Overview
I am a zooarchaeologist working primarily at Neolithic sites in southeast Europe and in Anatolia. I spent many years at Çatalhöyük in Turkey, as co-director of the zooarchaeology lab.
My CV and publications are available at https://cornell.academia.edu/NerissaRussell
Research Focus
My work focuses on human-animal relations, primarily in Neolithic societies in eastern Europe and the Near East. I am interested in the social and symbolic functions of animals and meat: as wealth, symbols, medicine, and food. I examine the ways prehistoric people used animals and meat to construct social relations through feasting, meat sharing, exchanges, and other interactions. I explore the intersections of human-animal relations with other dimensions of social life such as gender and inequality.
Publications
Russell, Nerissa
2012 Social Zooarchaeology: Humans and Animals in Prehistory. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Russell, Nerissa, and Katheryn C. Twiss
2017 Digesting the data: Dogs as taphonomic agents at Neolithic Çatalhöyük, Turkey. In Archaeozoology of the Near East 9. M. Mashkour and M. Beech, eds. Pp. 59-73. Vol. 1. Oxford: Oxbow.
Russell, Nerissa
2016 Neolithic human-animal relations. Groniek 206/207:21-32.
Russell, Nerissa
2015 Food and ritual. In The Archaeology of Food: An Encyclopedia. K. B. Metheny and M. C. Beaudry, eds. Pp. 197-199. Lanham, MD: AltaMira Press.
Russell, Nerissa
2015 Çatalhöyük. In The Archaeology of Food: An Encyclopedia. K. B. Metheny and M. C. Beaudry, eds. Pp. 91-93. Lanham, MD: AltaMira Press.
Carter, Tristan, Scott D. Haddow, Nerissa Russell, Amy Bogaard, and Christina Tsoraki
2015 Laying the foundations: Creating households at Neolithic Çatalhöyük. In Assembling Çatalhöyük. I. Hodder and A. Marciniak, eds. Pp. 97-110. EAA Themes in Contemporary Archaeology, No. 1. Leeds: Maney.
Russell, Nerissa, Katherine I. Wright, Tristan Carter, Sheena Ketchum, Philippa Ryan, E. Nurcan Yalman, Roddy Regan, Mirjana Stevanović, and Marina Milić
2014 Bringing down the house: House closing deposits at Çatalhöyük. In Integrating Çatalhöyük: Themes from the 2000-2008 Seasons. I. Hodder, ed. Pp. 109-121. 32. Los Angeles: Cotsen Institute of Archaeology, University of California, Los Angeles.
Russell, Nerissa, Katheryn C. Twiss, David C. Orton, and G. Arzu Demirergi
2014 Changing animal use at Neolithic Çatalhöyük, Turkey. In Archaeozoology of the Near East X. B. de Cupere, V. Linseele, and S. Hamilton-Dyer, eds. Pp. 45-68. Ancient Near Eastern Studies Supplement. Leuven: Peeters.
Russell, Nerissa, Katheryn C. Twiss, David C. Orton, and G. Arzu Demirergi
2013 More on the Çatalhöyük mammal remains. In Humans and Landscapes of Çatalhöyük: Reports from the 2000-2008 Seasons. I. Hodder, ed. Pp. 213-258. Monumenta Archaeologica. Los Angeles: Cotsen Institute of Archaeology, University of California, Los Angeles.
Russell, Nerissa, and Janet L. Griffitts
2013 Çatalhöyük worked bone: South and 4040 Areas. In Substantive Technologies at Çatalhöyük: Reports from the 2000-2008 Seasons. I. Hodder, ed. Pp. 277-306. Monumenta Archaeologica. Los Angeles: Cotsen Institute of Archaeology, University of California, Los Angeles.
Russell, Nerissa
2012 Mammals from the BACH Area. In Last House on the Hill: BACH Area Reports from Çatalhöyük, Turkey. R. E. Tringham and M. Stevanović, eds. Pp. 225-242. Monumenta Archaeologica. Los Angeles: Cotsen Institute of Archaeology Press.
Russell, Nerissa, and Kevin J. McGowan
2012 Bird remains from the BACH Area. In Last House on the Hill: BACH Area Reports from Çatalhöyük, Turkey. R. E. Tringham and M. Stevanović, eds. Pp. 243-252. Monumenta Archaeologica. Los Angeles: Cotsen Institute of Archaeology Press.
Russell, Nerissa
2012 Worked bone from the BACH area. In Last House on the Hill: BACH Area Reports from Çatalhöyük, Turkey. R. E. Tringham and M. Stevanović, eds. Pp. 347-359. Monumenta Archaeologica. Los Angeles: Cotsen Institute of Archaeology Press.
Russell, Nerissa
2012 Hunting sacrifice at Neolithic Çatalhöyük. In Sacred Killing: The Archaeology of Sacrifice in the Ancient Near East. A. Porter and G. M. Schwartz, eds. Pp. 79-95. Warsaw, IN: Eisenbrauns.
Russell, Nerissa, and Amy Bogaard
2010 Subsistence actions at Çatalhöyük. In Agency and Identity in the Ancient Near East: New Paths Forward. S. R. Steadman and J. C. Ross, eds. Pp. 63-79. London: Equinox.
Russell, Nerissa, Louise Martin, and Katheryn C. Twiss
2009 Building memories: Commemorative deposits at Çatalhöyük. 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. Paris: L'Homme et l'Animal, Société de Recherche Interdisciplinaire.
Twiss, Katheryn C., and Nerissa Russell
2009 Taking the bull by the horns: Ideology, masculinity, and cattle horns at Çatalhöyük (Turkey). Paléorient 35(2):19-32.
Bogaard, Amy et al.
2009 Private pantries and celebrated surplus: Saving and sharing food at Neolithic Çatalhöyük, Central Anatolia. Antiquity 83(321):649-668.
Russell, Nerissa
2007 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.
Dewbury, Adam G., and Nerissa Russell
2007 Relative frequency of butchering cutmarks produced by obsidian and flint: An experimental approach. Journal of Archaeological Science 34(3):354-357.
Russell, Nerissa, and Bleda S. Düring
2006 Worthy is the lamb: A double burial at Neolithic Çatalhöyük (Turkey). Paléorient 32(1):73-84.
Russell, Nerissa, and Stephanie Meece
2006 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.
Russell, Nerissa, and Louise Martin
2005 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.
Russell, Nerissa, Louise Martin, and Hijlke Buitenhuis
2005 Cattle domestication at Çatalhöyük revisited. Current Anthropology 46(5):S101-S108.
Russell, Nerissa, and Kevin J. McGowan
2003 Dance of the cranes: Crane symbolism at Çatalhöyük and beyond. Antiquity 77(297):445-455.
Russell, Nerissa
2002 The wild side of animal domestication. Society and Animals 10(3):285-302.
Russell, Nerissa
1998 Cattle as wealth in Neolithic Europe: Where's the beef? In The Archaeology of Value: Essays on Prestige and the Processes of Valuation. D. W. Bailey, ed. Pp. 42-54. British Archaeological Reports, International Series. Oxford: British Archaeological Reports.
