Mirjana Roksandic
Title: Associate Professor
Phone: 204.786.9927
Office: 6L35
Building: Lockhart Hall
Email: m.roksandic@uwinnipeg.ca
Biography:
Dr. Mirjana Roksandic is currently Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Anthropology, and the coordinator of an interdisciplinary program in Bioanthropology at the University of Winnipeg. She is graduate faculty in Biology at the University of Winnipeg, and adjunct graduate faculty in Anthropology at the University of Manitoba. She has conducted research in the Balkans, Portugal, Cuba and Nicaragua. Combining diverse lines of biological evidence, with a strong background in regional archaeologies enables her to offer new perspectives and maximize the potential of fragmentary and truncated archaeological record to inform our understanding of past humans and their behaviour. This search for a novel perspective, lead me to explore areas of the world where archaeological evidence of early hominins (such as Balkans) or early human occupation (Caribbean) is still relatively scant. Her research covers an array of topics concerning contact, interactions and acculturation among archaeological hunter-gatherer and agricultural populations in littoral areas of the world (Southeast Europe, Southwest Europe the Caribbean and Lowland Central America), and is based on understanding the ways human biology interacts with cultural process and social agency. Her current research in the Caribbean is an interdisciplinary program that focuses on indigenous Caribbean populations, and combines archaeological, geochemical, ethno-historical and archaeo-linguistic methods with insights from bioarchaeology, human evolutionary biology and life history theory.
Teaching Areas:
Human Evolution, Human Osteology, Bioarchaeology, Method and Theory in Biological Anthropology, Mortuary Archaeology, Taphonomy
Research Interests:
Her research examines the intersection of biology and culture in two main topical areas: early human evolution in Europe, and sedentary hunter gatherers in littoral areas. It is informed by human evolutionary biology and life history theory, and benefits from a strong background in archaeological practice and hunter-gatherer studies.
Publications:
EDITED BOOKS
K Harvati, Roksandic M Eds (2016) Paleoanthropology of the Balkans and Anatolia: Human occupation and its context. Vertebrate Paleobiology and Paleoanthropology. Dordrecht: Springer.
M Roksandic, SMF Mendonca de Souza, S Eggers, M Burchell, D Klokler, Eds (2014) The Cultural Dynamics of Shell-Matrix Sites. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press.
Roksandic, M Ed. (2004) Violent Interactions in the Mesolithic: Evidence and meaning.B.A.R. International Series 1237. Oxford: Archaeopress.
JOURNAL ARTICLES
Roksandic M, Alarie K, Rodriguez Suarez R, Huebner E, Roksandic I (2016) Not of African descent: Dental modifications among indigenous people at Canímar Abajo, Cuba. PLoS One 11(4): e0153536. doi:10.137, April 12, 2016.
Skinner MM, De Vries D, Gunz P, Klassen RP, Kupczik K, Hublin J-J, Roksandic M (2016) A dental perspective on the taxonomic affinity of the Balanica mandible (BH-1). Journal of Human Evolution 93: 63-81.
Roksandic M Buhay WM, Chinique de Armas Y, Rodríguez Suárez R, Peros MC, Roksandic I, Mowat S, Vieira LM, Arredondo C, Martinez Fuentes A, Smith DG (2015) Radiocarbon and stratigraphic chronology at Canímar Abajo, Matanzas, Cuba. Radiocarbon 57(5): DOI: 10.2458/azu_rc.57.18313.
Bonsall C, Vasić R, Boroneanț A, Roksandic M, Soficaru A, McSweeney K, Ülle E, Aguraiuja A, Pickard C, Dimitrijević V, Higham T, Hamilton D, Cook G. (2015) New AMS 14C Dates for Human Remains from Stone Age Sites in the Iron Gates Reach of the Danube, Southeast Europe. Radiocarbon 57 (1): 33-46.
Chinique de Armas Y, Buhay WM, Rodríguez Suárez R, Bestel S, Smith DG, Mowat SD, Roksandic M (2015) Starch analysis and isotopic evidence of consumption of cultigens among fisher–gatherers in Cuba: the archaeological site of Canímar Abajo, Matanzas, Journal of Archaeological Science 58: 121-132.
Chinique de Armas Y, Buhay, WM, Rodriguez Suarez R, Roksandic M (2014) Relación entre el proceso de ablactación y la mortalidad infantile de los indiciduos subadultos del sitio arqueológico Canímar Abajo, Matanzas, Cuba. Cuba Arqueológica Vi(2): 27-36.
