Associate Curator of Archaeological Sciences, Associate Professor of Anthropology
She/Her
About
Research Interests: Ancient diet and mobility, pastoral lifeways and social complexity, rise of urban economies, dairying and domestication; Central Asia, Inner Asia, Siberia.
As a researcher, I apply biomolecular techniques to investigate how shifts in food production intersect with the emergence of complex societies. As part of a multi-species anthropological approach, I explore the mechanisms fueling urbanization including residential mobility, settlement provisioning, and the adoption of domesticates such as millet and livestock. Although focused on Central and Inner Asia, my work has global implications as it integrates science and anthropology to intercede in narratives that consider pastoralists inherently nomadic and lacking urbanization. Through novel isotopic and proteomic methods, my work provides nuanced answers to questions on domestication and urbanization in the past. I have an active laboratory program that combines archaeology and chemistry to study ancient cuisines and human mobility. My current fieldwork focuses on salvaging looted Mongol era cemeteries in northern Mongolia.
Affiliations:
- University of Michigan Museum of Anthropological Archaeology
- University of Michigan Department of Anthropology
Selected Publications:
2026 Ventresca-Miller, A., DOMESTICATED: How the adoption of cultivated species altered early Silk Road societies. Under contract with Oxford University Press. Available Open Access (January 2026). https://doi.org/10.1093/9780197785973.001.0001
2026 Runge, T., J. Johnson, S. Makhortykh, L. Litvinova, and A. Ventresca-Miller. Dental attrition and dietary intake of urban Scythian populations. (International Journal of Osteoarchaeology)
2026 Larson, K., A. Haruda, Tomažič, I., A. Tazhekeyev, H. Harke, I. Arzhantseva, A. R. Ventresca-Miller. Provisioning a Silk Road City: Herd Management Strategies at the Urban Site of Dzhankent, Kazakhstan. (Archaeometry)
2026 Luurtsema, A., K. Larson, H. Wright, A. R. Ventresca-Miller. Diverse Livestock Management Strategies Sustained the Emerging Chalcolithic Town of Tepe Farukhabad, Iran (Nature: Scientific Reports)
2026 Miller, Bryan K. and A. R. Ventresca-Miller. Cultivating a nomad identity: divergence of lifeways and cultural politics in Early Iron Age Eurasia. (Asian Perspectives)
2026 Tomažič, I., Pompeani, K., Larson, K., and A. Ventresca-Miller. Dietary variation in Bronze Age Serbia: Comparative isotopic analysis of two cemeteries. (PLOS One).
2026 J. Pecnik, A. Ventresca-Miller, J. Johnson, S. Makhortykh, L. Litvinova, and S. Wilkin. Proteomic analysis of Iron Age dental calculus sheds light on the diet and food systems of agro-pastoral Scythians from the northern Black Sea region. (Nature: Scientific Reports).
2023 Ventresca-Miller, Alicia R., S. Wilkin, R. Smithers, K. Larson, R. Spengler, A. Haruda, N. Kradin B. Bazarov, D. Miyagashev, Ts. Odbaatar, Ts. Turbat, E. Zhambaltarova, P. Konovalov, J. Bayarsaikhan, A. Hein, P. Hommel, B. Nash, A. Nayak, N. Vanwezer, B. Miller, R. Fernandes, N. Boivin, P. Roberts. Adaptability of millets and landscapes: Ancient cultivation in North-Central Asia. Agronomy, 13(11), p.2848. https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy13112848
2023 Wilkin, Shevan, Alicia Ventresca-Miller, Nicole Boivin, Antonella Pegergnana, Natalia Shishlina, Viktor Trifonov, and Peter Hommel. Curated cauldrons: Preserved proteins from early copper alloy vessels illuminate feasting practices in the Caucasian steppe. iScience, 26(9). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2023.107482
2023 Ventresca Miller, A., S. Wilkin, J. Bayarsaikhan, A. Ramsøe, J. Clark, B. Byambadorj, S. Vanderwarf, N. Vanwezer, A. Haruda, R. Fernandes, B. Miller, N. Boivin. Exceptional permafrost preservation reveals first proteomic evidence for yak milk consumption. Nature: Communications Biology 6(1), p.351. https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-023-04723-3
2021 Shevan Wilkin, Alicia Ventresca Miller, Ricardo Fernandes, Robert Spengler, William Taylor, Dorcas R. Brown, David Reich, Douglas Kennett, Laura Kunz, Claudia Fortes, Aleksandra Kitova, Nina Morgunova, Pavel Kuznetsov, Andrey Epimakhov, Alan Outram, Egor Kitov, Aleksandr Khokhlov, David Anthony, Nicole Boivin. Dairying enabled Early Bronze Age Yamnaya steppe expansions. Nature, in press.
2021 Ventresca Miller, A., J. Johnson, S. Makhortykh, S. Andrukh, G. Toschev, L. Litvinova, C. Gerling, P. LeRoux, C. Makarewicz, N. Boivin, P. Roberts. Re-evaluating Scythian nomadism: Isotopic analysis of diet and mobility in Iron Age Ukraine. PLOS ONE, 16(3): e0245996
