Alicia Ventresca-Miller
Biographic Data
| ID | 667778 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Alicia Ventresca-Miller |
| GIVEN NAMES | Alicia |
| FAMILY NAME | Ventresca-Miller |
| SIGNATURE | VENTRESCA-MILLER A |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Michigan |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-4148-4016 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 21 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 131 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 21 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2013 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 6 |
Provisioning a Silk Road City: Herd Management Strategies at the Urban Site of Dzhankent, Kazakhstan
This study presents evidence for herd management at the early medieval city of Dzhankent in southern Kazakhstan. Located along the Northern Silk Road, Dzhankent was a key trading node linking northern and southern areas between the 9th and 10th centuries ce . To investigate livestock management strategies within this urban center, we conducted incremental carbon (δ 13 C) and oxygen (δ 18 O) isotope analysis on second molars from 16 sheep. Results…
Diet and Oral Health of Scythian Populations in Ukraine (700–200 bce): Evidence for Grain Consumption and Food Processing
We examined whether Scythian‐era populations living in different ecological zones had distinctive oral health patterns during the Iron Age. Our interdisciplinary approach should clarify whether these populations had different diets or behavioral practices. A total of 36 individuals were analyzed for caries, calculus, abscesses, ante‐mortem tooth loss, and dental wear. In addition, previously published stable isotope analyses of tooth enamel bioap…
[Re]Integrating a dispersed agenda: Advancing archaeological research in Central Eurasia
Amid resurgent geopolitical fissures and in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic, there is a growing awareness in the sector of the need for, and concern about, national and international collaboration in archaeological projects. This article reflects on present-day challenges for international collaboration in central Eurasian archaeology and furthers a much-needed discussion about (re)integrating local narratives with inter-regional trends in…
Bioarchaeology in Central Asia: Growing from Legacies to Enhance Future Research
In this article, we review the historical trajectory of bioarchaeology in Central Asia to draw attention to the importance of previous archaeological and biological anthropology research that pioneered large-scale systematic excavation and use of technology such as aerial photography. We also highlight the political and social biases of past work and how its legacy continues to shape modern practices. Our goal is to bring these dynamics to the at…
Bioarchaeology in Central Asia: Growing from Legacies to Enhance Future Research
In this article, we review the historical trajectory of bioarchaeology in Central Asia to draw attention to the importance of previous archaeological and biological anthropology research that pioneered large-scale systematic excavation and use of technology such as aerial photography.We also highlight the political and social biases of past work and how its legacy continues to shape modern practices. Our goal is to bring these dynamics to the att…
Mongolia’s Frozen Heritage: A Summary of the Archaeology of the Cultural Cryosphere
While pastoral cultures from Mongolia and the dry steppes of eastern Eurasia have had an outsized impact on Eurasian history, the region’s geomorphology, reliance on organic materials, and a nomadic culture that lacks long-lasting architecture on the landscape have conspired to limit our knowledge of important anthropological processes in the deep past. Frozen archaeological sites, including permafrost and finds from glaciers and ice patches, ser…
Impacts of the Covid-19 Pandemic on Women and Early Career Archaeologists
The COVID-19 pandemic has had far-reaching impacts in all segments of life worldwide. While a variety of surveys have assessed the impacts of the pandemic in other fields, few studies have focused on understanding the short- and long-term impacts of the pandemic for archaeology. To assess these trends, we asked survey respondents (n = 570) if they experienced job loss and to rate the percentage of change in their economic situation, workload, tea…
Iron age societies of Western Transbaikalia: Reconstruction of diet and lifeways
The earliest water buffalo in the Caucasus: Shifting animals and people in the medieval Islamic world
