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Katherine (Kat) SZABÓ

Position: ARC QEII Research Fellow

Room: 41.G09

Phone No: +61 4221 5846

Email: kat@uow.edu.au

Research Interests

• Shell as a raw material for artefact production
• Prehistory of Southeast Asia and the Pacific Islands
• Prehistoric and ethnoarchaeological collection, consumption and accumulation of marine, freshwater and terrestrial molluscs
• Molluscan remains as indicators of palaeo-environments
• Theoretical and methodological approaches to the analysis of material culture and technology
• Behavioural and cultural change including the beginnings of ‘modern’ human behaviour
• Site formation processes and taphonomy of archaeological deposits

Representative Publications

Szabó, K and I. Quitmyer (eds). 2008. World Archaeomalacology: Papers from the Inaugural Meeting of the International Council for Archaeozoology, Archaeomalacology Working Group. Archaeofauna 17 (special issue ‘Molluscs and Other Marine Resources’).

Szabó, K. 2008. Shell as a Raw Material: Mechanical Properties and Working Techniques in the Tropical Indo-West Pacific. Archaeofauna 17: 125-138.

Szabó, K., P. Piper and G. Barker. 2008. Sailing Between Worlds: The Symbolism of Death in Northwest Borneo. In G. Clark, S. O’Connor and B.F. Leach (eds) Islands of Enquiry, pp. 149-170. Canberra: ANU E-Press.

Szabó, K., A. Brumm and P. Bellwood. 2007. Shell artefact production at 32,000 – 28,000 b.p. in Island Southeast Asia: Thinking across media? Current Anthropology 48(5):701-723.

Szabó, K. and E. Dizon. 2007. The Archaeology of Linaminan, Central Palawan: A Preliminary Report on Excavations. Hukay 11:1-84.

Szabó, K. and G. Summerhayes. 2002. Worked shell artefacts – new data from Early Lapita. In S. Bedford, C. Sand and D. Burley (eds) Fifty Years in the Field – Essays in Honour and Celebration of Richard Shutler Jr’s Archaeological Career, pp. 91-100. New Zealand Archaeological Association Monograph 25.

Searchable Publication List

Suggested Topic Areas for Future Students

• Human exploitation of marine or freshwater resources
• The structure and nature of shell as a raw material
• The use of non-lithic raw materials by ancient humans/hominids
• The development or refinement of methodologies in zooarchaeological analysis

Abbreviated CV

2009-present Australian Research Council QEII Research Fellow, University of Wollongong – ‘The cutting edge: Investigating the use of shell as a raw material by Australasian hominins’

2007-2009 Tenure-Track Assistant Professor, University of Guam – four-field anthropology, all aspects of archaeology including theory, method and regional interest courses.

2007-2008 British Academy Visiting Fellow at the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, University of Cambridge, UK.

2005-2007 Australian Research Council Post-Doctoral Fellow (Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, Australian National University). Investigating the Neolithic/Metal Age transition in the Philippines.

2004-2005 Research Assistant, Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS), Canberra

2000-2005 PhD at the Australian National University. Thesis topic: “Technique and Practice: Shell-working in the Western Pacific and Island Southeast Asia.”

1999-2000 Australian National University Summer Research Scholar – Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies.

1999 BA(hons) in Anthropology – First class. Department of Anthropology, University of Auckland.

1996-1998 BA in Anthropology – Department of Anthropology, University of Auckland.