynamics of the Neolithic expansion in the Central Balkans by reconstruc... more This study addresses the dynamics of the Neolithic expansion in the Central Balkans by reconstructing its direction and speed of spread. The Inverse Distance Weighting (IDW) method is applied to the earliest radiocarbon dates from Starčevo culture sites in Serbia. Local speed estimates are derived from the earliest dates within specified spatial bins. The results confirm the assumed south-to-north direction, revealing rapid progression, particularly in the southernmost region. The possibility of pioneering scouting groups was also discussed. The results confirm the arrhythmicity of the Neolithization processes and higher local spread rates while offering new insights into Starčevo culture mobility.
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, Nov 30, 2020
In this paper, we test the hypothesis of the Neolithic Demographic Transition in the Central Balk... more In this paper, we test the hypothesis of the Neolithic Demographic Transition in the Central Balkan Early Neolithic (6250–5300 BC) by applying the method of summed calibrated probability distributions to the set of more than 200 new radiocarbon dates from Serbia. The results suggest that there was an increase in population size after the first farmers arrived to the study area around 6250 BC. This increase lasted for approximately 250 years and was followed by a decrease in the population size proxy after 6000 BC, reaching its minimum around 5800 BC. This was followed by another episode of growth until 5600 BC when population size proxy rapidly declined, reaching the minimum again around 5500 BC. The reconstructed intrinsic growth rate value indicates that the first episode of growth might have been fuelled both by high fertility and migrations, potentially related to the effects of the 8.2 ky event. The second episode of population growth after 5800 BC was probably owing to the high fertility alone. It remains unclear what caused the episodes of population decrease. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Cross-disciplinary approaches to prehistoric demography'.
Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research), Dec 1, 2020
What was the anthropological reality behind the migrations of the first farmers across Europe? Ho... more What was the anthropological reality behind the migrations of the first farmers across Europe? How were demography, society, and environment interconnected to give rise to the macroregional expansion pattern that archaeology is revealing? We simulate the demography and spatial behavior of the first farming communities in the Central Balkans in order to infer the parameters and mechanisms of the Neolithic expansion in this part of Europe. We compare the simulation output to the empirical record of radiocarbon dates in order to systematically evaluate which expansion scenarios were the most probable. Our results suggest that if the expansion of the Neolithic unfolded in accord with the specific wave of advance model that we presented in this paper, the expansion was driven by very high fertility and scalar stress. The number of children born by an average Neolithic woman who lived through her entire fertile period was around 8 children or more, which is on the high end of the ethnographically recorded human total fertility rate spectrum. The social structure of the first farming communities was such that it could not accommodate great number of people without generating social tensions caused by the scalar stress. As the most plausible fission threshold values were between 50 and 100 people, which is usually smaller than estimated environmental carrying capacity, it seems that the scalar stress was the primary reason for the community fission and for seeking out new land. This suggest that the Neolithic expansion was driven mainly by social rather than ecological reasons.
The site Topole Bač is one of the rare sites on which human skeletal remains from Early Neolithic... more The site Topole Bač is one of the rare sites on which human skeletal remains from Early Neolithic period have been discovered. Namely, during the 1970s at this site the Early Neolithic settlement was discovered<strong> </strong>with remains of pits, remains of rectangular building structures, traces of house mortar, ash; and numerous small finds, such are pottery vessels, clay statuettes, stone tools etc. Within trench 1 three inhumation burials have been found. Burials 1 (female, 20-25 years old) and 2 (male, 40-50 years old) were uncovered beneath floor of irregular rectangular in shape structure, at the same level, in flexed position, lying on their right sides, symmetrically back to back, and with heads in opposite directions, 50 cm apart from each other. In close vicinity to the Burials 1 and 2, the third burial, which belongs to a woman, aged 25-35 years, was also found, in semi-flexed position on her right side, with the lower part of the body lying beneath the fl...