The expansion of the Umayyad and Abbasid Caliphates (seventh to ninth centuries AD) brought diverse regions from the Indus Valley to the Eurasian Steppe under hegemonic control. An overlooked aspect of this political process is the subsequent translocation of species across ecological zones. This article explores species introduction in the early Islamic world, presenting the first archaeological evidence for domestic water buffalo in the Caucasu…
An Imagined Past: Nomadic Narratives in Central Asian Archaeology
Nomads, or highly specialized mobile pastoralists, are prominent features in Central Asian archaeology, and they are often depicted in direct conflict with neighboring sedentary peoples. However, new archaeological findings are showing that the people who many scholars have called nomads engaged in a mixed economic system of farming and herding. Additionally, not all of these peoples were as mobile as previously assumed, and current data suggest …
Close management of sheep in ancient Central Asia: Evidence for foddering, transhumance, and extended lambing seasons during the Bronze and Iron Ages
Pastoralism in Central Asia directed the utilization of natural resources, yet information on livestock management strategies remain scarce. Carbon (δ13C) and oxygen (δ18O) isotope analyses of domesticated sheep teeth are used to identify animal management strategies. Sheep from Kent exhibit an inverserelationship where low δ18O values coincide with high δ13C values, consistent with the foddering of caprines in the winter for this location which …
Dietary diversity of Bronze-Iron Age populations of Kazakhstan quantitatively estimated through the compound-specific nitrogen analysis of amino acids
Mobility and diet in the Iron Age Pontic forest‐steppe: A multi‐isotopic study of urban populations at Bel'sk
High mobility among Scythian populations is often cited as the driving force behind pan‐regional interactions and the spread of new material culture c .700–200 bce , when burgeoning socioeconomic interactions between the Greeks, Scythian steppe pastoralists and the agro‐pastoral tribes of the forest‐steppe played out across the region. While interregional mobility central to warrior lifestyles is assumed to have been a defining feature of Scythia…
Pasture usage by ancient pastoralists in the northern Kazakh steppe informed by carbon and nitrogen isoscapes of contemporary floral biomes
Identification of variation in pasture use by domesticated livestock has important implications for understanding the scale of animal husbandry and landscape use in modern and ancient societies alike. Here, we explore the influence of pasture floral composition, salinity, and water availability on the carbon (δ13C) and nitrogen (δ15N) isotopic composition of plants from the steppes of Kazakhstan. Our findings demonstrate geospatially defined diff…
Life in the fast lane: Settled pastoralism in the Central Eurasian Steppe during the Middle Bronze Age
Skeletal stress markers and injuries were uncommon among the KA-5 and regional groups, but a MBA-LBA high subadult mortality indicates elevated frailty levels and inability to survive acute illnesses. Following an optimal weaning program, subadults were at risk for physiological insult and many succumbed. Only a small number of individuals attained biological maturity during the MBA, suggesting that a fast life history was an adaptive regional re…
Bronze Age diet and economy: New stable isotope data from the Central Eurasian steppes (2100-1700 BC)
Isotopic approaches to pastoralism in prehistory
Pastoralism involves the exploitation of domesticated livestock and has been a vital component of human subsistence and surplus economies for thousands of years. By supplying their human caretakers with ready and renewable sources of milk, meat, fat, fiber, skins, and dung, livestock serve as an important source of subsistence and wealth in pastoralist communities. Stable isotope analysis (SIA) of human and animal skeletal tissues measure dietary…
Pastoralist Mobility in Bronze Age Landscapes of Northern Kazakhstan: 87 Sr/ 86 Sr and δ 18 O Analyses of Human Dentition from Bestamak and Lisakovsk
The role of migration and mobility of people across the steppe has often been cited as key to Bronze Age developments across Eurasia, including the emergence of complex societies in the steppe and the spread of material culture. The central Eurasian steppe (CES) is a focal point for the investigation of the shifting nature of pastoral societies because of the clear transition in archaeological patterning that occurred from the Middle (MBA) to Lat…
Weaning practices among pastoralists: New evidence of infant feeding patterns from Bronze Age Eurasia
OBJECTIVES: N) isotopic analyses of human bone collagen from Kamennyi Ambar 5, a Middle Bronze Age cemetery located in central Eurasia. The results presented are unique for the time period and region, as few cemeteries have been excavated to reveal a demographic cross-section of the population. Studies of weaning among pastoral societies are infrequent and this research adds to our knowledge of the timing, potential supplementary foods, and cessa…
