Laura Masur

Laboratory Manager, PhD Candidate

Areas of interest: historical archaeology; zooarchaeology; GIS and landscape archaeology; public and community archaeology; Chesapeake and Middle Atlantic

Research

I use historical research and environmental archaeology to study relationships between landscapes and the people who dwell in them. I am particularly interested in the ways that immigrant communities modified local environments, influenced by Old World and New World traditions and the diverse ecological regions where they settled. Through everyday actions like growing crops and raising livestock, individuals and communities not only made economic choices, but imbued places and practices with cultural meaning. My current research focuses on the development of plantations owned by the Society of Jesus in Maryland and Pennsylvania, and the communities that grew around them.