John Gorczyk

Ph.D., Department of Anthropology at Cornell University
Affiliated Researcher

Biographical Summary

John Gorczyk is an archaeologist with over 15 years of research and professional experience. His research focuses mainly on understanding human-animal relationships through a place-based perspective informed by anthropology, geography, and archaeological science. He is especially interested in the study of domestication, hunting, and the spread of farming communities throughout the Near East and Europe. His current research projects include “Producing and Consuming the Transition: Incorporating Animal Resources at the Turn from Late Bronze to Early Iron Age in Southwestern Bulgaria”, a collaborative project with researchers from New Bulgarian University and Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, and Culture at the Dawn of European Civilization: Archaeological Investigations at the Neolithic Site of Slatina, Bulgaria, in collaboration with researchers from the Bulgarian Archaeological Institute in Sofia. His publications span several peer-reviewed journals and edited volumes and explore the complicated entanglements of humans, animals, and landscapes in prehistory. John currently serves as a senior archaeologist for Universal Engineering Sciences. In this role, he is responsible for helping clients navigate the complex regulatory landscape surrounding historic preservation in Texas and throughout the U.S. He earned his Ph.D. from the Department of Anthropology at Cornell University.

Selected Publications

As first author:

Expected January 2024. Gorczyk, John. “Rooting for Answers: Exploring Human-Pig Interactions During the Early Neolithic in Southeastern Europe.” In Zooarchaeology Beyond Human Subsistence, edited by Gillian Wong and Amy Klemmer. University of Utah Press. Salt Lake City. Peer reviewed.

Under review.    Gorczyk, John. “Caprines in the Cattle Zone: Reconciling Faunal Data at Two Scales in the Early Neolithic of the Sofia Basin, Bulgaria. In Animal Bones to Human Behavior, edited by R. Redding and A. Fisher. Peer reviewed.

2018    Gorczyk, John, Bogdan Athanassov, and P.W. Stockhammer. “Hunting Together: Social Aspects of Hunting at a 13th-12th C. BC Fortified Site in Southwestern Bulgaria.” In Social Dimensions of Food in the Prehistoric Balkans, edited by Maria Ivanova, Bogdan Athanassov, Vanya Petrova, Desislava Takarova and P.W. Stockhammer, Vol. 1. Papers of the conference, Heidelberg, 2015. Oxford: Oxbow 2018. Peer reviewed.

2017     Gorczyk, John, and Nadezhda Karastoyanova. “Faunal Report.” In Sarnevo. Pits from the Late Neolithic, the Early and Late Iron Age, and the Roman Period. Volume 1. The Late Neolithic Pit Field, edited by Krum Bacvarov, M Tonkova, and G Katsarov, 1:511–42. Archaeological Rescue Excavations for Infrastructure Projects. Sofia: NAIM-BAS, 2017.

As co-author (first and second author represent major intellectual contribution):

2020     Karastoyanova, Nadezhda, John Gorczyk, and Nikolai Spassov. “The Natural History of the Fallow Deer, Dama dama (Linnaeus, 1758) in Bulgaria in Prehistory and New Evidence for the Existence of an Autochthonous Holocene Population in the Balkans.” International Journal of Osteoarchaeology 30, no. 5 (2020): 616–28. https://doi.org/10.1002/oa.2886. Peer reviewed.

2020     Balasse, Marie, Léo Renault-Fabregon, Henri Gandois; Denis Fiorillo; John Gorczyk; Krum Bacvarov, Maria Ivanova. “Sheep birth distribution in Neolithic herds: new results from Nova Nadezhda (sixth millennium BC, Bulgaria) and a reassessment of European data with a new modern reference set and the comparative use of upper and lower molars.” Journal of Archaeological Science, 118. Peer reviewed.

2018      Bachvarov, Krum, and John Gorczyk. “Of Pits and Bones: A Ritual Pit at the Late Neolithic Site of Sarnevo in Bulgarian Thrace.” Social Dimensions of Food in the Prehistoric Balkans, edited by Maria Ivanova, Bogdan Athanassov, Vanya Petrova, Desislava Takarova and P.W. Stockhammer and Maria Ivanova, Vol. Papers of the conference, Heidelberg, 2015. Oxford: Oxbow 2018. Peer reviewed.

2017     Bachvarov, Krum, and John Gorczyk. “The Ritual Package at the Neolithic Pit Field of Sarnevo, South-Central Bulgaria.” In From Hunter-Gatherers to Farmers: Human Adaptations at the End of the Pleistocene and the First Part of the Holocene. Papers in Honour of Clive Bonsall, edited by Adina Boroneanţ and Margarit Mărgărit, 439–51. Targoviște: Editura Cetatea de Scaun, 2017. Peer reviewed.

2016     Athanassov, Bogdan, John Gorczyk, Iliya Kulov, and P.W. Stockhammer. “Eine Eberzahnlamelle Aus Der Spätbronzezeitlichen Siedlung von Bresto.” In Southeast Europe and Anatolia in Prehistory. Essays in Honor of Vassil Nikolov on His 65th Anniversary, edited by Krum Bacvarov and Ralf Gleser, 465–74. Bonn: Habelt, 2016. Peer reviewed.