Dental health, diet, and social transformations in the Bronze Age: Comparative analysis of pastoral populations in northern Kazakhstan
Subsistence and social change in central Eurasia: Stable isotope analysis of populations spanning the Bronze Age transition
Subsistence and social change in central Eurasia: Stable isotope analysis of populations spanning the Bronze Age transition
An Imagined Past: Nomadic Narratives in Central Asian Archaeology
Nomads, or highly specialized mobile pastoralists, are prominent features in Central Asian archaeology, and they are often depicted in direct conflict with neighboring sedentary peoples. However, new archaeological findings are showing that the people who many scholars have called nomads engaged in a mixed economic system of farming and herding. Additionally, not all of these peoples were as mobile as previously assumed, and current data suggest …
Bronze Age diet and economy: New stable isotope data from the Central Eurasian steppes (2100-1700 BC)
Pasture usage by ancient pastoralists in the northern Kazakh steppe informed by carbon and nitrogen isoscapes of contemporary floral biomes
Identification of variation in pasture use by domesticated livestock has important implications for understanding the scale of animal husbandry and landscape use in modern and ancient societies alike. Here, we explore the influence of pasture floral composition, salinity, and water availability on the carbon (δ13C) and nitrogen (δ15N) isotopic composition of plants from the steppes of Kazakhstan. Our findings demonstrate geospatially defined diff…
Pastoralist Mobility in Bronze Age Landscapes of Northern Kazakhstan: 87 Sr/ 86 Sr and δ 18 O Analyses of Human Dentition from Bestamak and Lisakovsk
The role of migration and mobility of people across the steppe has often been cited as key to Bronze Age developments across Eurasia, including the emergence of complex societies in the steppe and the spread of material culture. The central Eurasian steppe (CES) is a focal point for the investigation of the shifting nature of pastoral societies because of the clear transition in archaeological patterning that occurred from the Middle (MBA) to Lat…
Weaning practices among pastoralists: New evidence of infant feeding patterns from Bronze Age Eurasia
OBJECTIVES: N) isotopic analyses of human bone collagen from Kamennyi Ambar 5, a Middle Bronze Age cemetery located in central Eurasia. The results presented are unique for the time period and region, as few cemeteries have been excavated to reveal a demographic cross-section of the population. Studies of weaning among pastoral societies are infrequent and this research adds to our knowledge of the timing, potential supplementary foods, and cessa…
Impacts of the Covid-19 Pandemic on Women and Early Career Archaeologists
The COVID-19 pandemic has had far-reaching impacts in all segments of life worldwide. While a variety of surveys have assessed the impacts of the pandemic in other fields, few studies have focused on understanding the short- and long-term impacts of the pandemic for archaeology. To assess these trends, we asked survey respondents (n = 570) if they experienced job loss and to rate the percentage of change in their economic situation, workload, tea…
[Re]Integrating a dispersed agenda: Advancing archaeological research in Central Eurasia
Amid resurgent geopolitical fissures and in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic, there is a growing awareness in the sector of the need for, and concern about, national and international collaboration in archaeological projects. This article reflects on present-day challenges for international collaboration in central Eurasian archaeology and furthers a much-needed discussion about (re)integrating local narratives with inter-regional trends in…
Iron age societies of Western Transbaikalia: Reconstruction of diet and lifeways
The earliest water buffalo in the Caucasus: Shifting animals and people in the medieval Islamic world
The expansion of the Umayyad and Abbasid Caliphates (seventh to ninth centuries AD) brought diverse regions from the Indus Valley to the Eurasian Steppe under hegemonic control. An overlooked aspect of this political process is the subsequent translocation of species across ecological zones. This article explores species introduction in the early Islamic world, presenting the first archaeological evidence for domestic water buffalo in the Caucasu…
Dietary diversity of Bronze-Iron Age populations of Kazakhstan quantitatively estimated through the compound-specific nitrogen analysis of amino acids
Subsistence and social change in central Eurasia: Stable isotope analysis of populations spanning the Bronze Age transition
