Archaeometry in Serbia: Where we are and where we should go next?

Abstract

The paper presents a short history of archaeometry investigations in Serbia, from the first published work in 1932 until today. It then describes the most important laboratories and institutions that perform archaeometry investigations in Serbia today, their teams, equipment, projects, and cooperation: Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments of Serbia, Vinča Institute of Nuclear Sciences, Faculty of Physical Chemistry, National Museum of Serbia, Institute of Archaeology, the Heritage Lab, Gallery of Matica Srpska Novi Sad, and City Museum of Subotica. The paper describes plans for the future and proposes forming of Serbian Society for Archaeometry with several goals: to further interconnect research disciplines; to facilitate better use and purchase of equipment, to establish a dedicated laboratory for archaeometry; to introduce archaeometry study programs at different levels of teaching; to introduce archaeometry into scientific plans of Serbia; to start a domestic archaeometry journal, and to promote the awareness of the potentials and benefits of archaeometry to institutions dealing with cultural heritage and to the general public.