Issues relating to the dynamics and structure of the Early Neolithic (6200–5300<br> calBC) ... more Issues relating to the dynamics and structure of the Early Neolithic (6200–5300<br> calBC) Starčevo settlements in the central Balkans region are not well known. Starčevo-culture<br> settlements are usually single-phase sites dominated by pit features, which leads most researchers<br> to believe that they represented short-lived hamlets occupied for only a few years or a few decades<br> at most. In this paper, we explore funerary and radiocarbon evidence relevant to the issues of<br> occupation continuity and duration. The results show that Starčevo settlements were used/reused<br> for long periods of time (centuries), although it is not possible to say at present whether this<br> occupation was continuous.
The catalogue of the exhibition "Science for the museums: the prehistory of Sombor and its s... more The catalogue of the exhibition "Science for the museums: the prehistory of Sombor and its surroundings in the light of new bioarchaeological research", held in Town Museum of Sombor during 12.11.-14.12.2019. The exhibition was authored by the researchers of the BioSense Institute, University of Novi Sad; Town Museum of Sombor, Sombor; Museum Unit in Odžaci, Odžaci; Laboratory for Bioarchaeology, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Belgrade; and it presented the results of the ERC Project BIRTH: <em>Births, mothers and babies: prehistoric fertility in the Balkans between 10000 and 5000 cal BC. </em><strong>DESCRIPTION:</strong> Museums often serve as resources of (bio)archaeological material for various kinds of specialist analyses, however the results seldom find their way to museum exhibitions and the general public. Within the project, the new results of macroscopic, microscopic and physical-chemical analyses of human and animal skeletal remains...
The Central Balkans represents an important corridor for the spread of the farming populations fr... more The Central Balkans represents an important corridor for the spread of the farming populations from the origins of the European Neolithic in Greece further into the Central Europe. The absolute date of the first appearance of the Central Balkan Early Neolithic Starčevo culture in this region has been established by previous research (based on the relatively low number of radiocarbon dates) to a period after 6200 BC, but the demographic and social specifics as well as the spatio-temporal dynamics of the expansion remain unknown. In this paper we integrate new radiocarbon evidence from the BIRTH project with statistical analysis and mathematical modelling (implemented in computer simulation) in order to answer the following questions about the spread of the Neolithic across the Central Balkan region. 1. When did the Neolithic arrive to the Central Balkans? 2. What was the speed and the spatial pattern of the expansion? 3. What were the demographic features of the first Neolithic popul...
With the exception of well known Mesolithic sites in the Danube Gorges, which provide ample evide... more With the exception of well known Mesolithic sites in the Danube Gorges, which provide ample evidence of (more or less) continuous human occupation between 9500 and 5500 cal BC, the wider areas of the Central Balkans and southern fringes of the Great Pannonian Plain still represent a <em>terra incognita</em> when it comes to the presence and settlement patterns of Mesolithic communities. In the archaeological literature, the absence of Mesolithic sites in the region was associated with environmental changes in the Early Holocene, presumed low human population densities, the visibility and state of preservation of organic material (often the only indicator of human activity), or the lack of adequate research. However, valuable insights into the obscure regional Mesolithic can be gained not only by new archaeological excavations, but also by revisiting and reanalysis of existing archaeological collections. Particularly informative in this respect are the Early Neolithic sit...
The site Topole Bač is one of the rare sites on which human skeletal remains from Early Neolithic... more The site Topole Bač is one of the rare sites on which human skeletal remains from Early Neolithic period have been discovered. Namely, during the 1970s at this site the Early Neolithic settlement was discovered<strong> </strong>with remains of pits, remains of rectangular building structures, traces of house mortar, ash; and numerous small finds, such are pottery vessels, clay statuettes, stone tools etc. Within trench 1 three inhumation burials have been found. Burials 1 (female, 20-25 years old) and 2 (male, 40-50 years old) were uncovered beneath floor of irregular rectangular in shape structure, at the same level, in flexed position, lying on their right sides, symmetrically back to back, and with heads in opposite directions, 50 cm apart from each other. In close vicinity to the Burials 1 and 2, the third burial, which belongs to a woman, aged 25-35 years, was also found, in semi-flexed position on her right side, with the lower part of the body lying beneath the fl...
