In Progress       PhD., Anthropology, University of Oregon

2015       M.A., Anthropology, First Class Honors, University of Auckland, NZ

2014       B.A.Hons, Anthropology, First Class Honors, University of Auckland, NZ

2013       B.A., Anthropology and Ancient History, University of Auckland, NZ

Refereed Journal Articles

2020    Miller, Sophie A., Paul Barrett, Win McLaughlin & Samantha Hopkins. Endemism and migration in the Kochkor Basin? Identification and description of Adcrocuta eximia (Mammalia: Carnivora: Hyaenidae) and c.f. Paramachaerodus (Mammalia: Carnivora: Felidae) fossils at the Miocene locality of Ortok, Kyrgyzstan. Palaeontologia Electronica 23(3):a45. DOI: https://doi.org/10.26879/1033

2017    Miller, Sophie A., Gina MacFarlane & Melinda S. Allen. Dental analysis demonstrates variability in diet and health of prehistoric Polynesian pigs. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 15:203-212. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2017.07.018

Conference Proceedings

2023    Miller, Sophie A. A Tale of Few Kitties: Investigating Markers of Domestication and Variation in Felis silvestris Subspecies Using Osteology and Geometric Morphometric Methods. Fourteenth International Council for Archaeozoology, Cairns, Australia, August 7^th-12^th.

2023    Miller, Sophie A. A Tale of Dead Kitties: Theorizing Human-Animal Companion Relationships and Social Domestication through the Anatomization of Ancient Cats. Preliminary Program: Eighty-eighth annual meeting, Society for American Archaeology, Portland, Oregon, March 29^th-April 2^nd, pp.41-2.

2019    Miller, Sophie A., Paul Z. Barrett, Win N. F. McLaughlin, & Samantha S. B. Hopkins. Identification of Adcrocuta eximia (Mammalia, Carnivora, Hyaenidae) hemimandible and c.f. Paramachaerodus (Mammalia, Carnivora, Felidae) Dentition from the Chu Formation at Ortok, Kyrgyzstan. Abstracts: Seventeenth Conference of the European Association of Vertebrate Palaeontologists, Brussels, Belgium, July 2^nd-6^th, p.73.

2015    Miller, Sophie A. Whose Bone is this? An Investigation into Modern Histological Methods of Species Identification with Application to Archaeological Faunal Assemblages in the Pacific. Preliminary Program: Eightieth annual meeting, Society for American Archaeology, San Francisco, California, April 15^th-19^th, p.16.

2014    Miller, Sophie A. & Melinda S. Allen. Oral Pathologies in the Southern Cook Islands: A Study of Diet and Health in Humans and their Commensals on Aitutaki. Abstracts/Libro de Resúmenes: Twelfth International Conference of Archaeozoology, San Rafael, Mendoza, Argentina, September 22^nd-27^th, p.112.

Panels Organized

2023    Miller, Sophie A. & Tiyas Bhattacharyya. If Animals Could Speak: Negotiating Relational Dynamics Between Humans and Animals. 88^th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, Portland, Oregon, March 29^th-April 2^nd.

Papers Presented

2023    Miller, Sophie A. A Tale of Few Kitties: Investigating Markers of Domestication and Variation in Felis silvestris Subspecies Using Osteology and Geometric Morphometric Methods. 14^th International Council for Archaeozoology, Cairns, Australia, August 7^th-12^th.

2023    Miller, Sophie A. A Tale of Dead Kitties: Theorizing Human-Animal Companion Relationships and Social Domestication through the Anatomization of Ancient Cats. 88^th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, Portland, Oregon, March 29^th-April 2^nd.

2015    Miller, Sophie A. Whose Bone is this? An Investigation into Modern Histological Methods of Species Identification with Application to Archaeological Faunal Assemblages in the Pacific. 80^th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, San Francisco, California, April 15^th-19^th.

2014    Miller, Sophie A. & Melinda S. Allen. Oral Pathologies in the Southern Cook Islands: A Study of Diet and Health in Humans and their Commensals on Aitutaki. Abstracts/Libro de Resúmenes: 12^th International Conference of Archaeozoology, San Rafael, Argentina, September 22^nd-27^th.