Dental health, diet, and social transformations in the Bronze Age: Comparative analysis of pastoral populations in northern Kazakhstan
Isotopic approaches to pastoralism in prehistory
Pastoralism involves the exploitation of domesticated livestock and has been a vital component of human subsistence and surplus economies for thousands of years. By supplying their human caretakers with ready and renewable sources of milk, meat, fat, fiber, skins, and dung, livestock serve as an important source of subsistence and wealth in pastoralist communities. Stable isotope analysis (SIA) of human and animal skeletal tissues measure dietary…
Pastoralist Mobility in Bronze Age Landscapes of Northern Kazakhstan: 87 Sr/ 86 Sr and δ 18 O Analyses of Human Dentition from Bestamak and Lisakovsk
The role of migration and mobility of people across the steppe has often been cited as key to Bronze Age developments across Eurasia, including the emergence of complex societies in the steppe and the spread of material culture. The central Eurasian steppe (CES) is a focal point for the investigation of the shifting nature of pastoral societies because of the clear transition in archaeological patterning that occurred from the Middle (MBA) to Lat…
Weaning practices among pastoralists: New evidence of infant feeding patterns from Bronze Age Eurasia
OBJECTIVES: N) isotopic analyses of human bone collagen from Kamennyi Ambar 5, a Middle Bronze Age cemetery located in central Eurasia. The results presented are unique for the time period and region, as few cemeteries have been excavated to reveal a demographic cross-section of the population. Studies of weaning among pastoral societies are infrequent and this research adds to our knowledge of the timing, potential supplementary foods, and cessa…
Life in the fast lane: Settled pastoralism in the Central Eurasian Steppe during the Middle Bronze Age
Skeletal stress markers and injuries were uncommon among the KA-5 and regional groups, but a MBA-LBA high subadult mortality indicates elevated frailty levels and inability to survive acute illnesses. Following an optimal weaning program, subadults were at risk for physiological insult and many succumbed. Only a small number of individuals attained biological maturity during the MBA, suggesting that a fast life history was an adaptive regional re…
Bronze Age diet and economy: New stable isotope data from the Central Eurasian steppes (2100-1700 BC)
Mobility and diet in the Iron Age Pontic forest‐steppe: A multi‐isotopic study of urban populations at Bel'sk
High mobility among Scythian populations is often cited as the driving force behind pan‐regional interactions and the spread of new material culture c .700–200 bce , when burgeoning socioeconomic interactions between the Greeks, Scythian steppe pastoralists and the agro‐pastoral tribes of the forest‐steppe played out across the region. While interregional mobility central to warrior lifestyles is assumed to have been a defining feature of Scythia…
Pasture usage by ancient pastoralists in the northern Kazakh steppe informed by carbon and nitrogen isoscapes of contemporary floral biomes
Identification of variation in pasture use by domesticated livestock has important implications for understanding the scale of animal husbandry and landscape use in modern and ancient societies alike. Here, we explore the influence of pasture floral composition, salinity, and water availability on the carbon (δ13C) and nitrogen (δ15N) isotopic composition of plants from the steppes of Kazakhstan. Our findings demonstrate geospatially defined diff…
Close management of sheep in ancient Central Asia: Evidence for foddering, transhumance, and extended lambing seasons during the Bronze and Iron Ages
Pastoralism in Central Asia directed the utilization of natural resources, yet information on livestock management strategies remain scarce. Carbon (δ13C) and oxygen (δ18O) isotope analyses of domesticated sheep teeth are used to identify animal management strategies. Sheep from Kent exhibit an inverserelationship where low δ18O values coincide with high δ13C values, consistent with the foddering of caprines in the winter for this location which …
Dietary diversity of Bronze-Iron Age populations of Kazakhstan quantitatively estimated through the compound-specific nitrogen analysis of amino acids
Mongolia’s Frozen Heritage: A Summary of the Archaeology of the Cultural Cryosphere
While pastoral cultures from Mongolia and the dry steppes of eastern Eurasia have had an outsized impact on Eurasian history, the region’s geomorphology, reliance on organic materials, and a nomadic culture that lacks long-lasting architecture on the landscape have conspired to limit our knowledge of important anthropological processes in the deep past. Frozen archaeological sites, including permafrost and finds from glaciers and ice patches, ser…
