Department of Anthropology

Nerissa Russell
Associate Professor of Anthropology

Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley, 1993

nr29@cornell.edu
607-255-6790
Office: McGraw 203

Research Interests: Old World archaeology, eastern Europe, Anatolia, Neolithic, zooarchaeology, bone tools, gender archaeology, human-animal relations

My interests lie in the many ways that past peoples have used animals and their products to construct social relationships. I work primarily at Neolithic sites in southeast Europe and in Anatolia. My main field project at the moment is Çatalhöyük in Turkey, where Katheryn Twiss and I direct the zooarchaeology lab. In addition to diet and hunting/herding strategies, I explore topics such as feasting, meat sharing, animal wealth, and the symbolic role of animals.

Selected Publications

• "Hunting sacrifice at Neolithic Çatalhöyük." in Social Aspects of Human and Animal Sacrifice in the Ancient Near East. G. M. Schwartz and A. Porter,
  eds. Warsaw, IN: Eisenbrauns.

• "Building memories: Commemorative deposits at Çatalhöyük." with Louise Martin and Katheryn C. Twiss. In Zooarchaeology and the Reconstruction of Cultural Systems: Case Studies from the Old World. B. S. Arbuckle, C. A. Makarewicz, and A. L. Atici, eds. Pp. 103-125.
• Anthropozoologica, 44(1). Paris: L'Homme et l'Animal, Société de Recherche Interdisciplinaire.
  

• The domestication of anthropology.in Where the Wild Things Are Now: Domestication Reconsidered. R. Cassidy and M. H. Mullin, eds. Pp. 27-48. Oxford: Berg.

• Nerissa Russell and Bleda S. Düring. Worthy is the lamb: A double burial at Neolithic Çatalhöyük (Turkey). Paléorient 32(1):73-84.
• Nerissa Russell and Stephanie Meece. "Animal representations and animal remains at Çatalhöyük." in Çatalhöyük Perspectives: Reports from the 1995-99 Seasons. I. Hodder, ed. Pp. 209-230. McDonald Institute Monographs. Cambridge: McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research.
• "The Çatalhöyük worked bone." in Changing Materialities at Çatalhöyük: Reports from the 1995-1999 Seasons. I. Hodder, ed. Pp. 339-367. McDonald Institute Monographs. Cambridge: McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research.

• Nerissa Russell, Louise Martin, and Hijlke Buitenhuis. Cattle domestication at Çatalhöyük revisited. Current Anthropology 46(5):S101-S108.
• Nerissa Russell and Louise Martin. "The Çatalhöyük mammal remains." in Inhabiting Çatalhöyük: Reports from the 1995-1999 Seasons. I. Hodder, ed. Pp. 33-98. McDonald Institute Monographs. Cambridge: McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research.
• Nerissa Russell and Kevin McGowan. "The Çatalhöyük bird bones." in Inhabiting Çatalhöyük: Reports from the 1995-1999 Seasons. I. Hodder, ed. Pp. 99-110. McDonald Institute Monographs. Cambridge: McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research.

• "Livestock of the early farmers." in Ancient Europe 8000 B.C..A.D. 1000: Encyclopedia of the Barbarian World. P. I. Bogucki and P. J. Crabtree, eds. Pp. 211-217. Farmington Hills, MI: Scribner.
• "Milk, wool, and traction: Secondary animal products." in Ancient Europe 8000 B.C..A.D. 1000: Encyclopedia of the Barbarian World. P. I. Bogucki and P. J. Crabtree, eds. Pp. 325-333. Farmington Hills, MI: Scribner.

• The wild side of animal domestication. Society and Animals 10(3):285-302.

• "The social life of bone: A preliminary assessment of bone tool manufacture and discard at Çatalhöyük." in Proceedings of the Second Meeting of the Worked Bone Research Group. A. Choyke, ed. Pp. 241-249. British Archaeological Reports, International Series. Oxford: Archaeopress.
• "Neolithic relations of production: Insights from the bone tool industry". in Proceedings of the Second Meeting of the Worked Bone Research Group. A. Choyke, ed. Pp. 271-280. British Archaeological Reports, International Series. Oxford: Archaeopress.