Nurturing Heritage Science with Novel Bioarchaeological Methods in the Eastern Baltics

PaleoMIX proposes an interdisciplinary research programme to better understand cultural heritage as one of the main definers of European identity and grant its maximum informative value and long-term preservation. PaleoMIX bridges humanities and natural sciences by bringing together experts from the Eastern Baltic and Western Europe to implement top-notch bioarchaeological and computational research methodologies for conducting a more sustainable study of tangible heritage. The Twinning exercise consolidates the research and innovation capabilities of the internationally acknowledged research centres – BioArCh (University of York, UK) and GLOBE Institute: Evo and Eco Genomics Sections (University of Copenhagen, DK) and Laboratory of Human Evolution, isoTOPIK Lab (University of Burgos, ES) – to the Coordinator, University of Tartu (EE), allowing the establishment of a dedicated Research-Innovation (R&I) Hub on Tangible Heritage Studies. The transdisciplinary research excellence that becomes available through tight cooperation, mobilities and creation of digital infrastructure (PaleoMIX O.A.D.) in the E Baltics is first demonstrated in the Research Pilot about the most important cultural change in human history – Neolithization. With the push from the Twinning partners, the R&I Hub will become a self-sustainable naval point and a pool of knowledge to disseminate the best practices in heritage studies to regional researchers and other stakeholders.On a wider scale, PaleoMIX promotes the integration of humanities and natural sciences to tackle prominent questions about European common heritage. PaleoMIX further i) contributes to the sustainability of the knowledge-based society with its extensive knowledge production and dissemination among the general public, ii) strengthens the links between academia, business and other governmental organisations through novel services offered by the R&I Hub, and iii) acts as a springboard for the next generation researchers in heritage studies.