Abstract:The Central Balkans has great importance for understanding the spread of the Neolithic i... more Abstract:The Central Balkans has great importance for understanding the spread of the Neolithic in Europe, especially the issues related to the Neolithic demographic transition, yet little is known about the population dynamics of this region during this critical period. In this study, which is a part of the ERC BIRTH project, we apply the method of summed calibrated probability distributions on the published radiocarbon dates from Serbia in order to make a preliminary reconstruction of population dynamics during the Neolithic in the Central Balkans. The results suggest that there were interesting demographic events: 1) an initial population increase episode related to the earliest Neolithic ~6000 calBC followed by a trough ~5700 calBC which was in turn followed by a rebound 2) another decrease between 5500 and 5400 calBC, justbefore the transition from the Early (Starčevo) into the Late Neolithic (Vinča) period 4) major population growth during the Late Neolithic period. It should ...
This study addresses the dynamics of the Neolithic expansion in the Central Balkans by reconstruc... more This study addresses the dynamics of the Neolithic expansion in the Central Balkans by reconstructing its direction and speed of spread. The Inverse Distance Weighting (IDW) method is applied to the earliest radiocarbon dates from Starčevo culture sites in Serbia. Local speed estimates are derived from the earliest dates within specified spatial bins. The results confirm the assumed south-to-north direction, revealing rapid progression, particularly in the southernmost region. The possibility of pioneering scouting groups was also discussed. The results confirm the arrhythmicity of the Neolithization processes and higher local spread rates while offering new insights into Starčevo culture mobility.
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, Nov 30, 2020
In this paper, we test the hypothesis of the Neolithic Demographic Transition in the Central Balk... more In this paper, we test the hypothesis of the Neolithic Demographic Transition in the Central Balkan Early Neolithic (6250–5300 BC) by applying the method of summed calibrated probability distributions to the set of more than 200 new radiocarbon dates from Serbia. The results suggest that there was an increase in population size after the first farmers arrived to the study area around 6250 BC. This increase lasted for approximately 250 years and was followed by a decrease in the population size proxy after 6000 BC, reaching its minimum around 5800 BC. This was followed by another episode of growth until 5600 BC when population size proxy rapidly declined, reaching the minimum again around 5500 BC. The reconstructed intrinsic growth rate value indicates that the first episode of growth might have been fuelled both by high fertility and migrations, potentially related to the effects of the 8.2 ky event. The second episode of population growth after 5800 BC was probably owing to the high fertility alone. It remains unclear what caused the episodes of population decrease. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Cross-disciplinary approaches to prehistoric demography'.
Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research), Dec 1, 2020
What was the anthropological reality behind the migrations of the first farmers across Europe? Ho... more What was the anthropological reality behind the migrations of the first farmers across Europe? How were demography, society, and environment interconnected to give rise to the macroregional expansion pattern that archaeology is revealing? We simulate the demography and spatial behavior of the first farming communities in the Central Balkans in order to infer the parameters and mechanisms of the Neolithic expansion in this part of Europe. We compare the simulation output to the empirical record of radiocarbon dates in order to systematically evaluate which expansion scenarios were the most probable. Our results suggest that if the expansion of the Neolithic unfolded in accord with the specific wave of advance model that we presented in this paper, the expansion was driven by very high fertility and scalar stress. The number of children born by an average Neolithic woman who lived through her entire fertile period was around 8 children or more, which is on the high end of the ethnographically recorded human total fertility rate spectrum. The social structure of the first farming communities was such that it could not accommodate great number of people without generating social tensions caused by the scalar stress. As the most plausible fission threshold values were between 50 and 100 people, which is usually smaller than estimated environmental carrying capacity, it seems that the scalar stress was the primary reason for the community fission and for seeking out new land. This suggest that the Neolithic expansion was driven mainly by social rather than ecological reasons.
The site Topole Bač is one of the rare sites on which human skeletal remains from Early Neolithic... more The site Topole Bač is one of the rare sites on which human skeletal remains from Early Neolithic period have been discovered. Namely, during the 1970s at this site the Early Neolithic settlement was discovered<strong> </strong>with remains of pits, remains of rectangular building structures, traces of house mortar, ash; and numerous small finds, such are pottery vessels, clay statuettes, stone tools etc. Within trench 1 three inhumation burials have been found. Burials 1 (female, 20-25 years old) and 2 (male, 40-50 years old) were uncovered beneath floor of irregular rectangular in shape structure, at the same level, in flexed position, lying on their right sides, symmetrically back to back, and with heads in opposite directions, 50 cm apart from each other. In close vicinity to the Burials 1 and 2, the third burial, which belongs to a woman, aged 25-35 years, was also found, in semi-flexed position on her right side, with the lower part of the body lying beneath the fl...
