diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 0896e0f0c..4e03a2fdb 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -182,7 +182,7 @@ endif()
 
 if(WITH_BOOST_FS)
     message(STATUS "With boost filesystem")
-    find_package(Boost 1.63.0 COMPONENTS system filesystem serialization REQUIRED)
+    find_package(Boost 1.63.0 COMPONENTS system filesystem REQUIRED)
     add_definitions(-DWITH_BOOST_FS)
     SET(FILESYSTEM_LIBRARIES "${Boost_FILESYSTEM_LIBRARY};${Boost_SYSTEM_LIBRARY}")
 else()
diff --git a/include/nifty/skeletons/evaluation.hxx b/include/nifty/skeletons/evaluation.hxx
index d098a77e7..173c2cabd 100644
--- a/include/nifty/skeletons/evaluation.hxx
+++ b/include/nifty/skeletons/evaluation.hxx
@@ -2,8 +2,9 @@
 #include "boost/geometry/index/rtree.hpp"
 #include "boost/serialization/map.hpp"
 #include "boost/serialization/unordered_map.hpp"
-#include "boost/archive/binary_iarchive.hpp"
-#include "boost/archive/binary_oarchive.hpp"
+// can't build with boost serialization
+//#include "boost/archive/binary_iarchive.hpp"
+//#include "boost/archive/binary_oarchive.hpp"
 
 #include "nifty/z5/z5.hxx"
 #include "nifty/parallel/threadpool.hxx"
@@ -70,6 +71,8 @@ namespace skeletons {
     // API
     public:
 
+        // needs boost serialization
+        /*
         // constructor from serialization
         SkeletonMetrics(const std::string & segmentationPath,
                         const std::string & skeletonTopFolder,
@@ -79,6 +82,7 @@ namespace skeletons {
                                                                  skeletonIds_(skeletonIds){
             deserialize(dictSerialization);
         }
+        */
 
         // constructor from data
         SkeletonMetrics(const std::string & segmentationPath,
@@ -135,6 +139,9 @@ namespace skeletons {
         // the label id(s) that contain the merge
         void getNodesInFalseMergeLabels(std::map<std::size_t, std::vector<std::size_t>> &, const int) const;
 
+        // we can't build with boost::serialization right now
+        // best would be to reimplement this
+        /*
         // serialize and deserialize node dictionary with boost::serialization
         void serialize(const std::string & path) const {
             std::ofstream os(path.c_str(), std::ofstream::out | std::ofstream::binary);
@@ -147,6 +154,7 @@ namespace skeletons {
             boost::archive::binary_iarchive iarch(is);
             iarch >> skeletonDict_;
         }
+        */
 
         // group skeleton to blocks (= chunks of the segmentation)
         void groupSkeletonBlocks(SkeletonBlockStorage &, std::vector<std::size_t> &, parallel::ThreadPool &);
diff --git a/src/python/lib/skeletons/CMakeLists.txt b/src/python/lib/skeletons/CMakeLists.txt
index da1c67bc2..0f432813d 100644
--- a/src/python/lib/skeletons/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/src/python/lib/skeletons/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -8,6 +8,5 @@ addPythonModule(
     LIBRRARIES
         ${Z5_COMPRESSION_LIBRARIES}
         ${FILESYSTEM_LIBRARIES}    
-        ${Boost_SERIALIZATION_LIBRARY}    
         Threads::Threads
 )
diff --git a/src/python/lib/skeletons/evaluation.cxx b/src/python/lib/skeletons/evaluation.cxx
index 390775348..cc31a06af 100644
--- a/src/python/lib/skeletons/evaluation.cxx
+++ b/src/python/lib/skeletons/evaluation.cxx
@@ -19,8 +19,9 @@ namespace skeletons {
         py::class_<SelfType>(module, "SkeletonMetrics")
             .def(py::init<const std::string &, const std::string &,
                           const std::vector<std::size_t> &, const int>())
-            .def(py::init<const std::string &, const std::string &,
-                          const std::vector<std::size_t> &, const std::string &>())
+            // can't build with boost serialization
+            //.def(py::init<const std::string &, const std::string &,
+            //              const std::vector<std::size_t> &, const std::string &>())
             //
             .def("getNodeAssignments", [](const SelfType & self){return self.getNodeAssignments();})
             .def("computeSplitScores", [](const SelfType & self, const int numberOfThreads){
@@ -86,10 +87,11 @@ namespace skeletons {
                 return out;
             }, py::arg("resolution"), py::arg("numberOfThreads")=-1)
             //
-            .def("serialize", [](const SelfType & self,
-                                 const std::string & serializationPath){
-                self.serialize(serializationPath);
-            }, py::arg("serializationPath"))
+            // can't build with boost serialization
+            //.def("serialize", [](const SelfType & self,
+            //                     const std::string & serializationPath){
+            //    self.serialize(serializationPath);
+            //}, py::arg("serializationPath"))
             //
             .def("mergeFalseSplitNodes", [](const SelfType & self, const int numberOfThreads){
                 std::map<std::size_t, std::set<std::pair<std::size_t, std::size_t>>> out;