The present study analysed macromorphological characteristics of the muscle attachment sites of lower limbs, hypothesising that everyday physical activities influence the macromorphology of the bone at the entheses. Our specific goals were to investigate how different habitual activities influence the morphology of the muscle attachment sites of lower limbs in two different medieval populations from Serbia: agricultural versus horse-riding populations. The skeletal material used in this study comprised two different populations: a Medieval Avarian population of horse riders from two necropolises (Pionirska Ulica and Čik, in Bečeј) and an agricultural population represented by two sites-Medieval Vinča near Belgrade and Sirmium (Sremska Mitrovica), Site No. 85. The macromorphological analysis of the entheseal changes (ECs) encompassed 10 entheses of the lower limbs. Morphological appearance of entheses was evaluated using the visual reference system proposed by Villotte.The results revealed an age dependence in one muscle of the lower limbs (Musculus gluteus maximus) among the agricultural population, suggested by more pronounced ECs in the older age categories. Among the Avarian population, more pronounced EC scores were recorded in the older age groups for the attachment site of Musculus soleus, while in the case of the iliopsoas muscle, ECs were more common in younger ages. The results revealed more pronounced EC scores in males in both populations.Between the riders and agricultural populations, results indicated that only the adductor muscles which are specific for horse riders were singled out, showing a more pronounced ECs in the horse riders' population.Results of our study showed that the level of physical activity mostly increased with age. In both investigated populations, EC scores were more pronounced in males compared with females. Moreover, we noted that the evaluation of entheses of adductor muscles could provide the most reliable criteria for the identification of riders among the general population.

The direct motive for this study was the find of exostoses of the external auditory canal on three skulls from ancient period (2nd-3rd century) which were excavated on site No. 80 in 1996 in Sremska Mitrovica (Sirmium). Among 37 buried individuals, only nine of them had temporal bones preserved. According to archaeological documentation they were probably part of the urban poor, slaves or freedmen manual laborers. In any case they belonged to the lowest social status of ancient Sirmium, which was confirmed by anthropological analysis. Auditory exostoses are bone masses located in the external auditory canal. Most researches agree that the environment (especially water temperature, but also water salinity, atmospheric temperature and wind action) plays a significant role in the development of this trait.

The Roman Empire expanded through the Mediterranean shores and brought human mobility and cosmopolitanism across this inland sea to an unprecedented scale. However, if this was also common at the Empire frontiers remains undetermined. The Balkans and Danube River were of strategic importance for the Romans acting as an East-West connection and as a defense line against "barbarian" tribes. We generated genome-wide data from 70 ancient individuals from present-day Serbia dated to the first millennium CE; including Viminacium, capital of Moesia Superior province. Our analyses reveal large scale-movements from Anatolia during Imperial rule, similar to the pattern observed in Rome, and cases of individual mobility from as far as East Africa. Between ca 250-500 CE, we detect gene-flow from Central/Northern Europe harboring admixtures of Iron Age steppe groups. Tenth-century CE individuals harbored North-Eastern European-related ancestry likely associated to Slavic-speakers, which contributed >20% of the ancestry of today's Balkan people.

Ancient DNA research in the past decade has revealed that European population structure changed dramatically in the prehistoric period (14,000-3,000 years before present, YBP), reflecting the widespread introduction of Neolithic farmer and Bronze Age Steppe ancestries. However, little is known about how population structure changed in the historical period onward (3,000 YBP - present). To address this, we collected whole genomes from 204 individuals from Europe and the Mediterranean, many of which are the first historical period genomes from their region (e.g. Armenia, France). We found that most regions show remarkable inter-individual heterogeneity. Around 8% of historical individuals carry ancestry uncommon in the region where they were sampled, some indicating cross-Mediterranean contacts. Despite this high level of mobility, overall population structure across western Eurasia is relatively stable through the historical period up to the present, mirroring the geographic map. We show that, under standard population genetics models with local panmixia, the observed level of dispersal would lead to a collapse of population structure. Persistent population structure thus suggests a lower effective migration rate than indicated by the observed dispersal. We hypothesize that this phenomenon can be explained by extensive transient dispersal arising from drastically improved transportation networks and the Roman Empire’s mobilization of people for trade, labor, and military. This work highlights the utility of ancient DNA in elucidating finer scale human population dynamics in recent history.

The necropolises of the Roman fortification and settlement Timacum Minus, in the village of Ravna, near Knjazevac, were partially explored by systematical and rescue archaeological excavations. The most extensively explored was the part of the Late Roman necropolis on the eastern slope of the Slog hill, about 400m west of the fortification, where 80 graves from this period have been investigated. The analysis of the human osteological material, and the archaeological finds from the aforementioned necropolis, confirmed 17 military graves, containing adult male individuals with traces of injuries, stress markers and pathological changes, characteristic of a military population, as well as military equipment and weapons. At the time of the formation of the Late Roman necropolis at the site of Slog, during the second half of the 4th and the first half of the 5th century, the garrison of the Timacum Minus fortification consisted of an equestrian unit of pseudocomitatenses Timacenses, a part of the auxiliary formation that secured the forts and roads in the Timok region. Among the graves from the three phases of the Late Roman necropolis, similarities as well as certain differences are apparent, indicating changes in the structure of the civilian and military population of Timacum Minus. [Projekat Ministarstva nauke Republike Srbije, br. 177007: Romanisation, urbanisation and transformation of urban centres of civil, military and residential character in Roman provinces in the territory of Serbia]