Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History

Melinda Zeder

Curator Emeritus (Old World Archaeology and Archaeozoology)
Department / Division
Education
  • A.B., University of Michigan
  • M.A., University of Michigan
  • Ph.D., University of Michigan
Research Interests

Animal domestication; origins of food production, environmental impact of early agro-pastoral economies in the Near East, subsistence resources in emerging complex societies, Near Eastern archaeology, zooarchaeology

Publications
Journal Article
Book Chapter
  • Zeder, Melinda A. 2017. "Out of the Fertile Crescent: The dispersal of domestic livestock through Europe and Africa." In Human Dispersal and Species Movement, From Prehistory to the Present.. Zeder, Melinda A., editor. 261–303. Cambridge, UK: University of Cambridge Press.
  • Zeder, Melinda A. 2014. "Defining Domestication." In Encyclopedia of Global Archaeology. 2184–2194. Springer.
  • Zeder, Melinda A. 2012. "Pathways to Domestication." In Biodiversity in Agriculture: Domestication, Evolution, and Sustainability. Gepts, P., Famula, T. R., Bettinger, R. L. et al., editors. 227–259. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  • Zeder, Melinda A., Buikstra, Jane E., and van der Leeuw, Sander. 2010. "Interdisciplinary Studies in Archaeology." In Voices in American Archaeology, SAA 75th Anniversary Commemorative Volume. Ashmore, W., Mills, B., and Lippert, Dorothy T., editors. 220–269. Washington, DC: SAA.
  • Zeder, Melinda A. 2009. "Evolutionary Biology and the Emergence of Agriculture: The Value of Co-opted Models of Evolution in the Study of Culture Change." In Macroevolution in Human Prehistory: Evolutionary Theory and Processual Archaeology. Prentiss, A., Kruijt, I., and Chatters, J., editors. 157–210. Springer.
  • Zeder, Melinda A. 2006. "Reconciling Rates of Long Bone Fusion and Tooth Eruption and Wear in Sheep (Ovis) and Goat (Capra)." In Ageing and Sexing Animals from Archaeological Sites. Ruscillo, D., editor. 87–118. Oxbow Press.
  • Zeder, Melinda A. 2006. "Archaeological Approaches to Documenting Animal Domestication." In Documenting Domestication: New Genetic and Archaeological Paradigms. Zeder, Melinda A., Bradley, D., Emshwiller, E., and Smith, Bruce D., editors. 36. University of California Press.
  • Zeder, Melinda A. 2006. "A critical examination of markers of initial domestication in goats (Capra hircus)." In Documenting Domestication: New Genetic and Archaeological Paradigms. Zeder, Melinda A., Bradley, D. G., Emshwiller, E., and Smith, Bruce D., editors. 181–208. Berkeley: University of California Press.
  • Zeder, Melinda A., Emshwiller, E., Bradley, D., and Smith, Bruce D. 2006. "Documenting Domestication: Bringing Together Plants, Animals, Archaeology, and Genetics." In Documenting Domestication: New Genetic and Archaeological Paradigms. Zeder, Melinda A., Emshwiller, E., Bradley, D., and Smith, Bruce D., editors. 1–13. University of California Press.
  • Zeder, Melinda A. 2005. "New Perspectives on Livestock Domestication in the Fertile Crescent as viewed from the Zagros Mountains." In The First Steps of Animal Domestication: New Archaeozoological Approaches. Vigne, D., Peters, J., and Helmer, D., editors. 125–146. Oxbow Press.
  • Zeder, Melinda A. 2003. "Provisioning in Urban Societies: A View from Northern Mesopotam." In The Social Construction of Ancient Citie. Monica, Smith, editor. 156–183. Smithsonian Press.
  • Zeder, Melinda A. 2003. "Archaeological Sciences and the Origins of Agriculture." In Proceedings of the International Congress on Archaeological Sciences. Matsui, Akira, editor. 49–54. Nara National Research Institute for Cultural Properties.
  • Zeder, Melinda A. 2003. "Hiding in Plain Sight: The Value of Museum Collections in the Study of the Origins of Animal Domestication." In Documenta Archaeobiologiae 1: Deciphering Ancient Bones. The Research Potential of Bioarchaeological Collections , Yearbook of the State Collection of Anthropology and Palaeoanatomy. Gisela, Grupe and Joris, Peters, editors. 125–138. Mnchen, Germany. Rahden/Westf: Verlag M. Leidorf GmbH.