Issues relating to the dynamics and structure of the Early Neolithic (6200–5300<br> calBC) ... more Issues relating to the dynamics and structure of the Early Neolithic (6200–5300<br> calBC) Starčevo settlements in the central Balkans region are not well known. Starčevo-culture<br> settlements are usually single-phase sites dominated by pit features, which leads most researchers<br> to believe that they represented short-lived hamlets occupied for only a few years or a few decades<br> at most. In this paper, we explore funerary and radiocarbon evidence relevant to the issues of<br> occupation continuity and duration. The results show that Starčevo settlements were used/reused<br> for long periods of time (centuries), although it is not possible to say at present whether this<br> occupation was continuous.
The catalogue of the exhibition "Science for the museums: the prehistory of Sombor and its s... more The catalogue of the exhibition "Science for the museums: the prehistory of Sombor and its surroundings in the light of new bioarchaeological research", held in Town Museum of Sombor during 12.11.-14.12.2019. The exhibition was authored by the researchers of the BioSense Institute, University of Novi Sad; Town Museum of Sombor, Sombor; Museum Unit in Odžaci, Odžaci; Laboratory for Bioarchaeology, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Belgrade; and it presented the results of the ERC Project BIRTH: <em>Births, mothers and babies: prehistoric fertility in the Balkans between 10000 and 5000 cal BC. </em><strong>DESCRIPTION:</strong> Museums often serve as resources of (bio)archaeological material for various kinds of specialist analyses, however the results seldom find their way to museum exhibitions and the general public. Within the project, the new results of macroscopic, microscopic and physical-chemical analyses of human and animal skeletal remains...
The Central Balkans represents an important corridor for the spread of the farming populations fr... more The Central Balkans represents an important corridor for the spread of the farming populations from the origins of the European Neolithic in Greece further into the Central Europe. The absolute date of the first appearance of the Central Balkan Early Neolithic Starčevo culture in this region has been established by previous research (based on the relatively low number of radiocarbon dates) to a period after 6200 BC, but the demographic and social specifics as well as the spatio-temporal dynamics of the expansion remain unknown. In this paper we integrate new radiocarbon evidence from the BIRTH project with statistical analysis and mathematical modelling (implemented in computer simulation) in order to answer the following questions about the spread of the Neolithic across the Central Balkan region. 1. When did the Neolithic arrive to the Central Balkans? 2. What was the speed and the spatial pattern of the expansion? 3. What were the demographic features of the first Neolithic popul...
With the exception of well known Mesolithic sites in the Danube Gorges, which provide ample evide... more With the exception of well known Mesolithic sites in the Danube Gorges, which provide ample evidence of (more or less) continuous human occupation between 9500 and 5500 cal BC, the wider areas of the Central Balkans and southern fringes of the Great Pannonian Plain still represent a <em>terra incognita</em> when it comes to the presence and settlement patterns of Mesolithic communities. In the archaeological literature, the absence of Mesolithic sites in the region was associated with environmental changes in the Early Holocene, presumed low human population densities, the visibility and state of preservation of organic material (often the only indicator of human activity), or the lack of adequate research. However, valuable insights into the obscure regional Mesolithic can be gained not only by new archaeological excavations, but also by revisiting and reanalysis of existing archaeological collections. Particularly informative in this respect are the Early Neolithic sit...
