Laura Mazow
Office: 207 Flanagan building
Telephone: (252) 328-9432
E-mail: mazowl@ecu.edu
About Me
I am an archaeologist and an associate professor in the anthropology department. My area of interest is the archaeology of the Middle East and within that area my professional research focuses on the Mediterranean Bronze and Iron Ages, the study of ancient technologies, particularly ancient weaving technologies, and Archaeology and the Bible. My current research is on ancient textile production processes and organic residue analysis in archaeology, for which I have received several grants.
I began my archaeological career in 1988 as a volunteer with The Leon Levy Expedition to Ashkelon, Israel. After completing my BA in History at Georgetown University, I travelled in the Middle East for a number of years, during which time I excavated at archaeological sites in Israel and Jordan, and worked for two years for the Israel Antiquities Authority at the Roman-Byzantine site of Beth-Shean. I earned My PhD in Near Eastern Studies from the University of Arizona in 2005. My dissertation on the Philistines is based on materials from the site of Tel Miqne-Ekron and I have continued to be involved with the publication of that excavation project. I began teaching at ECU in 2005, and joined the faculty in the Anthropology Department in 2009.
My current research is a collaborative project to investigate the function of ancient bathtubs. Were they used for bathing, burial or crafts production? To answer this question, I am drawing from a number of different disciplines, including Archaeology, Classics, Chemistry, Fine Arts and History. There are a number of opportunities for both undergraduate and graduate student involvement in this project and I encourage anyone interested to contact me.
Courses that I teach include:
- Archaeology Around the World
- Archaeology of the Old Testament World
- Archaeology of the New Testament World
- Archaeology of Egypt
- Aliens, Atlantis and Archaeology
Selected Publications:
Mazow, L. (2023). “Why all Tubs are not Bathtubs” Biblical Archaeological Review, Spring 2023: 16–18.
Mazow, L. Mitra, S., Kimmel, D. Grieve, S. (2018) Extraction and Analysis of Total Lipids in Late Iron Age Bath-shaped basins from the Levant as a Means of Assessing Vessel Function. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 22: 193-201.
Mazow, L., Mitra, S., Grieve, S. Carman, S. and Herrmann, V. (2016). Extraction and Analysis of Total Lipids in Reference Materials and from Soil Particles in a Bath-shaped Vessel from Zincirli, Ancient Sam’al., Turkey. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 8: 63-69.
Mazow, L., Grieve, S. and Kennedy, A. (2014). Contamination in Organic Residue Analysis: A Cautionary Tale. Journal of Eastern Mediterranean Archaeology and Heritage Studies, 2.2: 90–109.
Mazow, L. (2014). The Root of the Problem: On the Relationship between Wool Processing and Lanolin Production. Journal of Mediterranean Archaeology, 27.1: 33–50.
Mazow, L. (2014). Competing Material Culture: Philistine Identity at Tel Miqne-Ekron in the Early Iron Age, pp. 131–163, in Material Culture Matters: Essays on the Archaeology of the Southern Levant in Honor of Seymour Gitin, ed. John Spencer, Robert A. Mullins and Aaron J. Brody. Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns.
Mazow, L. (2013) “A Bathtub Murder”: (RE)Investigating Mesopotamian Bathtub Coffins. ASOR blog http://asorblog.org/2013/11/26/a-bathtub-murder-reinvestigating-mesopotamian-bathtub-coffins/
Mazow, L. (2013). Throwing the Baby Out with the Bathwater: Innovations in Mediterranean Textile Production, pp. 215-223, in Textile Production and Consumption in the Ancient Near East, ed. M. L. Nosch and E. Anderson (Oxford: Oxbow Books).
A. Yasur-Landau, J. Ebeling and L. Mazow, L. (2011) Household Archeology in Ancient Israel and Beyond. Leiden: Brill.
Mazow, L. (2008). The Industrious Sea Peoples: The Evidence of Aegean-Style Textile Production in Cyprus and the Southern Levant, in Cyprus, the Sea Peoples and the Eastern Mediterranean, ed. Timothy Harrison. Scripta Mediterranea, Vol XXVII-XXVIII, pp. 291-321.
Community Presentations
“Reclaiming the Road not Taken: Indigenous Knowledge versus Classical Perceptions at Beth Zur for the Palestine Exploration Fund
Identifying the Weaving Contest between Athena and Arachne on the Wall of a Weaving Workshop at Mycenae
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