  • Zeder, Melinda A. and Blackman, M. James. 2003. "Economy and administration at Banesh Malyan exploring the potential of faunal and chemical data for understanding state process." In Yeki Bud, Yeki Nabud: Essays on the Archaeology of iran in Honor of William M. Summer. Miller, N. F. and Abdi, K., editors. 121–139. Costen Institute of Archaeology, University of California at Los Angeles.
  • Zeder, Melinda A. 1998. "Pigs and Emergent Complexity in the Ancient Near East." In Ancestors for the Pigs: Pigs in Prehistory. Nelson, Sarah M., editor. 109–122. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology. 15 in Masca Research Papers in Science and Arch.
  • Zeder, Melinda A. 1998. "Environment, Economy, and Subsistence on the Threshold of Urban Emergence in Northern Mesopotamia." In Espace Naturel, Espace Habité en Syrie Nord (10e-2e millénaire av. J.-C.).. Fortin, M. and Aurench, O., editors. 55–67. The Canadian Society for Mesopotamian Studies. 33 in The Canadian Society for Mesopotamian Studies Bulletin.
  • Zeder, Melinda A. 1998. "Regional Patterns of Animal Exploitation in the Khabur Basin, 7000 to 1500 B.C." In Man and the Animal World: Studies in Archaeozoology, Archaeology, Anthropology, and Palaeolinguistics in memoriam Sándor Bökönyi. Bökönyi, Sándor and Anreiter, Peter, editors. 569–582. Budapest: Archaeolingua Alapítvány. 8 in Archaeolingua.
  • Zeder, Melinda A. 1997. "Sheep and Goats." In The Oxford encyclopedia of archaeology in the Near East. Oxford University Press.
  • Zeder, Melinda A. 1996. "Sheep and Goats." In The Oxford Encyclopedia of Archaeology in the Near East. Oxford Univeristy Press.
  • Zeder, Melinda A. and Arter, Susan R. 1996. "Patterns of Meat Consumption and Bone Use in a Mississippian Village." In Case Studies in Environmental Archaeology. Reitz, Elizabeth J., Newsome, Lee A., and Scudder, Sylvia J., editors. 319–338. New York: Plenum Press. In Interdisciplinary Contributions to Archaelogy.
  • Zeder, Melinda A. 1995. "The Role of Pigs in Near Eastern Subsistence From the Vantage Point of the Southern Levant." In Retrieving the Past: Essays on Archaeological Research and Methodology in Honor of Gus Van Beek. Seger, Joe D., editor. 297–315. Winona Lake, Ind.: Eisenbrauns/Cobb Institute of Archaeology.
  • Zeder, Melinda A. 1994. "Repatriation at the National Museum of Natural History, Present and Future." In Reckoning with the Dead: The Larsen Bay Repatriation and the Smithsonian Institution. Bray, Tamara L. and Killion, Thomas W., editors. 166–174. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press.
  • Zeder, Melinda A. 1994. "Of Kings and Shepherds: Specialized Animal Economy in UR III Mesopotamia." In Chiefdoms and Early States in the Near East: the Orgnizantional Dynamics of Complexity. Rothman, M. and Stein, G., editors. 175–191. Prehistory Press.
  • Zeder, Melinda A. 1986. "The Equids from Tal-e Malyan." In Biehefte zum Tubinger Atlas des Vorderern Orients. Meadow, R. H. and Verpmann, H. -P, editors. 366–413. Tubingin: University of Tubingen.
  • Zeder, Melinda A. 1984. "Meat Distribution at the Highland Iranian Urban Center of Tal-e Malyan." In Animals and Archaeology: Vol 3: Herders and Their Flocks. Clutton-Brock, J. and Grigson, C., editors. 279–307.
  • Zeder, Melinda A. 1983. "Faunal Remains Analysis." In Phase 1 and 2 Cultural Resource Surveys of the Proposed Dualization of New Churchman's Road, Christiana, New Castle County, Delaware. O'Connor, J., Cunningham, K. W., Custer, J. F., Bachman, D. C., and Rappleye, L., editors. 97–101.
Book
  • Zeder, Melinda A., Bradley, D., Emshwiller, E., and Smith, Bruce D. 2006. Documenting Domestication: New Genetic and Archaeological Paradigms. University of California Press.
  • Zeder, Melinda A. 1997. The American Archaeologist: A Profile. Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira Press.
  • Zeder, Melinda A. 1997. The American Archaeologist: A Profile. Society for American Archaeology.
  • Meadow, Richard H. and Zeder, Melinda A., editors. 1978. Approaches to Faunal Analysis in the Middle East. Cambridge, Mass: Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University. In Peabody Museum Bulletin.