Area of Interest:
Steponaitis, Laurie C., Ph.D. 1987, SUNY Binghamton; Research Assistant Professor of Anthropology and Research Associate, Research Laboratories of Anthropology Archaeology, Hunter-Gatherers, Settlement Patterns, Coastal Adaptations, Regional Survey, North America.Education:
Ph.D. 1987, SUNY Binghamton
Research & Activities:
Research Assistant Professor, Anthropology
Research Associate, Research Laboratories of Anthropology
Research Background
Although I have worked elsewhere in North America, most of my fieldwork has been in the Chesapeake Bay region. I have been investigating the transition from nomadic to sedentary life during the Woodland period (1000 B.C. - A.D. 1600). My research has focused on the study of regional settlement organization and community patterns.
Present Research
I am working on a monograph about the Stearns and Patterson I sites, two Woodland shell middens on the Patunxent River estuary in southern Maryland. Excavations at both sites yielded considerable evidence about change in the collection and production of food that accompanied the shift to more settled village life. I have also been working on a method for identifying the season of harvest of oysters, a mollusc common in shell middens along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts. If successful, this method will be used to help establish the seasonality of site occupation and to evaluate the significance of shellfish use in local and regional economies.
Manuscripts in Preparation (with Joseph M. Herbert)
Determining Season of Harvest from Oyster Shell Growth Patterns. Excavations at the Stearns and Patterson I Sites: A Study of Two Woodland Communities in Coastal Maryland.
People
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