Lauren Norman

Lauren Norman
  • Assistant Professor
  • Honors Faculty Fellow, University Honors Program
  • Social and Behavioral Sciences Anthropology
  • College of Liberal Arts & Sciences
  • Ph.D., University of Toronto, 2015
  • Teaching ANTH 177 Pets in the Past, ANTH 401 Integrating ANTH (ONLINE), AND ANTH 895 Graduate Teaching for Fall 2026.
  • Fall 2026 Office Hours: Mondays 9am - 10am and Wednesdays 2pm - 3pm in 610 Fraser Hall, and by appointment - send email to lauren_norman@ku.edu

Contact Info

Office Phone:
785-864-1854
ANTH Office Phone:
785-864-4103
610 Fraser Hall
1415 Jayhawk Blvd.
Lawrence, KS 66045

Personal Links

Education —

B.A. in Anthropology, University of Victoria, 2006
M.S. in Anthropology, University of Toronto, 2009

Research —

Research Areas:  Zooarchaeology analysis, environmental archaeology, ancient faunal DNA, small-scale societies, environmental archaeology, community collaboration. North America, Arctic

My research examines the resilience of small-scale societies during periods of environmental and social change. I employ molecular methods to supplement traditional studies of faunal material in investigating the relationship between people and their environment. I am especially interested in community-based research with northern communities and multi-vocal interpretations of the past. 

Teaching —

ANTH 177 Pets in the Past (First Year Seminar)

HNRS 190 Archaeology as Storytelling (Honors First Year Seminar)

ANTH 304 Fundamentals of Biological Anthropology

ANTH 305/505 Archaeology of the North American Arctic

ANTH 401 Integrating Archaeology (capstone)

ANTH 418/419 Summer/Training in Archaeological Fieldwork

ANTH 500 Topics in Archaeology: Historical Archaeology

ANTH 521 Zooarchaeology

ANTH 849 Seminar in Archaeology: People and Animals

ANTH 895 Graduate Teaching in Anthropology

Selected Publications —

Lauren E. Y. Norman, T. Max Friesen, and Sean P. A. (2026). Desjardins. Zooarchaeology of Houses and Middens: Investigating Patterns of Assemblage Composition at Early Inuit Sites Across the North American Arctic. International Journal of Osteoarchaeology. 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1002/oa.70155.

Lauriane Bourgeon, Lauren E. Y. Norman, and Rolfe D. Mandel. (2026). Taphonomy of Beringian Karstic SItes: A Case Study from Bluefish Cave III, Yukon, Canada. PaleoAmerica. https://doi.org/10.1080/20555563.2026.2694234.

Caroline Kisielinski, Justin Tackney, Lauren E. Y. Norman, Rolfe D. Mandel, and Dennis H. O'Rourke. (2026). Leveraging sedimentary ancient DNA from Bluefish Cave III to provide paleoenvironmental context for human activity in eastern Beringia. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution 14: 1789717. https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2026.1789717. 

Anthony M. Krus, Lauren E. Y. Norman, Sarah L. Unkel, Justin Tackney, Anne M. Jensen, Dennis H. O’Rourke. (2026). Birnirk-Thule social relationships reexamined in light of a context-appropriate chronology for the Alaska North Slope. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 71: 105617. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2026.105617. 

Krus, Anthony M., Lauren E. Y. Norman, Sarah L. Unkel, Justin Tackney, Anne M. Jensen, Dennis H. O’Rourke. (Submitted). Birnirk-Thule social relationships reexamined in light of a context-appropriate chronology for the Alaska North Slope.  

Norman, Lauren E. Y., Claire Alix, Owen K. Mason, Dennis O’Rourke. (2025). Variations on a theme: Comparison of precolonial Iñupiaq cultural landscapes through subsistence strategies at Cape Espenberg, Alaska. The Journal of Island and Coastal Archaeology. https://doi.org/10.1080/15564894.2025.2537079. 

Alix, Claire, Lauren E. Y. Norman, Anthony Krus, Juliette Taieb, Shelby Anderson, Dennis O’Rourke, and Owen K. Mason. (2025). The Birnirk to Thule transition as viewed from radiocarbon and tree-ring dating within two adjacent houses at Cape Espenberg, Northwest Alaska. American Antiquity. https://doi.org/10.1017/aaq.2025.21

Unkel, Sarah L., Lauren E. Y. Norman, Justin Tackney, Anthony M. Krus, Anne E. Jensen, Claire Alix, Owen Mason, and Dennis O’Rourke. (2022). Genetic analysis of Birnirk Inuit from the Alaskan North Slope. Arctic 75(1): 121-132. https://doi.org/10.14430/arctic74916

Reuther, Joshua D., Scott Shirar, Owen K. Mason, Shelby Anderson, Joan B. Coltrain, Adam Freeburg, Peter M. Bowers, Claire Alix, Christyann M. Darwent, and Lauren E. Y. Norman. (2021). Marine reservoir effects in seal (Phocidae) bones in the northern Bering and Chukchi Seas, northwestern Alaska. Radiocarbon 63(1): 301-309. https://doi.org/10.1017/RDC.2020.127.

Vanlandeghem, Marine, Bruno C. Desachy, Tammy Y. Buonasera, Lauren E. Y. Norman, Isabelle Théry-Parisot, Alain Carré, Christopher Petit, Michelle Elliott, and Claire Alix. (2020). Ancient arctic pyro-technologies: Experimental fires to document the impact of animal origin fuels on wood combustion. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports. 33: 102414. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2020.102414

Braymer-Hayes, Katelyn, Shelby Anderson, Claire Alix, Christyann M. Darwent, John Darwent, Owen Mason, and Lauren E. Y. Norman. (2020). Studying pre-contact gendered use of space in the Arctic: Spatial analysis of ceramics in northwestern Alaska. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology. 58: 101165. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaa.2020.101165