Staff

Stephen Czujko is a Ph.D. candidate at the Archaeometry Laboratory at MURR. He is completing his Ph.D. in Ancient Mediterranean Studies at the University of Missouri, here in Columbia. His research focuses on ceramic craft production in the eastern Mediterranean during the Late Bronze Age. He is interested in the use of instrument-based geochemical and mineralogical techniques for the characterization of different technical actions necessary to pottery making. Currently, he also works for Dr. Renson of MURR, in the Archaeometry Laboratory’s clean room.

Mattia D’Acri is a graduate of the Scuola di Specializzazione in Archeologia – Matera (Italy) and is currently a PhD candidate in the Classical Archaeology program at the University of Missouri-Columbia, Department of Classics, Archaeology, and Religion. His main interest is the study of ceramics, with particular focus on the Protohistoric and Archaic periods in central-southern Italy. He has done fieldwork at Rome (Sant’Omobono; Regia; Forum of Caesar), Gabii, Pompeii (Temple of Venus), Francavilla Marittima, and many other locations. He has published on various aspects of the pottery assemblages recovered from these sites.

Erin is a sophomore majoring in biology and anthropology at Mizzou. She works as a lab tech in the Archaeometry Laboratory at MURR, where she prepares pottery samples for elemental analysis.

Alejandro J. Figueroa joined the Archaeometry Laboratory at MURR in 2021 as a National Science Foundation SBE Postdoctoral Research Fellow. His postdoctoral research focuses on investigating the various dimensions of ochre and obsidian exchange among small-scale societies in central Honduras. Using a number of specialized archaeometric techniques (NAA, pXRF, pRaman, and SEM-EDS) and a combination of field, collections, and laboratory work, this project is reconstructing the networks used to procure, distribute, and use these key geological resources. Ultimately, this research uses the long-term perspective provided by archaeology to better understand what exchange networks can tell us about how small-scale societies navigated the competing demands for (in)equality, reciprocity, cohesion, and conflict. Equally as important, Dr. Figueroa’s postdoctoral project provides opportunities for training and collaboration with students and researchers in Honduras and the US and local indigenous communities in the use and application of archaeometric techniques and in the study and protection of archaeological heritage.

Matthew C. Greer is a National Science Foundation SBE Postdoctoral Fellow hosted by MURR, beginning in 2022. His research focuses on race, class, and slavery in the American South. Matt’s postdoc project studies the intersection of race and class in Antebellum Virginia by analyzing the ways poor and middle-class white households used consumer goods and food to lay claim to whiteness. While at MURR, Matt will use provenance analyses (NAA, LA-ICP-MS, petrography, and Raman spectroscopy) to determine where families bought locally-made ceramics and residue analysis (GC-MS) to determine the foods they ate from different kinds of ceramic vessels.

Lee’s research interests are focused on Mississippian period social exchange networks within St. Johns II contexts of late-prehistoric northeastern Florida.

Dineo Masia is a PhD candidate at the Evolutionary Studies Institute (University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa) and an archaeometry PhD intern at MURR. With a background in Geology and Archaeology, she aims to use the two disciplines to address the behaviour of early humans during the Middle Stone Age and Later Stone Age in southern Africa. Her project involves the use of geochemical analyses, petrography, and geological mapping to source lithics from Border Cave. This will possibly provide answers to questions about the shift in lithic raw material selection and lithic technology at the site during the Middle Stone Age/Later Stone Age transition.

Caitlyn is a first year MA student in classical archaeology. She is very much interested in studying Roman mortar, especially via archaeometry using NAA and petrography.

Chad Rankle is a doctoral student in the Department of Anthropology at the University of California San Diego. He received his bachelor’s degree in anthropology during 2018, and the following year his Master of Science in geographic information systems from California State University Long Beach. Mr. Rankle has experience in the cultural resource management industry of Southern California and has worked on archaeological projects in Mesoamerica, Central America, and the US Southwest. His current research examines mobility along the Pacific coast of Nicaragua through strontium isotope analysis of human remains and a strontium isoscape he is creating from vegetation samples.

Jay joined MURR as a postdoctoral fellow in January 2023. His research focuses on the archaeometallurgical record of southern Africa and applies geochemical and archaeometric methods to infer their geological source(s) and reconstruct the technologies employed during the production of these metal objects. By integrating data spanning the chaîne opératoire – from resource procurement to production, use, and deposition – Jay aims to reconstruct the networks and behaviors responsible for producing and moving metal objects. Rather than focus on one specific period or region, Jay’s work takes a macro and diachronic approach to understand how participating communities across southern Africa negotiated their access to materials in the face of diverse social changes (e.g., the rise of states, mass migration, and arrival of European colonial powers). Like many at MURR, Jay is committed to broadening the accessibility of the archaeological sciences through training and collaboration with students and researchers in Africa, the US, and other locations around the globe.