Dr. Alicia R. Ventresca Miller

Alicia is a bioarchaeologist and stable isotope analyst using modern isotopic landscapes to explore ancient human and livestock resource exploitation. Her research investigates nomadic cuisine, emphasizing prehistoric dietary intake, provisioning, and livestock circulation. She is also interested in the rise of urban economies in the steppe, specifically how aggregated populations were sustained in semi-arid environments. Her recent meta-analysis of stable isotope data demonstrates the timing of millet consumption across Central and Inner Asia.

Publications

Journal Articles

Ventresca Miller, A. and C. Makarewicz. Intensification in pastoralist cereal use coincides with the expansion of trans-regional networks in the Eurasian steppe (accepted Nature: Scientific Reports).

Ventresca Miller, A., R. Fernandes, A.Janzen, A. Nayak, J. Swift, J. Zech and P. Roberts. A visual demonstration of sampling and pretreatment of tooth enamel for paleodietary and paleoenvironmental stable carbon and oxygen isotope analysis. (Journal of Visualization Experiments).

Ventresca Miller, A., T. M. Bragina, Y. A. Abil, M. M. Ruleva, and C. Makarewicz. 2018. Pasture usage by ancient pastoralists in the northern Kazakh steppe informed by carbon and nitrogen isoscapes of contemporary floral biomes. (Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences).

Hanks, B., A. Ventresca Miller, A. Epimakhov, M. Judd, D. Rajev, K. Privat, and M. Rosenmeier. 2018. Examination of Multi-Resource Pastoralism and Dietary Trends in Bronze Age North Central Eurasia (Journal of Archaeological Science)

Judd, M. A., J. Walker, B. Hanks, A. Ventresca Miller, D. Rajev. and A. Epimakhov. 2018. Life in the fast lane:  settled pastoralism in the Central Eurasian Steppes during the Middle Bronze Age. (American Journal of Human Biology).

Ventresca Miller, A., C. Schuh, E. R. Usmanova, A. Logvin, I. Shevnina, and C. Makarewicz. 2018. Pastoralist mobility in Bronze Age landscapes of Northern Kazakhstan: ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr and δ¹⁸O analyses of human dentition from Bestamak and Lisakovsk (Environmental Archaeology).

Ventresca Miller, A., B. Hanks, M. Judd, A. Epimakhov, and D. Rajev, 2017. Weaning practices among pastoralists: New evidence of infant feeding patterns from Bronze Age Eurasia. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 162(3): 409-422.

Ventresca Miller, A., E. R. Usmanova, I. Shevnina, A. Logvin, and A. Kolbina, 2014. Dental health, diet, and social transformations in the Bronze Age: Comparative analysis of pastoral populations in northern Kazakhstan. Special Issue, The Bridging Eurasia Research Initiative: Modes of mobility and sustainability in the palaeoenvironmental and archaeological archives from Eurasia. Quaternary International 348:130-146.

Ventresca Miller, A., E. R. Usmanova, V. N. Logvin, I. Shevnina, S. Kalieva, A. Logvin, A. Kolbina, A. Simonich, K. Privat, K. Haas, M. Rosenmeier, 2014. Subsistence and social change in central Eurasia: stable isotope analysis of populations spanning the Bronze Age transition. Journal of Archaeological Science 42:525-538.

Ventresca Miller, A., 2013. Rethinking Central Asia: A Review of The Age of the Steppe Warriors. The Silk Road 11:181-184.

Edited Volume

Ventresca Miller, A. and C. Makarewicz (Eds). 2018. Isotopic Investigations of Pastoralism in Prehistory. Oxford, Routledge.

Chapters in Edited Volumes

Ventresca Miller, A. & Makarewicz, C. 2018. Isotopic Approaches to Pastoralism in Prehistory: Diet, Mobility, and Isotopic Reference Sets. In: A. Ventresca Miller & C. Makarewicz eds., Isotopic Investigations of Pastoralism in Prehistory. Oxford, Routledge.

Ventresca Miller, A. 2018. Modeling modern surface water δ18O to explore prehistoric human mobility. In: A. Ventresca Miller & C. Makarewicz eds., Isotopic Investigations of Pastoralism in Prehistory. Oxford, Routledge.

Ventresca Miller, A., 2013. An interdisciplinary analysis of the social system at Lisakovsk: Bioarchaeological and ethnographic research and interpretations. Archaeology of the Lisakovsk Site. Monograph edited by E. Usmanova. Karaganda – Lisakovsk, Tengri Press. (In Russian)

Usmanova E.R., Merts V.K., Kolbina A.B., and Ventresca A., 2006. On the Subject of "Text" in Bronze Age Funerary Rites. Investigations of Cemeteries, Archaeology of Pavlodar and the Irtish River. (In Russian)

Usmanova E., Merts V., Ventresca A., Kolbina A., 2005. Features of the Andronovo Funeral Rite. Pavlodar, Kazakhstan. (In Russian)

Research projects

http://www.shh.mpg.de/640370/ventresca-miller-hungry-steppe

http://www.shh.mpg.de/331416/Spengler_Agricultural-Intensification_final

http://www.shh.mpg.de/910455/mobility-nomads

https://www.shh.mpg.de/1174910/Ventresca_mongol_cemetery