Introduction 1.1 Neolithic bioarchaeological knowledge from the Balkans in context Current bioarchaeological research over the last two decades has comprised archaeobotany, archaeozoology and biological anthropology (human bioarchaeology) and in a broader concept of bioarchaeology, as postulated by J. G. D. Clark already in the 1970s (Clark, 1973). In current research, this broader perspective of bioarchaeology has been adopted mostly by European scholars (e.g.

The Laboratory of Archaeobotany and Palaeoecology (LAPE), of the Faculty of Science of the University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice (USB) was founded twenty years ago. The department is closely linked with the Institute of Archaeology of the USB in terms of staff and projects, which are mainly focused on the issues of paleoecology, archaeobotany and archaeozoology. The present paper discusses the teaching of environmental archaeology and projects focusing on Europe, but also on some areas of Africa. The text provides background information on the teaching and research projects that have taken place over the last ten years, but also on the research and scientific directions that the department is currently pursuing.

Waste disposal processes and landfill management are crucial subjects in the field of settlement archaeology. Our study is focused on the reconstruction of the community economy in the context of the Late Bronze Age; understanding the processes that led to the filling of these features; reconstruction of the recycling system of building materials (daub and wood) and the waste management. These research questions were addressed based on plant macroremains, charcoals, phytoliths, starch, micromorphology, phosphates and magnetic volume susceptibility. The results showed the waste character of features infills which reflected specific economy and habitats around the single households. The composition of the archaeobotanical assemblages was not determined by the type of feature, however similarities in the plant spectra could often be observed in the infill of features that were located close to each other. Charred remains of firewood inside the assemblages, also contained a proportion of burnt oak structures. The remains of various parts of uncharred plants were detected by phytolith and starch analyses. Animal proteins detected the presence of livestock meat and dung. Anomalies in soil phosphate contained different amounts of organic matter in single features. Magnetic susceptibility measurements showed that the features were backfilled in a one-time event. Sedimentological analysis showed that the infills of the different types of features were similar, but only the infills of the trenches were compacted, unlike the other features.

The Late Neolithic palafitte site, Ustie na Drim, in the northern part of Lake Ohrid (North Macedonia), excavated in 1962, offered ceramic fragments of large, flat, elongated pans. These artifacts could be dated by relative chronology to roughly around 5200–5000 BC. According to their shape and technological traits, the ceramic pans were probably used for baking. The attached materials on the surface of studied pan fragments were sampled for consequent chemical and microscopical analyses (i.e., analyses of starch, phytoliths, and microscopic animal remains). An immunological method revealed the presence of pork proteins in samples. The presence of organic residues of animal origin was, moreover, confirmed by the detection of cholesterol using gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry. Analysis of detected microscopic botanical objects revealed starch grains of several plants (i.e., oak, cattail, and grasses). An interesting find was the hair of a beetle larva, which could be interpreted contextually as the khapra beetle, a pest of grain and flour. Based on our data, we suppose that the ceramic pans from Ustie na Drim were used for the preparation of meals containing meat from common livestock in combination with cereals and wild plants.

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