The site Topole Bač is one of the rare sites on which human skeletal remains from Early Neolithic... more The site Topole Bač is one of the rare sites on which human skeletal remains from Early Neolithic period have been discovered. Namely, during the 1970s at this site the Early Neolithic settlement was discovered<strong> </strong>with remains of pits, remains of rectangular building structures, traces of house mortar, ash; and numerous small finds, such are pottery vessels, clay statuettes, stone tools etc. Within trench 1 three inhumation burials have been found. Burials 1 (female, 20-25 years old) and 2 (male, 40-50 years old) were uncovered beneath floor of irregular rectangular in shape structure, at the same level, in flexed position, lying on their right sides, symmetrically back to back, and with heads in opposite directions, 50 cm apart from each other. In close vicinity to the Burials 1 and 2, the third burial, which belongs to a woman, aged 25-35 years, was also found, in semi-flexed position on her right side, with the lower part of the body lying beneath the fl...
Abstract:The Central Balkans has great importance for understanding the spread of the Neolithic i... more Abstract:The Central Balkans has great importance for understanding the spread of the Neolithic in Europe, especially the issues related to the Neolithic demographic transition, yet little is known about the population dynamics of this region during this critical period. In this study, which is a part of the ERC BIRTH project, we apply the method of summed calibrated probability distributions on the published radiocarbon dates from Serbia in order to make a preliminary reconstruction of population dynamics during the Neolithic in the Central Balkans. The results suggest that there were interesting demographic events: 1) an initial population increase episode related to the earliest Neolithic ~6000 calBC followed by a trough ~5700 calBC which was in turn followed by a rebound 2) another decrease between 5500 and 5400 calBC, justbefore the transition from the Early (Starčevo) into the Late Neolithic (Vinča) period 4) major population growth during the Late Neolithic period. It should ...
The Central Balkans has great importance for understanding the spread of the Neolithic in Europe,... more The Central Balkans has great importance for understanding the spread of the Neolithic in Europe, especially the issues related to the Neolithic demographic transition, yet little is known about the population dynamics of this region during this critical period. In this study, which is a part of the ERC BIRTH project, we apply the method of summed calibrated probability distributions on the published radiocarbon dates from Serbia in order to make a preliminary reconstruction of population dynamics during the Neolithic in the Central Balkans. The results suggest that there were interesting demographic events: 1) an initial population increase episode related to the earliest Neolithic ~6000 calBC followed by a trough ~5700 calBC which was in turn followed by a rebound 2) another decrease between 5500 and 5400 calBC, just before the transition from the Early (Starčevo) into the Late Neolithic (Vinča) period 4) major population growth during the Late Neolithic period. It should be emphasized that these results should be taken as preliminary and tentative as they are based on a relatively small set of published radiocarbon dates collated from various sources motivated by different research agendas which might have introduced some bias into the results.
IUAES inter congress – World anthropologies and privatization of knowledge: engaging anthropology in public. Dubrovnik, Croatia. 4-8. May 2016, p. 108, 2016
1st Conference on the EARLY NEOLITHIC of EUROPE - ENE2019, 6 – 8. November 2019, Barcelona, Spain., 2019
The use of summed calibrated radiocarbon probability distributions method (SCPD) has been widely ... more The use of summed calibrated radiocarbon probability distributions method (SCPD) has been widely used in palaeodemographic reconstructions of population dynamics worldwide. Recent application of the method in the Central Balkans, based on published C14 dates, has shown partial correspondence with the predictions for the first phase of the Neolithic demographic transition, but instead of detecting one episode of major population increase in the population proxy curve, as we would expect based on the theory, the resulting pattern was a bimodal curve suggesting two episodes of population increase and two episodes of decrease. In order to clarify the situation and make a robust and valid reconstruction of the Early Neolithic population dynamics in the Central Balkans, more than 200 new radiocarbon samples were collected in a probabilistic manner from the Early Neolithic sites in Serbia by the ERC funded project BIRTH - Births, mothers and babies: Prehistoric fertility in the Balkans between 10000-5000 cal BC. We present and discuss the new results based on the new set of samples taken specifically and exclusively to meet the requirements of the SCPD method.
