Richard H Meadows
Biographic Data
| ID | 140247 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Richard H Meadows |
| GIVEN NAMES | Richard H |
| FAMILY NAME | Meadows |
| SIGNATURE | MEADOWS R H |
| AFFILIATIONS | Harvard University |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-1581-5483 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 23 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 200 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 23 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1980 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 6 |
Taphonomy and labour at the Indus Valley site of Harappa (3700-1300 BC)
The emergence of early cities required new agricultural practices and archaeobotanical crop-processing models have been used to investigate the social and economic organisation of urban 'consumer' and non-urban 'producer' sites. Archaeobotanical work on the Indus Valley has previously identified various interpretations of labour and subsistence practices. Here, the authors analyse a large archaeobotanical assemblage from Harappa, Pakistan (3700-1…
Not a bathtub: A consideration of sea-level physics for archaeological models of human migration
Accurately reconstructing past sea level is key to simulating potential migration pathways of ancient hominins, including early Homo sapiens. Models of ancient human migration events commonly construct estimates of paleoenvironments using the “bathtub” model, in which sea level is assumed to rise and fall according to a “eustatic” (global average) value over time. However, large uncertainties exist on past ice sheet sizes and shapes, particularly…
Archaeological Analysis in the Information Age: Guidelines for Maximizing the Reach, Comprehensiveness, and Longevity of Data
With the advent of the Web, increased emphasis on “research data management,” and innovations in reproducible research practices, scholars have more incentives and opportunities to document and disseminate their primary data. This article seeks to guide archaeologists in data sharing by highlighting recurring challenges in reusing archived data gleaned from observations on workflows and reanalysis efforts involving datasets published over the pas…
Isotope evidence for agricultural extensification reveals how the world's first cities were fed
Excavations at Harappa, 1986–2010: New Insights on the Indus Civilization and Harappan Burial Traditions
The site of Harappa, located in Sahiwal district, Punjab Province, Pakistan is the longest-studied settlement of the Indus civilization and has contributed significant information on the nature and complexity of this early urban society, beginning with the first major excavations by Madho Sarup Vats in the 1920s and 1930s. It was during these early excavations that the first burial remains associated with the Late Harappa Phase and then with the …
The Use of Trypsin to Prepare Skeletal Material for Comparative Collections with a Focus on Fish
There are skeletal collections in museums and universities throughout the world that are not useful to the zooarchaeologist because they have not been properly cleaned–often the result of having been processed in the field. In this paper, a method to clean the bones of smaller animals is presented that is both quick and efficient with a minimum of special requirements. This method was designed to work under field conditions to create reference co…
Is Poverty in Our Genes: A Critique of Ashraf and Galor, “The ‘Out of Africa’ Hypothesis, Human Genetic Diversity, and Comparative Economic Development,”American Economic Review(Forthcoming)
We present a critique of a paper written by two economists, Quamrul Ashraf and Oded Galor, which is forthcoming in the American Economic Review and which was uncritically highlighted in Science magazine. Their paper claims there is a causal effect of genetic diversity on economic success, positing that too much or too little genetic diversity constrains development. In particular, they argue that "the high degree of diversity among African popula…
Indus (Harappan) culture
The period 2600–1900 BCE saw the florescence of the Indus civilization, with hundreds of settlements bearing the material remains of Harappan culture found across modern Pakistan and northwestern India.
