Katherine Szabo

My primary area of research is the study of faunal remains, and particularly molluscs, in the archaeological record. Shell constitutes a major portion of the excavated archaeological record from tropical Asia-Pacific sites, with evidence ranging from midden shell indicating past subsistence practices and environment, to shell used as a raw material for artefacts, to landsnails giving insights into past vegetation patterns and occupational sequences. I have worked with many different research teams on sites spanning the late Pleistocene through until the recent past, from places including Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines, through various islands in Melanesia, Micronesia and Polynesia. In addition to my work on shell I also have an interest in the later (‘Metal Age’) prehistory of Southeast Asia when trade routes, centres and entrepôts constantly combine and recombine fusing the diverse threads that structure modern Southeast Asian cultures.

I am currently the coordinator for EESC309 Dung, Death and Decay: modern scientific methods in archaeology and am on the CAS Executive managing outreach and communication.