At the invitation of Youth Researcher Zhang Shanjia and Prof. Ma Minmin from the School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Lanzhou University, Postdoctoral Fellow Melissa Ritchey from Washington University in St. Louis, USA, will visit our university for academic exchange and deliver a lectureon July 2, 2026. All faculty members and students are welcome to attend!

Reporter: Postdoctoral Fellow Melissa Ritchey

Title: Localized crop management facilitated trans-Eurasian dispersals

Time: 11:00-12:00, July 2, 2026 (Thursday)

Venue: Meeting Room 501, Qilian Hall, Chengguan Campus, Lanzhou University

Reporter Profile:

Melissa Ritchey is a paleoethnobotanist dedicated to understanding human adaptability in marginal and often constrained environments. She integrates macro-botanical remains and stable isotope methods to investigate the spatiotemporal variability of agricultural and pastoral practices. Her research encompasses agricultural management strategies within pastoral landscapes across Eurasia, specifically examining the social mechanisms of plant cultivation and investment in the interior mountain regions of Asia from the Bronze Age to the Iron Age, as well as during the Viking Age. She is currently a Postdoctoral Fellow on the project "Agricultural Adaption in a Geographic Context", funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and led by Professor Liu Xinyi. This project employs plant stable isotope and organic residue analyses to investigate cultivation strategies adopted by Eurasian farmers for newly introduced crops, thereby enhancing our understanding of long-distance agricultural dispersals.

Key Laboratory of Western China's Environmental Systems, Ministry of Education, China

July 1, 2026