A Reply to Ji‐huan He
Integrating taphonomy into the practice of zooarchaeology in China
New Evidence for Early Silk in the Indus Civilization
Silk is an important economic fibre, and is generally considered to have been the exclusive cultural heritage of China. Silk weaving is evident from the Shang period c. 1600–1045 bc , though the earliest evidence for silk textiles in ancient China may date to as much as a millennium earlier. Recent microscopic analysis of archaeological thread fragments found inside copper‐alloy ornaments from Harappa and steatite beads from Chanhu‐daro, two impo…
Animal Exploitation at Çayönü Tepesi̇, Southeastern Anatolia
Our work on faunal remains from Cayonu began in 1996 in Istanbul. Shortly after the plan for our investigation of Cayonu fauna was proposed, one of the authors (Hongo) visited the Braidwoods at the Oriental Institute, at the end of 1994 or beginning of 1995. We had a lunch in the basement of the Oriental Institute over a lunch box that Dr. Linda Braidwood had brought. It was a simple, unpretentious but pleasant and memorable lunch break. It was …
The chronological and cultural significance of a steatite wig from Harappa
Born Free ? New Evidence for the Status of Sus scrofa at Neolithic Çayönü Tepesi (Southeastern Anatolia, Turkey)
A renewed analysis was undertaken of the Sus remains from all habitation phases at Neolithic Çayönü Tepesi, a site which spans more than two millennia and has been considered as among the oldest domestication sites of the pig in Western Asia. The research included age at death estimations, osteometrical analysis of both dental and postcranial material, and the recording of a dental defect (Linear Enamel Hypoplasia or LEH). The analysis revealed a…
A Comment on “Horse Remains from Surkotada” by Sándor Bökönyi
(1997). A Comment on “Horse Remains from Surkotada” by Sándor Bökönyi. South Asian Studies: Vol. 13, Special Number in Celebration of the 50th Anniversary of the Independence of India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, pp. 308-315
Agriculture and herding in the early oasis settlements of the Oxus Civilization
An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. Please use the Get access link above for information on how to access this content
The Genesis and Collapse of Third Millennium North Mesopotamian Civilization
Archaeological and soil-stratigraphic data define the origin, growth, and collapse of Subir, the third millennium rain-fed agriculture civilization of northern Mesopotamia on the Habur Plains of Syria. At 2200 B. C., a marked increase in aridity and wind circulation, subsequent to a volcanic eruption, induced a considerable degradation of land-use conditions. After four centuries of urban life, this abrupt climatic change evidently caused abandon…
Computer image enhancement and analysis of cementum increments as applied to teeth of Gazella gazella
Archeology: The Archaeology of Animals. Simon J. M. Davis
Teeth. Simon Hillson
Les preuves ostéologiques de la domestication des animaux
Dépôts d'animaux dans les sépultures néolithiques de Mehrgarh, Pakistan
Des dépôts de caprinés ont été trouvés à Mehrgarh dans des tombes de la Période I (site de MR3) au néolithique précéramique. Ces offrandes, uniques a ce jour dans le néolithique d'Asie, ont une importance toute particulière alors que l'étude de la faune permet de mettre en évidence le passage d'une économie fondée sur la chasse à une économie de production avec le développement de l'élevage, notamment grâce à la domestication de la chèvre au débu…
Animal Bones: Problems for the Archaeologist together with some possible solutions
A principal goal of the quantitative study of animal bones from archaeological sites of any period is the elucidation of past cultural practices and patterns. In order to investigate these phenomena, however, it is necessary to evaluate the effects of biases introduced by non-controllable factors including differential disposal, deposition, and preservation and by controllable factors such as excavation, recovery, and handling procedures. By adop…
Born Free ? New Evidence for the Status of Sus scrofa at Neolithic Çayönü Tepesi (Southeastern Anatolia, Turkey)
A renewed analysis was undertaken of the Sus remains from all habitation phases at Neolithic Çayönü Tepesi, a site which spans more than two millennia and has been considered as among the oldest domestication sites of the pig in Western Asia. The research included age at death estimations, osteometrical analysis of both dental and postcranial material, and the recording of a dental defect (Linear Enamel Hypoplasia or LEH). The analysis revealed a…
Computer image enhancement and analysis of cementum increments as applied to teeth of Gazella gazella
Agriculture and herding in the early oasis settlements of the Oxus Civilization
An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. Please use the Get access link above for information on how to access this content
Animal Bones: Problems for the Archaeologist together with some possible solutions
A principal goal of the quantitative study of animal bones from archaeological sites of any period is the elucidation of past cultural practices and patterns. In order to investigate these phenomena, however, it is necessary to evaluate the effects of biases introduced by non-controllable factors including differential disposal, deposition, and preservation and by controllable factors such as excavation, recovery, and handling procedures. By adop…
Integrating taphonomy into the practice of zooarchaeology in China
