Research and Teaching Interests

Archaeology of South and West Asia; the Indus Civilization; Zooarchaeology; domestication of animals; origins of agriculture.

Dr. Richard H. Meadow is Director of the Zooarchaeology Laboratory at the Peabody Museum of Harvard University, Senior-Lecturer on Anthropology at Harvard, and Project Director of HARP—the Harappa Archaeological Research Project.

He has been carrying out research at sites in Pakistan since 1974, first at the Harappan and pre-Harappan site of Balakot near Karachi (fourth and third millennium BC), then at the neolithic and Chalcolithic site of Mehrgarh near Sibi in Baluchistan (seventh through third millennium BC), and most recently at Harappa itself (fourth into second millennium BC).

Dr. Meadow's technical specialty is the study of animal remains from archaeological sites (Zooarchaeology). His main research interests include the domestication and exploitation of animals during pre- and protohistoric periods in the Middle East and South Asia, the development of the Indus Civilization, and the provisioning of ancient urban settlements.

He holds the B.A., M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from Harvard University. He was a member of the team that discovered the Iranian site of Tepe Yahya in 1967 and helped to excavate that site until 1975 under the direction of Prof. C. C. Lamberg-Karlovsky. He excavated with the late Prof. George F. Dales at the coastal village site of Balakot in the mid-1970s, which is where he began working with Dr. J. Mark Kenoyer with whom he co-directs the on-going excavations at Harappa. In addition to his involvement with HARP, Dr. Meadow continues his association with the excavations at Mehrgarh in Baluchistan under the direction of Dr. Jean-François Jarrige. He has also worked with field teams in the western United States, Iran, Oman, Thailand, and Turkey.