The Neolithic transition, the passage from mobile foraging to sedentary farming, was a major shif... more The Neolithic transition, the passage from mobile foraging to sedentary farming, was a major shift during human prehistory: a series of behavioral and ecological transformations substantially modified the daily lifestyles and eventually impacted human biology. Studies suggested that this transition positively impacted fertility rates, promoted reproduction and enhanced population fitness; however, bioarchaeological studies carried on human remains have also documented a general decline in health status and a global increase in morbidity, suggesting that the shift toward agriculture also paradoxically had an adverse effect on individuals' physiological fitness. Using 200 Mesolithic and Neolithic skeletal remains (9500-5500 BC) discovered on the territory of Serbia, this research test the assumption that the transition to the Neolithic brought important biological changes which are reflected by a higher prevalence of various skeletal and dental pathological conditions, and by a global reduction in the size of populations under the effect of growth disturbances. Two lines of evidence are compared chronologically and spatially: non specific stress markers (Cribra orbitalia, Porotic hyperostosis, Enamel hypoplasia), indicators of diet (dental caries and calculus), and body proportions (body mass, stature and body mass index).
Cattle played a dominant role from the very beginning of neolithization in the Central Balkans, u... more Cattle played a dominant role from the very beginning of neolithization in the Central Balkans, unlike in southernmost Europe, where sheep and goat, mostly for environmental reasons, preceded and subsequently kept their key position in animal husbandry. As genetic evidence suggests, cattle was introduced to Europe from its initial centres of domestication in the Near East. However, incidences of local domestication cannot be completely ruled out, and, even more so, hybridization of domestic stock with wild progenitors. In order to understand whether these processes ever happened, data on the distribution of the wild
The exhibition marks the ERC’s 10th anniversary and was organised in 2017 by the first ERC-funded... more The exhibition marks the ERC’s 10th anniversary and was organised in 2017 by the first ERC-funded project in Serbia (BIRTH: Birth, mothers and babies: prehistoric fertility in the Balkans 10000–5000 BC; PI Sofija Stefanovic) and the BioSense Institute in Novi Sad, Vojvodina. The displayed objects included artefacts collected from Neolithic sites in Serbia and Macedonia, as well as selected Neolithic botanical and faunal remains.
Srpsko arheološko društvo : XLVI skupština i godišnji skup, 2023
Lokalitet Magareći mlin nalazi se oko 4,5 km jugoistočno od Apatina, na višoj rečnoj terasi Dunav... more Lokalitet Magareći mlin nalazi se oko 4,5 km jugoistočno od Apatina, na višoj rečnoj terasi Dunava. Istraživanjima koje je 1980ih godina sproveo Pokrajinski zavod za zaštitu spomenika kulture utvrđeno je da se radi o višeslojnom nalazištu, sa tragovima naseljavanja tokom ranog neolita, eneolita, srednjeg i kasnog bronzanog doba, gvozdenog doba, kasne antike i ranog srednjeg veka. Na žalost, nakon iskopavanja, Gradskom muzeju Sombor predat je samo studijski materijal, dok se ostatak materijala, terenski inventar i dokumentacija i dalje nalaze na nepoznatom mestu. Međutim, i pored nepotpune dokumentacije i arheološke građe, Magareći mlin pružio je mnoštvo vrednih podataka o naseljavanju, ekonomiji i životnom okruženju različitih ljudskih zajednica tokom praistorije. U okviru ERC projekta BIRTH, sprovedene su analize lipida iz ranoneolitskih keramičkih posuda, arheozoološke i izotopske analize koje su pružile prve dokaze o konzumaciji mleka i mlečnih proizvoda na ovom prostoru. Radiokarbonsko datovanje osteološkog materijala iz ranoneolitskih objekata pokazalo je da se radi o jednom od najranijih starčevačkih naselja na teritoriji Vojvodine, a datovanjem ljudskih i životinjskih kostiju iz drugih konteksta dobijeni su prvi dokazi o prisustvu mezolitskih lovaca-sakupljača izvan Đerdapske klisure. Zbog svoje jedinstvene vremenske sekvence i potencijala za razumevanje različitih faza naseljavanja od mezolita do srednjeg veka, na Magarećem mlinu su 2022. godine ponovo pokrenuta istraživanja od strane Gradskog muzeja Sombor, u saradnji sa Institutom Biosens i Filozofskim fakultetom u Novom Sadu. Kombinacijom geofizičke prospekcije, geoarheoloških bušenja i analiza uzoraka tla, započet je rad na boljem definisanju rasprostiranja kulturnih slojeva, površinskog materijala, meandriranja Dunava i naseljavanja ljudi na ovoj rečnoj terasi. U ovom radu, prikazaćemo rezultate savremenih multidisciplinarnih istraživanja na Magarećem mlinu, pokrenutih kao posledica oživljenog interesovanja za ovaj značajni lokalitet.