Radović, P, Lindal J, Roksandic M. (2014). A re-examination of the human fossil specimen from Bački Petrovac (Serbia). HOMO Journal of Comparative Human Biology 65 (4): 281-295
Armstrong S, Cloutier L, Arredondo C, Roksandic M, Matheson C (2013) Spina bifida in a pre-Columbian Cuban population: A paleoepidemiological study of genetic and dietary risk factors.International Journal of Paleopathology 3:19-29.
Buhay, WM, Chinique de Armas Y, Rodriguez Suarez R, Arredondo C, Smith DG, Armstrong S, Roksandic M (2013) A preliminary carbon and nitrogen isotopic investigation of bone collagen from skeletal remains recovered from a Pre-Columbian burial site, Matanzas Province, Cuba. Applied Geochemistry 32:76-84.
(2013) New Radiometric Ages for the BH-1 Hominin from Balanica (Serbia): Implications for Understanding the Role of the Balkans in Middle Pleistocene Human Evolution. PLOS ONE 8(2): e54608. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0054608.
Roksandic M (2012) Mobile and terrestrial but firmly rooted on the river banks: Biological anthropology of Lepenski Vir and the Iron Gates Gorge Mesolithic. Advances in Anthropology 2 (3): 117-124.
Roksandic M, Armstrong S (2011) Using the life history model to set the stage(s) of growth and senescence in paleodemography. American Journal of Physical Anthropology145:337-347
Roksandic M, Mihailović D, Mercier N, Dimitrijević V, Morley MW, Rakočević Z, Babb J, Mihailović B, Djurić M, Guibert P (2011) A human mandible (BH-1) from the Pleistocene deposits of Mala Balanica cave (Sićevo Gorge, Niš, Serbia). Journal of Human Evolution 61:185-196.
Djurić M, Janović A, Milovanović P, Djukić K, Milenković P, Drašković M, Roksandic M. (2010) Adolescent health in medieval Serbia: signs of infectious diseases and risk of trauma. HOMO – J. Comp. Hum. Biol. 61 (2): 130-149.
Roksandic M, Vlak D, Schillaci M, Voicu D (2009) Applicability of tooth cementum annulation to an archaeological population. American Journal of Physical Anthropology140(3):583-94.
Vlak D, Roksandic M, Schillachi M (2008) Greater sciatic notch as a sex indicator in juveniles. American Journal of Physical Anthropology. 137: 309-315
Roksandic M, Wood C, Vlak D, (2007) Death in the line of duty: A Late Medieval burial at the site of LepenskiVir (Serbia). International Journal of Osteoarchaeology 17(6):635-642
Roksandic M, Djuric M, Rakocevic Z, Seguin K. (2006) Interpersonal violence at Lepenski Vir Mesolithic/Neolithic complex of the Iron Gates Gorge (Serbia-Romania). American Journal of Physical Anthropology 129 (3): 339-348.
Roksandic M (2001) Vrednost tafonomske analize skeletnih ostataka ljudi za proučavanje načina sahranjivanja [The Importance of Taphonomic Analysis of Human Skeletal Elements in Understanding Burial Rituals]. Starinar N.S. 50: 61-82.
Roksandic M, Dimitrijević V (2001) A Human Mandible from the Loess in the Vicinity of Belgrade (Yugoslavia). Human Evolution 16(1): 27-36.
Roksandic M, (2000) Between Foragers and Farmers in the Iron Gates Gorge: Physical Anthropology Perspective. Documenta Prehistorica, 27: 1-120.
Roksandic M, Radović P, Alex BA, Pavić S, Paunović M, Marković Z (2014) Looking for hominins in Museum drawers - possible Upper Pleistocene specimens from Serbia: morphologicaldescriptions and radiocarbon dating. In D Mihailovic, Ed. Palaeolithic and Mesolithic Research in the Central Balkans. SAD, Belgrade, pp. 7-20.
Blackwell B, Chu S, Chaity I, Huang YEW, Mihailović D, Roksandic M, Dimitrijević V, Blickstein J, Huang A, Skinner AR, (2014) ESR Dating Ungulate Tooth Enamel from the Mousterian Layers at Pešturina, Serbia. In D Mihailovic, Ed. Palaeolithic and Mesolithic Research in the Central Balkans. SAD, Belgrade, pp. 21-38.
Roksandic M, Mendonca de Souza SMF, Eggers S, Burchell M, Klokler D (2014) Introduction. In M Roksandic, SMF Mendonca de Souza, S Eggers, M Burchell, D Klokler, Eds.The Cultural Dynamics of Shell-Matrix Sites. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press. Pp: xiii-xv.
