Curator, ITARP Ph.D. Anthropology University of Florida E-mail: lkozuch@uiuc.edu

General Interest/Area of Focus

Laura Kozuch’s research focus is faunal analysis and in particular the manufacture, use, and trade of animal bones and shells. She was based at the Florida Museum of Natural History for 12 years, focusing on faunal analysis and curation of artifacts and biological specimens. She has identified faunal remains from a wide range of sites in the Southeast and Caribbean, and wrote a monograph on shark utilization in Florida as well as a guide to identifying shark vertebrae. She has recently concentrated on the marine shell trade in North America, because the correct identification of traded animal remains is essential to an understanding of sourcing and movement of trade goods. She is also keenly concerned with issues surrounding archaeological curation, having assessed over 60 curation facilities nationwide, and writes curation policies and grant proposals for collections management at ITARP.

Memberships/Awards/Accomplishments

Research Associate, Department of Anthropology, Washington University (St. Louis), Illinois Archaeological Survey, International Council for Archaeozoology, Registered Professional Archaeologist, Southeastern Archaeological Conference, Society for American Archaeology.

Current Research

• Replication of columella shell beads in an effort to determine time and labor estimates
  
• Experimental archaeology to determine if shell was heat-treated to expedite bead manufacture
  
• Diversity of marine shell species for shell artifacts during Mississippian times
  
• Research on ceramic shell cup effigies in the American Bottom and Southeast
  
• Analysis of shark teeth and lithic shark tooth replicas from Cahokia.

Previous Positions

1985-1997 Research Assistant, Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida

1997-2001 Curation Specialist, Mandatory Center of Expertise for the Curation and Management of Archaeological Collections, Corps of Engineers, St. Louis.

2002-present Curator, Illinois Transportation Archaeological Research Program, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Selected Bibliography

Kozuch, Laura
2007 Replication of Columella Shell Beads. Illinois Archaeology Vol. 14.

2006 Identification of Freshwater Mollusks, Appendix VI. In: Archaeological Investigations at the Prather Site, Clark County, Indiana, C. A. Munson, M. Strezewski, and C. R. Stafford. Indiana University-Purdue University at Fort Wayne Archaeological Survey, Report of Investigations 602, Fort Wayne, IN.

Kozuch, Laura, and Elizabeth S. Wing
2006 Animal Remains from Archaeological Sites on Nevis, In: The Prehistory of Nevis and the Leeward Islands, Samuel Wilson (ed.). Yale University Publications in Anthropology 87, Yale University Press.

Kozuch, Laura
2003 Use of Fire in Shell Bead Manufacture at Cahokia. Bulletin of the Florida Museum of Natural History 44(1):81-90.

2002 Olivella Beads from Spiro and the Plains. American Antiquity 67:697-709.

Wing, Elizabeth S., Susan de France, and Laura Kozuch
2002 Faunal Remains from the Tutu Site, In: The Tutu Archaeological Village Site: A Multidisciplinary Case Study in Human Adaptation, edited by Elizabeth Righter, pp. 141-165. Routledge, London.

Kozuch, Laura
1998 Faunal Remains from the Palmer Site (8SO2), with a Focus on Shark Remains. Florida Anthropologist 51(4):177-192.

Kozuch, Laura
1995 Shellfish Gatherers of Florida's East Coast, In: Final Report on the Archeological Investigations at the Seminole Rest Site (8VO124), E.A. Horvath (ed.). Southeast Archeological Center, National Park Service, Tallahassee, pp. 59-91.

Kozuch, Laura
1993 Sharks and Shark Products in South Florida. Monograph 2, Institute for Archaeology and Palaeoenvironmental Studies, Gainesville, Florida.

Kozuch, Laura
1990 Review of Purdy, Robert (1990) A Key to the Common Genera of Neogene Shark Teeth, In: American Elasmobranch Society Newsletter No. 4, Nov. 30.

Kozuch, Laura
1989a Zooarchaeological analysis, available faunal resources, and faunal composition of the Minim Island Site. In: An Archaeological Study of the Minim Island Site: Early Woodland Dynamics in Coastal South Carolina. C.T. Espenshade and P.E. Brockington, Jr. (eds.). Corps of Engineers, Charleston District, Contract No. DACW-60-87-C-0005.

Kozuch, Laura, and Cherry Fitzgerald
1989b A Guide to Identifying Shark Centra from Southeastern Archaeological Sites. Southeastern Archaeology 88(2):146-157.

Presented Papers

Kozuch, Laura
2003 Dead In the Water: Shells & Shark Teeth from Janey B. Goode (11-S-1232). Paper presented at the Midwest Archaeological Conference, Milwaukee, WI.

2003 The Well-Traveled Shell: Shells During Mississippian Times. Paper presented at the Illinois State Museum Brownbag Lecture Series, Springfield, IL.

2002 Marine Shells From Cahokia and Mississippian Sites. Paper presented at the Cahokia Archaeological Society, Cahokia Mounds State Park, Collinsville, IL.

2001a The Evidence for Fire to Make Shell Beads at Cahokia. Paper presented at the Illinois Association for the Advancement of Archaeology, Annual Meeting, Cahokia Mounds State Park, IL.

2001b Marine Shell Use at Cahokia During the Moorehead Phase. Paper presented at the 58th Southeastern Archaeological Conference, Chattanooga, TN.

2000a Pacific Coast Shell Beads from the Spiro Site. Paper presented at the 65th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, Philadelphia, PA.

2000b Sea Shells from Cahokia. Paper presented at the Illinois Archaeological Survey conference, Cahokia Mounds State Park, IL.

Shingleton, Ken, Laura Kozuch, and Michael Trimble
2000 The Department of Defense National Archaeological Curation Assessment Project. Paper presented at the 65th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, Philadelphia, PA.

Kozuch, Laura
1991 Shark Remains As Gender Role Indicators. Paper presented at the Southeastern Archaeological Conference, Jackson, Mississippi.

Burgess, George H., Jeffrey C. Carrier, Stephanie Haas, and Laura Kozuch
1991 An Analysis of Shark Attacks in Florida Waters, "Sharks Down Under", Symposium at Taronga Zoo in Mosman, Australia, 25 Feb. to 1 March.

Kozuch, Laura
1988 Synopsis of Shark Research at the Florida Museum. Jacksonville Shark Club,
June 1988.

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