Srpska arheologija između teorije i činjenica X: Arheologija i vreme, 2023
Iskopavanjima na Gomolavi 1979. godine pronađena je kružna jama koja je sadržala skeletne ostatke... more Iskopavanjima na Gomolavi 1979. godine pronađena je kružna jama koja je sadržala skeletne ostatke tri individue: dve odrasle osobe i jednog deteta. Celina je na osnovu stratigrafije i stilsko-tipoloških osobina pojedinih indikativnih predmeta smeštena u fazu VIb, odnosno u drugu polovinu I veka pre nove ere, koja ujedno označava poslednji period postojanja kasnogvozdenodopskog naselja. Kao kolektivna sahrana inhumiranjem unutar naselja, uz prisustvo osobenih elemenata pogreba, kružni grupni grob se do danas smatra specifičnom pojavom koja je odstupa od uobičajenosti funerarnih praksi kasnog gvozdenog doba. Sa ciljem podvrgavanja skeletnih ostataka novim metodama hemisjkih analiza, koje u trenutku prvobitnog objavljivanja nisu bile dostupne, osmišljen je projekat pod naslovom Bioarheološka i kontekstualna analiza kasnogvozdenodopskog grupnog groba sa Gomolave koji je dobio finansijsku podršku Pokrajinskog sekretarijata za kulturu, javno informisanje i odnose sa verskim zajednicama AP Vojvodine. Između ostalih analiza, projektnim aktivnostima je bilo predviđeno C14 datovanje sva tri pronađena skeleta, koje je dalo neočekivano i znatno starije hronološko određenje ove grobne celine. Ova okolnost pokreće brojna pitanja sa različitim implikacijama, od pouzdanosti i tačnosti radiokarbonskog i tipološkog načina datovanja, do potpuno drugačijih ishoda tumačenja ukoliko se prednost da jednom ili drugom metodu. Osim kompleksnosti preciznog datovanja, pomenuta arheološka situacija pokreće i druga pitanja vezana za različite nivoe vremenosti koji se međusobno „prelamaju“ i predstavljaju veoma važne činioce za interpretaciju ovog izuzetnog nalaza: dužina života i trenutak smrti sahranjenih, faze pogrebnih praksi, starost/tradicionalnost ili inovativnost običaja, odnos doba pretpostavljenih opštih promena („doseljavanje Kelta“) i vremena sahrane umrlih.
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Sa ciljem podvrgavanja skeletnih ostataka novim metodama hemisjkih analiza, koje u trenutku prvobitnog objavljivanja nisu bile dostupne, osmišljen je projekat pod naslovom Bioarheološka i kontekstualna analiza kasnogvozdenodopskog grupnog groba sa Gomolave koji je dobio finansijsku podršku Pokrajinskog sekretarijata za kulturu, javno informisanje i odnose sa verskim zajednicama AP Vojvodine. Između ostalih analiza, projektnim aktivnostima je bilo predviđeno C14 datovanje sva tri pronađena skeleta, koje je dalo neočekivano i znatno starije hronološko određenje ove grobne celine. Ova okolnost pokreće brojna pitanja sa različitim implikacijama, od pouzdanosti i tačnosti radiokarbonskog i tipološkog načina datovanja, do potpuno drugačijih ishoda tumačenja ukoliko se prednost da jednom ili drugom metodu. Osim kompleksnosti preciznog datovanja, pomenuta arheološka situacija pokreće i druga pitanja vezana za različite nivoe vremenosti koji se međusobno „prelamaju“ i predstavljaju veoma važne činioce za interpretaciju ovog izuzetnog nalaza: dužina života i trenutak smrti sahranjenih, faze pogrebnih praksi, starost/tradicionalnost ili inovativnost običaja, odnos doba pretpostavljenih opštih promena („doseljavanje Kelta“) i vremena sahrane umrlih.