The paper provides a detailed overview of new radiocarbon dates, stable isotopes, and anthropological information obtained on prehistoric human remains (mostly Neolithic) from the Balkans and southwestern Carpathian Basin. It covers a large chronological sequence from the Mesolithic to the Bronze Age (9746–2628 cal BC), which encompasses different archaeological cultures. In total 76 radiocarbon dates deriving from 27 sites were obtained, coupled with new isotopic (n=34) and anthropological (n=33) data. The results filled the gaps in some of the older interpretations, but also produced new insights regarding chronology, health, and diet, leaving a strong baseline for all future research into Neolithic lifestyles.

The Neolithic site Cerje – Govrlevo, Republic of Macedonia, is well known in broader public by the ceramic fragmented sculpture (torso) of man, so-called Adam from Govrlevo found in 2000. It is a Neolithic settlement at which several houses dating from Early and Middle Neolithic were excavated. These houses built with great architectural skills are typical for the Balkan Neolithic and they are consecutive proof of the grand Neolithic intellect. In their interior various movable and unmovable artifacts were documented, which altogether highlight the high intellectual, economical, social, and cultural achievements of the Neolithic communities who lived at this site.

North Macedonia is a crucial region for understanding the spread of agriculture into the Mediterranean and Central Europe. To date, however, the area has been subject to relatively limited archaeological research. Here, the authors present use-wear and archaeobotanical analyses on material from two Neolithic sites, Govrelevo and Vrbjanska Čuka, to investigate practices that were previously unstudied in this part of the Balkans, such as sowing, cultivation and harvesting techniques. The results suggest the presence of permanent crop fields located in wetlands, with autumn and spring sowing, and harvesting using curved sickles. The study illuminates early agricultural practices in North Macedonia and adds to our knowledge of the spread of the Neolithic package across Europe.

The study of ornaments made of marine shells has remarkable importance for understanding prehistoric societies. They tell us about fashion, aesthetic and cultural affinities of the individuals and social groups, as well as ancient networks of communication and exchange. The number of marine shell items known from the Neolithic period of North Macedonia is relatively low. Albeit few, they vary in ornament type, with beads, bangles and pendants represented, and the kind of shell used as raw material, as they are made of shells of bivalves, gastropods, and scaphopods. Of special importance is a find of 157 shell beads, presumably from a single string, discovered in 1958 in an anthropomorphic vessel at the site of Vršnik in Ovče pole. It was the recognition of this find, and the fact that it was originally poorly described, and later almost completely forgotten, that initiated this study. The majority of beads are tubular and made of shells of two mollusks with very different shell morphology (bivalves and scaphopods), yet they are strikingly similar in size, shape, and color. In addition, the collection included white stone tubular beads, a single shell discoid bead, and three perforated snails. This find, as well as others from the region of North Macedonia, enhance our understanding of marine shell items distribution in continental Europe in the Neolithic period. Also, it adds to the visibility of scaphopod items share in exchange networks, which might be underestimated because of the difficulties in their recognition.

The paper focuses on different aspects of material culture in communities that inhabited two of the most important regions in the Early Neolithic Balkans, North Macedonia and Bulgaria. Paper seeks to discover the causes for similarities of certain artefact types in communities that produce and use relatively different material culture.