Laura Masur

Areas of Interest

Historical archaeology; Zooarchaeology; GIS and landscape archaeology; Public and community archaeology; Chesapeake and Middle Atlantic

Research Interests & Fieldwork

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.

Selected Conference Presentations

“Reimagining Methods in Historical Zooarchaeology: Methods and Themes in Recent Literature.” Poster presentation. Society for Historical Archaeology Annual Conference, Washington, D.C. January 2016. Abstract accepted.

“‘The best place to buy New England rum’: Archaeology at William Sanford’s Farmstead-Tavern in Hawley, Massachusetts.” Council for Northeast Historical Archaeology Annual Conference, Fredericksburg, VA. November 2015. Abstract accepted.

“Navigating the ‘thorny theoretical thicket’: Ethical codes and archaeological models under NAGPRA.” Society for Historical Archaeology Annual Conference, Québec City, QC, Canada. January 2014.

“How NOT to Bulldoze a Burial: Creating a geodatabase of human interments at Gloucester Point.” Archaeological Society of Virginia Annual Meeting, Wytheville, VA. October 2012.