Melissa M Ritchey

Biographic Data

ID81480
NAMEMelissa M Ritchey
GIVEN NAMESMelissa M
FAMILY NAMERitchey
SIGNATURERITCHEY M M
AFFILIATIONSWashington University in St. Louis
ORCID0000-0002-7244-1177
VERIFIEDYes
TOTAL WORKS7
TOTAL CITATIONS20
WORKS AS AUTHOR7
WORKS AS EDITOR0
FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR2021
LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR2026
H-INDEX3

  • Agropastoral investment in plant cultivation at the Bronze Age site of Chap, Kyrgyzstan

    Open AccessMelissa M Ritchey, Xinyi Liu et al.ARTICLEJournal of Archaeological Science2026

    Between the 3rd and 1st millennium BCE, domesticated crops and livestock originating from West and East Asia spread across the Eurasian landmass forming an interconnected farming system involving both indigenous and foreign resources. Interconnected networks established by Inner Asian mountainous communities likely facilitated the spread of these novel resources across an expansive geographic range. In this paper, we investigate cultivation strat…

  • The cropping systems reflected by weeds in the Eastern Jianghuai region during the late Zhou period

    Open AccessHaiming Li, Xin Jia et al.ARTICLEArchaeological and Anthropological…2025References: 56

  • Into thin air

    Open AccessMelissa M Ritchey, Li Tang et al.ARTICLEFrontiers in Environmental…2024

    High-altitude conditions on the Tibetan Plateau are often depicted as an inhospitable environment for conventional farming, yet evidence shows that communities in western Tibet grew ecologically hardy crops such as 6-row barley ( Hordeum vulgare ) by at least the 1 st millennium BCE, at locations above 4,000 meters above sea level (masl). However, little is known about the specific cultivation strategies and culinary traditions that these agropas…

  • Variation of millet grain size and cooking techniques across Asia between the late fourth and first millennia BC

    Open AccessYufeng Sun, Melissa M Ritchey et al.ARTICLEAntiquity2024

    Broomcorn millet and foxtail millet were first cultivated in Neolithic China then the process spread west across Asia during the Bronze Age. But the distinctive ceramic, and later bronze, vessels utilised in East Asian cuisines for boiling and steaming grains did not move west alongside these crops. Here, the authors use measurements of 3876 charred millet grains to evaluate regional variations and implications for food preparation. In contrast t…

  • Complex raw materials and the supply system

    Open AccessB S Zhang, Xiaotong Wu et al.ARTICLEArchaeometry2021Cited by: 3References: 12

    X‐ray fluorescence (XRF), X‐ray diffraction (XRD) and Raman spectroscopy were employed to analyse the chemical compositions and phase structures of nine pieces of jade artefacts unearthed from Sujiacun, a Longshan Culture (2400–2000 bce ) site in coastal Shandong, eastern China. The results of the analyses indicated these samples were primarily made from multiple raw mineral materials, including antigorite, actinolite, clinochlore, turquoise and …

  • Wuchuan bronzes and cinnabar mining immigrants during the Qin and Han Dynasties-new perspectives from typological and lead isotope analysis

    Open AccessMei Huang, Xiaotong Wu et al.ARTICLEArchaeological and Anthropological…2021Cited by: 11References: 10

  • The wind that shakes the barley

    Melissa M Ritchey, Yufeng Sun et al.ARTICLEWorld Archaeology2021Cited by: 6References: 54

    This paper investigates the eastern movements of barley grains and their morphological variations in prehistory. By combining previously published and newly collected archaeobotanical grain measurements (n = 2,176), we explore the roles of culinary traditions underlying the morphological traits observed. We find that barley diminished in size as it moved from its origin in southwestern Asia to Central and East Asia between the third millennium BC…