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Academic research in paleoanthropology and archaeological science

Curriculum vitae July 2021

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Excavations in Sicevo Valley caves, Serbia.
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Preparing samples for radiocarbon dating in the D-REAMS Lab, Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel.

Biogeography of Neanderthals and modern humans

PictureSicevo River valley, home to late MP sites in Serbia
This project aimed to reconstruct spatial and temporal distributions of Neanderthals and modern humans, in order to narrow in on their contexts of encounters. I produced chronologies based on reliable radiocarbon dates for Middle and Upper Paleolithic assemblages in the Levant, Balkans, and Northeast Europe. My methodology for radiocarbon dating integrated fieldwork and laboratory analysis to produce meaningful dates.


PhD Dissertation
Establishing Contexts of Encounters: Radioarbon Dating of Archaeological Assemblages with Implications for Neanderthal-Modern Human Interactions. 2016.

The Levant: Manot Cave

Caracuta, B. Alex... E. Boaretto (2020). The Marine Isotope Stage 3 landscape around Manot Cave (Israel) and the food habits of anatomically modern humans: New insights from the anthracological record and stable carbon isotope analysis of wild almond (Amygdalus sp.) Journal of Human Evolution.

Alex, B., O. Barzilai, I. Hershkovitz... E. Boaretto (2017). Radiocarbon chronology of Manot Cave, Israel and Upper Paleolithic dispersals. Science Advances. 3: e1701450.


Hershkovitz, I., O. Marder, B. Alex… O. Barzilai (2015). Levantine cranium from Manot Cave (Israel) foreshadows the first European modern humans. Nature. 520: 216-219.

Marder, O., B. Alex, A. Ayalon… O. Barzilai (2013). The Upper Palaeolithic of Manot Cave, Western Galilee, Israel: the 2011-12 excavations. Antiquity 87(337): online project gallery

The Balkans


Alex, B., D. Mihailovic, S. Milosevic, E. Boaretto (2019). Radiocarbon chronology of Middle and Upper Paleolithic sites in Serbia, Central Balkans. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports. 25: 266-279

Alex, B. and E. Boaretto (2014). Radiocarbon chronology of Pešturina Cave. In Palaeolithic and Mesolithic Research in the Central Balkans, edited D. Mihailović. Serbian Archaeological Society, Belgrade. Pp 37- 45.

Roksandic, M., P. Radović, B. Alex, S. Panvić, M. Paunović, Z. Marković. (2014). Possible Upper Pleistocene humans from Serbia: morphological descriptions and radiocarbon dating. In Palaeolithic and Mesolithic Research in the Central Balkans, edited D. Mihailović. Serbian Archaeological Society, Belgrade. Pp 7-20.


Poland: Ciemna and Obłazowa Caves

Alex, B., P. Valde-Nowak, L. Regev, E. Boaretto (2017). Late Middle Paleolithic of Southern Poland: Radiocarbon Dates from Ciemna and Obłazowa Caves. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports. 11: 370-380.

Valde-Nowak, P, B. Alex… Zajac, M. (2016). The Middle Palaeolithic sequence of Ciemna Cave. Some aspects of the site formation process. Quartär. 63: 33-46.

Valde-Nowak, P., B. Alex... K., Zarzecka-Szubinska. (2016). Late Middle Palaeolithic occupations in Ciemna Cave, southern Poland. Journal of Field Archaeology. DOI:10.1080/00934690.2015.1101942.

Valde-Nowak, P., B. Ginter, B. Alex… K. Zarzecka (2014). Middle Paleolithic sequences of the Ciemna cave (Prądnik valley, Poland): The problem of synchronization. Quaternary International 326-327: 125-145.

Other Projects

Tryon, C., J. Lewis,.. B. Alex...(2018). Middle and Later Stone Age chronology of Kisese II rockshelter (UNESCO World Heritage Kondoa Rock-Art Site), Tanzania. PLOS One 13(2): e0192029. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0192029

Tel Ashkelon, Israel :
  • Bone preservation study
  • Radiocarbon dating of the Philistine cemetery (read about in New York Times and National Geographic)


Koons, M. and B. Alex (2014). Revised Moche Chronology Based on Bayesian Models of Reliable Radiocarbon Dates. Radiocarbon 56(3): 1039-1055.

Stoner, W., D. Nichols, B. Alex, D. Crider (2015). The Emergence of Early-Middle Formative Exchange Patterns in Mesoamerica: A View from Altica in the Teotihuacan Valley.  Journal of Anthropological Archaeology. 39:19-35.

Alex, B., D. Nichols, M. D. Glascock (2012). Complementary Compositional Analyses of Formative Period Ceramics from the Teotihuacan Valley, Mexico. Archaeometry 54:821-834.
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