Is Poverty in Our Genes: A Critique of Ashraf and Galor, “The ‘Out of Africa’ Hypothesis, Human Genetic Diversity, and Comparative Economic Development,”American Economic Review(Forthcoming)
We present a critique of a paper written by two economists, Quamrul Ashraf and Oded Galor, which is forthcoming in the American Economic Review and which was uncritically highlighted in Science magazine. Their paper claims there is a causal effect of genetic diversity on economic success, positing that too much or too little genetic diversity constrains development. In particular, they argue that "the high degree of diversity among African popula…
Dépôts d'animaux dans les sépultures néolithiques de Mehrgarh, Pakistan
Des dépôts de caprinés ont été trouvés à Mehrgarh dans des tombes de la Période I (site de MR3) au néolithique précéramique. Ces offrandes, uniques a ce jour dans le néolithique d'Asie, ont une importance toute particulière alors que l'étude de la faune permet de mettre en évidence le passage d'une économie fondée sur la chasse à une économie de production avec le développement de l'élevage, notamment grâce à la domestication de la chèvre au débu…
Not a bathtub: A consideration of sea-level physics for archaeological models of human migration
Accurately reconstructing past sea level is key to simulating potential migration pathways of ancient hominins, including early Homo sapiens. Models of ancient human migration events commonly construct estimates of paleoenvironments using the “bathtub” model, in which sea level is assumed to rise and fall according to a “eustatic” (global average) value over time. However, large uncertainties exist on past ice sheet sizes and shapes, particularly…
Archaeological Analysis in the Information Age: Guidelines for Maximizing the Reach, Comprehensiveness, and Longevity of Data
With the advent of the Web, increased emphasis on “research data management,” and innovations in reproducible research practices, scholars have more incentives and opportunities to document and disseminate their primary data. This article seeks to guide archaeologists in data sharing by highlighting recurring challenges in reusing archived data gleaned from observations on workflows and reanalysis efforts involving datasets published over the pas…
A Comment on “Horse Remains from Surkotada” by Sándor Bökönyi
(1997). A Comment on “Horse Remains from Surkotada” by Sándor Bökönyi. South Asian Studies: Vol. 13, Special Number in Celebration of the 50th Anniversary of the Independence of India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, pp. 308-315
New Evidence for Early Silk in the Indus Civilization
Silk is an important economic fibre, and is generally considered to have been the exclusive cultural heritage of China. Silk weaving is evident from the Shang period c. 1600–1045 bc , though the earliest evidence for silk textiles in ancient China may date to as much as a millennium earlier. Recent microscopic analysis of archaeological thread fragments found inside copper‐alloy ornaments from Harappa and steatite beads from Chanhu‐daro, two impo…
Animal Bones: Problems for the Archaeologist together with some possible solutions
A principal goal of the quantitative study of animal bones from archaeological sites of any period is the elucidation of past cultural practices and patterns. In order to investigate these phenomena, however, it is necessary to evaluate the effects of biases introduced by non-controllable factors including differential disposal, deposition, and preservation and by controllable factors such as excavation, recovery, and handling procedures. By adop…
Dépôts d'animaux dans les sépultures néolithiques de Mehrgarh, Pakistan
Des dépôts de caprinés ont été trouvés à Mehrgarh dans des tombes de la Période I (site de MR3) au néolithique précéramique. Ces offrandes, uniques a ce jour dans le néolithique d'Asie, ont une importance toute particulière alors que l'étude de la faune permet de mettre en évidence le passage d'une économie fondée sur la chasse à une économie de production avec le développement de l'élevage, notamment grâce à la domestication de la chèvre au débu…
Les preuves ostéologiques de la domestication des animaux
Teeth. Simon Hillson
Archeology: The Archaeology of Animals. Simon J. M. Davis
Computer image enhancement and analysis of cementum increments as applied to teeth of Gazella gazella
The Genesis and Collapse of Third Millennium North Mesopotamian Civilization
Archaeological and soil-stratigraphic data define the origin, growth, and collapse of Subir, the third millennium rain-fed agriculture civilization of northern Mesopotamia on the Habur Plains of Syria. At 2200 B. C., a marked increase in aridity and wind circulation, subsequent to a volcanic eruption, induced a considerable degradation of land-use conditions. After four centuries of urban life, this abrupt climatic change evidently caused abandon…
Agriculture and herding in the early oasis settlements of the Oxus Civilization
An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. Please use the Get access link above for information on how to access this content
A Comment on “Horse Remains from Surkotada” by Sándor Bökönyi
(1997). A Comment on “Horse Remains from Surkotada” by Sándor Bökönyi. South Asian Studies: Vol. 13, Special Number in Celebration of the 50th Anniversary of the Independence of India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, pp. 308-315
Born Free ? New Evidence for the Status of Sus scrofa at Neolithic Çayönü Tepesi (Southeastern Anatolia, Turkey)
