Research 2009 - 2011
Cuba, Si!
No Bones About It!
Mirjana Roksandic, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Anthropology
Who we are and where we came from is a universal topic of interest that bridges educational, cultural, social and economic differences around the globe. Well acquainted with our curiosity about our roots, Dr. Mirjana Roksandic willingly shares her excitement in new discovery. She contributes to the story of the human journey through research in two distinct areas: the study of hominid fossils in Europe, and mortuary archaeology. Her current fieldwork is centred on sites in Serbia, Portugal and Cuba.
In collaboration with colleagues at the University of Belgrade, Dr. Roksandic has been conducting archaeological research in the Palaeolithic of the Balkans over the past five years. In the early part of 2008, they discovered a human mandible (lower jaw) in a cave in Serbia. “This is not a Neanderthal,” says Roksandic, “it is a more archaiclooking human.” The discovery instantly prompts myriad questions about the movement of peoples, as the researchers now take the steps necessary to determine where it fits into the evolutionary story of the human species. According to Dr. Roksandic, the Balkans, a corridor for human migration from Africa and Asia to southern Europe throughout history, are terra incognita in Palaeolithic research and will be of critical importance in the further study of human migration and interactions with our Neanderthal cousins.
In her continuing study of mortuary archaeology Dr. Roksandic looks at more modern remains, about 7000 to 9000 years old. After seven years of meticulous examination of skeletal material from Portugal, she is turning her attention to Cuba, where her colleagues from University of Havana have discovered a site intermittently used as a burial ground and living quarters for over 5000 years. As much as possible will be learned from remains found at the site: age, gender, health, diet, occupation, and even
family connections through examination of DNA. In conjunction with archaeological and linguistic data, examining how people were buried can give us ideas about their belief system and how they built and perceived identity, and can inform us of the lives they led and the structure of the culture and society in which they lived.
Dr. Roksandic foresees that these two areas of research will consume the attention for decades to come. “The more you learn, the more you are aware of how little you know.”