Dr. Heather M.-L. Miller
Associate Professor, University of Toronto
       and UTM Anthropology Chair (2013-2018)
Department of Anthropology, University of Toronto Mississauga
       and Anthropology Graduate Faculty, St. George

Primary Office: 302 Health Sciences Complex (HSC), UTM
Phone: 905-828-3741
FAX:  905-828-3837
Email:  heather.miller "at" utoronto.ca  (check below first -
                   the information you need may be provided!)

Mailing Address:  Anthropology, UTM
                             3359 Mississauga Road North
                             Mississauga, ON L5L1C6
                             Canada

RESEARCH INTERESTS

Ancient Technology - Material Culture
        Social Aspects of Technology, Craft Production, Manufacturing Techniques & Materials
Complex/Urban Societies
        Comparative;  South Asia, including Indus Valley Civilization, Mughal & Historic period
Regional Inter-connections
        Transportation & Communication, Cultural Contact
Human Ecology / Cultural Geography
        Resource & Subsistence Systems - Human/Plant Interrelations

I've done much of my research on high-temperature pyrotechnologies in the Indus civilization, particularly at the site of Harappa.  This research has been conducted through my involvement with the Harappa Archaeological Research Project (HARP), whose work is featured at www.harappa.com. You can learn more about the archaeology of the ancient city of Harappa and other aspects of the Indus civilization at this web site.  My publications on Indus craft production, agricultural systems, and social/political structures are listed below.

My newer research is currently centred around the medieval/Islamic period trade and communication routes through northwestern Pakistan, particularly through the city of Peshawar.  I am working with a number of Pakistani and international scholars on a long-term project, the Caravanserai Networks Project, to examine economic, political, and social aspects of the contact between people along these routes.  A major part of this endeavour is the development of a database of travel amenity locations based on both textual and archaeological data, which will eventually be available to the research community as a searchable internet database (we hope).
My field research at the moment is the development of a pottery typology for both glazed and unglazed ceramics from the excavations at Gor Khuttree in the centre of Peshwar, work being conducted by the Directorate for Archaeology and Museums of the Northwest Frontier Province (NWFP).  My graduate student, Jennifer Campbell, is conducting architectural analysis of the Gor Khuttree and other Mughal period serais in the region, including the creation of a flexible typology for the recording of standing architecture. 
This research has been funded by the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC), and the Connaught Foundation at the University of Toronto, with great assistance from Prof. Ihsan Ali, formerly Director of the NWFP Directorate and now Vice-Chancellor of the University of Hazara, Pakistan. 

I was the CotsenVisiting Scholar at the Cotsen Institute of Archaeology at UCLA in 2001-2002, and there are two articles about my interests in the Newsletter of the Cotsen Institute of Archaeology at UCLA.  For my general approach to ancient technology and my research project on caravanserai networks between South & Central Asia, see Backdirt Fall 2001.  For my last season of work at Harappa, see the lead article in Backdirt Spring 2002.