Roksandic M, Jackes M (2014) The skeletal assemblage and burial ritual at the site of Cabeço da Amoreira: The 1960s excavations by Veiga Fereira and Roche. In M
Roksandic, SMF Mendonca de Souza, S Eggers, M Burchell, D Klokler, Eds. The Cultural Dynamics of Shell-Matrix Sites. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press. Pp. 113-130.
Jackes M, Alvim P, Analecto J, Roksandic M (2014) New photographic evidence on the 1954 excavations at Moita do Sebastião. In M Roksandic, SMF Mendonca de Souza, S Eggers, M Burchell, D Klokler, Eds. The Cultural Dynamics of Shell-Matrix Sites. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press. Pp: 131-149.
Roksandic M (2008) The Mesolithic–Neolithic in Ðerdap as evidenced by non-metric anatomical variants. In C Bonsall, I Radovanović, V Boroneanţ Eds. Iron Gates Gorge in the Mesolithic: New Perspectives, BAR 1893. Oxford: Archaeopress. Pp. 57-76.
Roksandic, M (2008) Velesnica Osteological Report. In C Bonsall, I Radovanović, V Boroneanţ Eds. Iron Gates Gorge in the Mesolithic: New Perspectives, BAR 1893. Oxford: Archaeopress. Pp. 227-41.
Bonsall, C, Radovanovic I, Roksandic M, Cook GT, Higham T, Pickard C (2008) Dating burial practices and architecture at LepenskiVir. In C Bonsall, I Radovanović, V Boroneanţ Eds. Iron Gates Gorge in the Mesolithic: New Perspectives, BAR 1893. Oxford: Archaeopress. Pp. 175-204.
Jackes, M, Roksandic M, Meiklejohn C, (2008) The Demography of the Djerdap Mesolithic/Neolithic Transition. In C Bonsall, I Radovanović, V Boroneanţ Eds. Iron Gates Gorge in the Mesolithic: New Perspectives, BAR 1893. Oxford: Archaeopress. Pp. 77-88
Rolao JM, M Roksandic (2007) The Muge Mesolithic complex: new results from the excavations of Cabeço da Amoreira 2001-2003 In N Milner, OE Craig and GN Bailey Eds. Shell middens in Atlantic Europe. Oxford: Oxbow books. 78-85.
Roksandic M (2006) Analysis of Burials from the New Excavations of the Sites Cabeço da Amoreira and Arruda (Muge, Portugal). In N Bicho, NH Veríssimo Eds. Do Epipapelolítico ao Calcolítico na Península Ibérica. Actas do IV Congresso de Arqueologia Peninsular. Faro, Unviersity of Algarve Press, pp. 43-54.
Roksandic M (2004) How Violent Was the Mesolithic, or Is There a Common Pattern of Violent Interactions Specific to Sedentary Hunter-Gatherers? In M Roksandic Ed. Violent Interactions in the Mesolithic: Evidence and meaning. B.A.R. International Series 1237. Oxford: Archaeopress, pp. 1-7.
Roksandic M (2004) Contextualizing the Evidence of Violent Death in the Mesolithic: Burials Associated with Victims of Violence in the Iron Gates Gorge. In In M Roksandic Ed.Violent Interactions in the Mesolithic: Evidence and meaning, B.A.R. International Series 1237. Oxford: Archaeopress, pp 53-74.
Roksandic M (2002) Position of Skeletal Remains as Key to Understanding Mortuary Behaviour. In WD Haglund and MH Sorg Eds. Advances in Forensic Taphonomy, Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press, pp. 95-113.
Skinner M, M Roksandic (1995) Malaria in Chinese Fossil Apes. In W Xia and Y Zhang Eds. Primate Research and Conservation, Beijing: China Forestry Publishing House, pp. 92-97.
Roksandic M (2010) Invited comment on the keynote paper Conflict and Warfare in the Near Eastern Neolithic by Ofer Bar-Yosef. Neo-Lithics 1/10: 59-61. (Invited comment /reviewed by editor)
Meiklejohn C, Jackes M, Lubell D, Roksandic M (2009) Radiocarbon dating of Mesolithic human remains in Portugal.Mesolithic Miscellany20.1: 4-15.
Roksandic M (2006) Warfare in segmented, small-scale archaeological groups: An historical approach to archaeological data from the Iron Gates Gorge Mesolithic. DocumentaPrehistorica XXXII: 574-591.
Roksandic M (2000) Conference Review: The Iron Gates in Prehistory, Edinburgh March 30 –April 2, 2000. The European Archaeologist 15:14-15.