The diet and health status of the early neolitihic communities of the Central Balkans (6200-5200 BC)

Abstract

With climatic improvement at the beginning of the Holocene, small human groups across the world experienced important changes that over the following several millennia significantly impacted their lifestyles. The process began of the transition from mobile foragers to sedentary agro-pastoralists and, in a few thousand years, the world population increased. This process is known as the Neolithic Demographic Transition and represents one of the major events in human prehistory which significantly influenced human biology, dietary choices and health patterns. The new, Neolithic way of life spread from the Near East through western Anatolia to central Europe. The Balkans represents one of the key areas for studying the process of Neolithisation, as it is located at the crossroad between the Near East and central Europe. However, biological and cultural mechanisms behind the process of Neolithisation in the central Balkans are poorly understood. This thesis gives the first direct insights into how the process of Neolithisation in the Central Balkans influenced human lifestyle, particularly the diet and health. For the first time, the data from the Central Balkans and from Europe are compared, which helps better understand the dynamics of the Neolithisation process across the continent...

Sa poboljšanjem klimatskih uslova početkom holocena dolazi do značajnih promena u načinu ţivota ljudi širom sveta. Ljudi tada prelaze sa lovačko-sakupljačkog načina ţivota na novi sedelački način ţivota koji je podrazumevao bavljenje poljoprivredom, što je na kraju dovelo do prvog značajnog uvećanja broja ljudi. Ovaj proces naziva se neolitska demografska tranzicija i predstavlja jedan od najvaţnijih dogaĎaja u ljudskoj prošlosti, jer je značajno uticao na čovekovu biologiju, ishranu i zdravlje. Novi neolitski način ţivota širio se sa Bliskog istoka i preko zapadne Anadolije odakle je dospeo na tle Balkana. Područje centralnog Balkana vaţno je za proučavanje procesa neolitizacije jer se tu susreću uticaji sa Bliskog istoka i centralne Evrope. Ipak, biološki i kulturni mehanizmi procesa neolitizacije su veoma malo istraţeni na ovom području. Ova teza pruţiće prve biološke pokazatelje o tome kako je neolitizacija uticala na ljude, prvenstveno na njihovu ishranu i zdravlje. Istovremeno to će omogućiti da se po prvi put podaci sa centralnog Balkana uporede sa podacima iz drugih delova Evrope kako bi se razumela ukupna dinamika procesa neolitizacije na čitavom kontinentu....