Investigators Laura Kozuch

Dr. Laura Kozuch (https://illinois.academia.edu/LauraKozuch) has worked on collections storage issues since 1985. She was at the Florida Museum of Natural History for 12 years, the Mandatory Center of Expertise for the Curation and Management of Archaeological Collections for four years, and at the University of Illinois since 2002. In 2008, Kozuch was awarded a National Endowment for the Humanities grant to catalog and create an online database for University of Illinois’ Cahokia collections (Cahokia database). With the help of four full-time workers, it took two years to catalog 1,931,864 artifacts.

Shark Tooth
Laura Kozuch also studies shark remains from archaeological sites. Data from Cahokia and nearby sites indicate that Cahokia elites wanted shark teeth. Teeth from sharks that were caught during Mississippian times were from great whites and sandbar sharks from Janey B. Goode, East St. Louis, and Cahokia. No fossil shark teeth are known from these sites, but burned shark teeth have been found.

Because shark teeth from Cahokia, East St. Louis, and Janey B. Goode sites were probably from whole shark jaws, a purposeful capture of these fishes is indicated. The teeth are not fossils, and this supports knowledge of shark-catching techniques along the Gulf of Mexico and/or Atlantic coasts during Mississippian times. 

Lightning Whelks & other Marine Shells

Kozuch studies marine shells and has found that Mississippians at Cahokia brought marginella beads by the thousands from the Gulf of Mexico, as evidenced by the 7,510 marginella beads from one burial excavated in 1930 from Powell Mound.

Lightning whelk shells were focused upon for artifact manufacture, especially for sacred engravings on gorgets and cups. The large cups were used for drinking special liquids, such as “Black Drink.” Lightning whelk shells were so sought after that Mississippians made ceramic effigies of lightning whelk cups.