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.

Mallory is a sophomore majoring in Chemistry. She works as a lab technician preparing vials for ICP-MS using clean room techniques and preparing ochre and pottery samples for NAA. She enjoys learning about the intersection of analytical sciences and cultural heritage through her work at the Archaeometry Laboratory.

Rachel is a sophomore majoring in Anthropology with a minor in Natural Resources Science and Management. She works in the Archaeometry lab as a laboratory assistant, preparing samples for analysis. She is also a Discovery Fellow with the Honors College as an undergraduate research assistant.

Bedone Mugabe is a PhD candidate within the Department of Archaeology at the University of Cape Town (UCT). His research applies geochemical and materials science techniques to characterize and establish the provenance of copper-based metallurgy from precolonial Iron Age agropastoral societies across south-central Africa. His main objective is to merge an array of archaeometric techniques with African anthropology of technology and understand past behaviors and practices responsible for resource exploitation, material culture production, regional and interregional circulation.

Caitlyn Pallas (she/her) is a PhD student in the Classics, Archaeology, and Religion Department at the University of Missouri–Columbia. Her research focuses on Roman concrete, particularly the composition and recipes used in the Late Republican and Early Imperial periods. Caitlyn uses a variety of techniques offered at the laboratory to investigate concrete, including that of NAA and Ramen spectroscopy. She has conducted fieldwork at the sites of Gabii and Pompeii.

Rylee is an undergraduate majoring in Anthropology with a double emphasis in archaeology and biological anthropology and Ancient Mediterranean Studies. She works as lab technician at the archaeometry lab at MURR. She is primarily interested in osteoarchaeology and classical archaeology.

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.