Posters

2019    Miller, Sophie A., Paul Z. Barrett, Win N. F. McLaughlin, & Samantha S. B. Hopkins. Identification of Adcrocuta eximia (Mammalia, Carnivora, Hyaenidae) hemimandible and c.f. Paramachaerodus (Mammalia, Carnivora, Felidae) Dentition from the Chu Formation at Ortok, Kyrgyzstan. 17^th Conference of the European Association of Vertebrate Palaeontologists, Brussels, Belgium, July 2^nd-6^th.

2018    Miller, Sophie A., Madonna Moss, & Chelle Haynes. A Taphonomic Study of Bird Remains from the Outer Coast of Southeast Alaska. University of Oregon 2018 Grad Forum, Eugene, Oregon, May 11^th.

2014    Miller, Sophie A., Melinda S. Allen, & Judith Littleton. An investigation into bone histology for species identification with application to archaeological fauna in the Pacific. EXPOSURE, School of Graduate Studies and the Postgraduate Students Association (PGSA), University of Auckland, Auckland, August 28^th.

2020    Domestication (and the Cat): From Felis silvestris to Felis catus. Department of Geology, Pomona College, October 12^th.
2017    Graduate School and Beyond: Careers in the Sciences. Women in Graduate Sciences, University of Oregon, 5^th Annual Undergraduate Career and Research Forum, October 18^th.

2020    Searching for Domestication in the Archaeological Record – A Game of Cat and Mouse. Undergraduate Anthropology Club, Department of Anthropology, University of Oregon, February 13^th.
2019    Pathways of Domestication – the Commensal and Directed Pathway. Department of Anthropology, University of Oregon, November 5^th.
2019    Cat Domestication: From Felis silvestris to Felis catus. Department of Anthropology, University of Oregon, April 14^th.
2018    Walking the Feline: Herding Cats, Digging Holes, and All Things In-Between. Undergraduate Anthropology Club, Department of Anthropology, University of Oregon, November 11^th.
2018    Cat Domestication: From Felis silvestris to Felis catus; Pig Domestication: From Sus scrofa to Sus scrofa domesticus; and Dog Domestication: From Canis lupus to Canis familiaris. Department of Anthropology, University of Oregon, February 20^th.
2014    Diet Reconstruction and Stable Isotope Analysis. Department of Anthropology, University of Auckland, August 4^th.

Social zooarchaeology, human-animal studies, palaeopathology, dental anthropology, morphometrics, functional morphology, domestication, taphonomy, palaeoecology, taxonomy, biogeography, comparative anatomy.

Sophie is a doctoral candidate in anthropology, with interdisciplinary work in vertebrate palaeontology. They specialise in human-animal interactions, palaeoecology, biogeography, taxonomy, and functional morphology, in Southwest and Central Asia. 

               Their current archaeology research explores human-animal relationships, particularly commensal domesticates, and integrates human-animal studies, and social zooarchaeology. In their early research, Sophie examined anthropogenic impacts like farming on lithic assemblages, site distribution and erosion in coastal archaeology sites, and interspecies palaeopathology, focusing on diet and health in humans and their domesticates in island ecosystems. Additionally, they recovered osteological and microstructural markers for identifying and distinguishing species in highly fragmented bone material from Pacific archaeological contexts. Their vertebrate palaeontology research focuses on taxonomy, biogeography, and ecosystems in the Kochkor Basin in Kyrgyzstan, during the Late Miocene/Early Pliocene. This work examines carnivore biodiversity and ecology, endemism and species migration, and possible impacts of Tien Shan Mountain uplift. It is also currently one of the only formalised and published descriptions of fossil taxa from the Miocene in Kyrgyzstan.

               Sophie’s doctoral research explores the nature and antiquity of human-cat relationships. This includes theories of cat domestication, analysing temporal and spatial evidence for post-Pleistocene human-cat interactions across Southwest Asia and North Africa, and examining osteometric and morphometric differences between domestic cats and the wild subspecies. Their topical interests include vertebrate anatomy, functional morphology, palaeopathology, osteometrics, 2D/3D geometric morphometry, zooarchaeology, feminist theory and queer archaeology, human-animal studies, and data management.