Page 29 - Osor v fokusu znanosti

New Insights into Life and Death
in Iron Age Osor: Preliminary Results

from the Bioarchaeological Study of Human 2025
Remains

Mario Novak, Martina Blečić Kavur, Boris Kavur, Mario Carić, November
Federico Lugli, and Fabio Cavalli
Invited Lecture
4–5

Koper,
Abstract The paper presents the preliminary results of a multidisciplinary
study of human remains recovered from Iron Age burials found at different
sites in and around Osor in the last few decades. In general, the preserva- •
tion of the skeletons is poor as most of them are highly fragmented, while
those from older excavations have only been partially collected and avail- Spotlight
able for the analysis. The study so far included conventional bioarchaeolog-
ical macroscopic analysis, direct AMS radiocarbon dating of selected skele-
tons, carbon and nitrogen stable isotopes analysis, and ancient DNA analysis.
Although the number of the recovered Iron Age burials from Osor is still rel-
atively small, the already obtained data provided a more precise picture on Scientific
the chronology of the studied burials, but also previously unknown details
about the general heath, everyday diet as well as the population structure of the
Iron Age inhabitants of this important prehistoric site. Additionally, the on-
going investigation including strontium isotopes analysis will provide more in
information on mobility and possible migrations of these people, while facial Osor
reconstruction of certain crania will tell us more about their physical appear-
ance.

Keywords Osor, Iron Age burials, human remains, stable isotopes, aDNA
analysis

© 2025 Author(s) 29