Zooarchaeology Laboratory

The CAI’s Zooarchaeology Laboratory maintains an excellent research collection of modern animal skeletons from southern Illinois and the Midwest. The collection contains more than 900 skeletons and skulls representing about 200 different species of mammals, birds, reptiles, fishes, and molluscs. The laboratory, established by Dr. Heather Lapham in 2004 following an extensive two-year restoration of the comparative collection, provides researchers and students with the identification tools and work space needed to analyze animal remains from archaeological sites.

Current Research Projects

• Intercultural interactions, subsistence, and survival at the Contact period Catawba Indian and Spanish Fort San Juan (A.D. 1567-1568) Berry site in western North Carolina.

• Differential access to animal resources at the Early to Middle Mississippian period (A.D. 1150-1450) Carter Robinson Mound site in southwestern Virginia.

• Subsistence and the use of domestic dogs at the Middle to Late Woodland period (ca. A.D. 200-1500) Broad Reach site in eastern North Carolina.

• Urban economies, animal specializations, and domestication at the Classic to Early Postclassic period (A.D. 200-1000) El Palmillo and Mitla Fortress sites in the Valley of Oaxaca in southern Mexico.

Past Research Projects

• Skeletal and metric analysis of a dog burial from the Early to Middle Woodland transition (ca. 250 B.C. to A.D. 1) component at the Kincaid site in southern Illinois.

• Long-term changes in subsistence practices and settlement use at the multi-component Late Archaic (2500-500 B.C.) to Mississippian (A.D. 1000-1450) period Rockhouse Hollow rockshelter site in south-central Indiana.

• Ritual and non-ritual animal use at the Mississippian (A.D. 1000-1450) Kincaid site in southern Illinois (Meghan Buchanan’s M.A. thesis research).

• Animal utilization at a Late Prehistoric (A.D. 1000-1700) campsite (MD-1) in the lower Nueces Valley in south Texas (Zach Gilmore’s M.A. thesis research).

• Subsistence strategies and seasonal activities at the Late Woodland (A.D. 650-1000) Kaesberg-Schaudt site in southern Illinois.

Inquiries about the CAI Zooarchaeology Laboratory and its projects, contact: Dr. Heather Lapham • Tel: (618) 453-5031 • E-mail: hlapham@siu.edu.