A renewed analysis was undertaken of the Sus remains from all habitation phases at Neolithic Çayönü Tepesi, a site which spans more than two millennia and has been considered as among the oldest domestication sites of the pig in Western Asia. The research included age at death estimations, osteometrical analysis of both dental and postcranial material, and the recording of a dental defect (Linear Enamel Hypoplasia or LEH). The analysis revealed a…
The chronological and cultural significance of a steatite wig from Harappa
Animal Exploitation at Çayönü Tepesi̇, Southeastern Anatolia
Our work on faunal remains from Cayonu began in 1996 in Istanbul. Shortly after the plan for our investigation of Cayonu fauna was proposed, one of the authors (Hongo) visited the Braidwoods at the Oriental Institute, at the end of 1994 or beginning of 1995. We had a lunch in the basement of the Oriental Institute over a lunch box that Dr. Linda Braidwood had brought. It was a simple, unpretentious but pleasant and memorable lunch break. It was …
Integrating taphonomy into the practice of zooarchaeology in China
New Evidence for Early Silk in the Indus Civilization
Silk is an important economic fibre, and is generally considered to have been the exclusive cultural heritage of China. Silk weaving is evident from the Shang period c. 1600–1045 bc , though the earliest evidence for silk textiles in ancient China may date to as much as a millennium earlier. Recent microscopic analysis of archaeological thread fragments found inside copper‐alloy ornaments from Harappa and steatite beads from Chanhu‐daro, two impo…
A Reply to Ji‐huan He
Indus (Harappan) culture
The period 2600–1900 BCE saw the florescence of the Indus civilization, with hundreds of settlements bearing the material remains of Harappan culture found across modern Pakistan and northwestern India.
The Use of Trypsin to Prepare Skeletal Material for Comparative Collections with a Focus on Fish
There are skeletal collections in museums and universities throughout the world that are not useful to the zooarchaeologist because they have not been properly cleaned–often the result of having been processed in the field. In this paper, a method to clean the bones of smaller animals is presented that is both quick and efficient with a minimum of special requirements. This method was designed to work under field conditions to create reference co…
Is Poverty in Our Genes: A Critique of Ashraf and Galor, “The ‘Out of Africa’ Hypothesis, Human Genetic Diversity, and Comparative Economic Development,”American Economic Review(Forthcoming)
We present a critique of a paper written by two economists, Quamrul Ashraf and Oded Galor, which is forthcoming in the American Economic Review and which was uncritically highlighted in Science magazine. Their paper claims there is a causal effect of genetic diversity on economic success, positing that too much or too little genetic diversity constrains development. In particular, they argue that "the high degree of diversity among African popula…
Excavations at Harappa, 1986–2010: New Insights on the Indus Civilization and Harappan Burial Traditions
The site of Harappa, located in Sahiwal district, Punjab Province, Pakistan is the longest-studied settlement of the Indus civilization and has contributed significant information on the nature and complexity of this early urban society, beginning with the first major excavations by Madho Sarup Vats in the 1920s and 1930s. It was during these early excavations that the first burial remains associated with the Late Harappa Phase and then with the …
Isotope evidence for agricultural extensification reveals how the world's first cities were fed
Archaeological Analysis in the Information Age: Guidelines for Maximizing the Reach, Comprehensiveness, and Longevity of Data
With the advent of the Web, increased emphasis on “research data management,” and innovations in reproducible research practices, scholars have more incentives and opportunities to document and disseminate their primary data. This article seeks to guide archaeologists in data sharing by highlighting recurring challenges in reusing archived data gleaned from observations on workflows and reanalysis efforts involving datasets published over the pas…
Not a bathtub: A consideration of sea-level physics for archaeological models of human migration
Accurately reconstructing past sea level is key to simulating potential migration pathways of ancient hominins, including early Homo sapiens. Models of ancient human migration events commonly construct estimates of paleoenvironments using the “bathtub” model, in which sea level is assumed to rise and fall according to a “eustatic” (global average) value over time. However, large uncertainties exist on past ice sheet sizes and shapes, particularly…
Taphonomy and labour at the Indus Valley site of Harappa (3700-1300 BC)
The emergence of early cities required new agricultural practices and archaeobotanical crop-processing models have been used to investigate the social and economic organisation of urban 'consumer' and non-urban 'producer' sites. Archaeobotanical work on the Indus Valley has previously identified various interpretations of labour and subsistence practices. Here, the authors analyse a large archaeobotanical assemblage from Harappa, Pakistan (3700-1…
Archaeology (13 works) · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies (13 works) · Geography (12 works) · Biology (11 works) · History (10 works) · Forensic Anthropology and Bioarchaeology Studies (6 works) · History (6 works) · Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology (6 works) · Computer Science (5 works) · Ancient history (4 works)