Dana Kollmann

Dana Kollmann graduated from Towson University in 1990 with a BS degree in anthopology. Due in part to an internship that was set up by her faculty advisor (Dr. Fisher), Dana developed an interest in skeletal biology and forensic archaeology. She went on to complete the MFS (Master of Forensic Science) program at George Washington University, and later earned a MA. and PhD in anthropology from American University.



Dana has 11 years of crime lab experience, ten of which was obtained through her work as a Forensic Services Technician with Baltimore County Police Department. Dana also trained as one of the Department’s shoe and tire examiners. Her experience in forensic archaeology and anthropology has been obtained primarily through her training at the Smithsonian Institution. Dana has a variety of national and international experiences including mass grave exhumation and victim identification in the former Yugoslavia; analysis of Roman plague victims in Croatia; and examination of Mayan skeletal remains excavated from tombs in the Petén region of Guatemala. Dana also does archaeological consulting and is called upon to assist in the exhumation of between 3 and 6 burial sites each year.



Dana’s dissertation published in 2007, entitled Life and Death i n the Eastern Woodlands: A Bioarchaeological Synthesis of Seven Late Woodland Period Mortuary Sites in Maryland, reflects her combined interests in biological anthropology and archaeology. In this study, Dana compared two temporally distinct late prehistoric populations in Maryland’s Upper Potomac Valley and considered the biological consequences associated with the transition to maize agriculture. Ongoing research involves stable isotope analysis to quantify the contribution of maize to the prehistoric diet in populations where this data is unclear.



Dana has authored and co-authored a number of journal articles, technical reports, and recently published Never Suck a Dead Man’s Hand: Curious Adventires of a CSI, which details her rather unusual experiences as a CSI. Dana has been an adjunct faculty member at Towson University from 1998 to 2006, an lecturer from 2006-2008, and in the fall of 2008, accepted the position of Assistant Professor.