Impacts of the Covid-19 Pandemic on Women and Early Career Archaeologists
The COVID-19 pandemic has had far-reaching impacts in all segments of life worldwide. While a variety of surveys have assessed the impacts of the pandemic in other fields, few studies have focused on understanding the short- and long-term impacts of the pandemic for archaeology. To assess these trends, we asked survey respondents (n = 570) if they experienced job loss and to rate the percentage of change in their economic situation, workload, tea…
Iron age societies of Western Transbaikalia: Reconstruction of diet and lifeways
The earliest water buffalo in the Caucasus: Shifting animals and people in the medieval Islamic world
The expansion of the Umayyad and Abbasid Caliphates (seventh to ninth centuries AD) brought diverse regions from the Indus Valley to the Eurasian Steppe under hegemonic control. An overlooked aspect of this political process is the subsequent translocation of species across ecological zones. This article explores species introduction in the early Islamic world, presenting the first archaeological evidence for domestic water buffalo in the Caucasu…
An Imagined Past: Nomadic Narratives in Central Asian Archaeology
Nomads, or highly specialized mobile pastoralists, are prominent features in Central Asian archaeology, and they are often depicted in direct conflict with neighboring sedentary peoples. However, new archaeological findings are showing that the people who many scholars have called nomads engaged in a mixed economic system of farming and herding. Additionally, not all of these peoples were as mobile as previously assumed, and current data suggest …
Bioarchaeology in Central Asia: Growing from Legacies to Enhance Future Research
In this article, we review the historical trajectory of bioarchaeology in Central Asia to draw attention to the importance of previous archaeological and biological anthropology research that pioneered large-scale systematic excavation and use of technology such as aerial photography. We also highlight the political and social biases of past work and how its legacy continues to shape modern practices. Our goal is to bring these dynamics to the at…
Bioarchaeology in Central Asia: Growing from Legacies to Enhance Future Research
In this article, we review the historical trajectory of bioarchaeology in Central Asia to draw attention to the importance of previous archaeological and biological anthropology research that pioneered large-scale systematic excavation and use of technology such as aerial photography.We also highlight the political and social biases of past work and how its legacy continues to shape modern practices. Our goal is to bring these dynamics to the att…
[Re]Integrating a dispersed agenda: Advancing archaeological research in Central Eurasia
Amid resurgent geopolitical fissures and in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic, there is a growing awareness in the sector of the need for, and concern about, national and international collaboration in archaeological projects. This article reflects on present-day challenges for international collaboration in central Eurasian archaeology and furthers a much-needed discussion about (re)integrating local narratives with inter-regional trends in…
Provisioning a Silk Road City: Herd Management Strategies at the Urban Site of Dzhankent, Kazakhstan
This study presents evidence for herd management at the early medieval city of Dzhankent in southern Kazakhstan. Located along the Northern Silk Road, Dzhankent was a key trading node linking northern and southern areas between the 9th and 10th centuries ce . To investigate livestock management strategies within this urban center, we conducted incremental carbon (δ 13 C) and oxygen (δ 18 O) isotope analysis on second molars from 16 sheep. Results…
Diet and Oral Health of Scythian Populations in Ukraine (700–200 bce): Evidence for Grain Consumption and Food Processing
We examined whether Scythian‐era populations living in different ecological zones had distinctive oral health patterns during the Iron Age. Our interdisciplinary approach should clarify whether these populations had different diets or behavioral practices. A total of 36 individuals were analyzed for caries, calculus, abscesses, ante‐mortem tooth loss, and dental wear. In addition, previously published stable isotope analyses of tooth enamel bioap…
Geography (19 works) · Archaeology (17 works) · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies (15 works) · Biology (9 works) · Forensic Anthropology and Bioarchaeology Studies (8 works) · Livestock (8 works) · Bronze Age (7 works) · History (7 works) · Ecology (6 works) · Pastoralism (6 works)