Melissa A. Connor, M.A., RPA
President
Connor Consulting
Working in archaeology since 1974. Excavating human remains since 1976. Working on forensic cases since 1992.
Melissa Connor is currently the President of Connor Consulting. She worked for the National Park Service for 15 years before resigning in 1999 to pursue an independent career emphasizing forensic work. Since leaving the NPS, she worked as a consultant to the Asia Foundation (working in Sri Lanka), the Government of Cyprus, and Physicians for Human Rights (working in Kosovo, Nigeria, the former Yugoslavia). She also developed a course in Forensic Archaeology for University of Nebraska-Lincoln and teaches the same course at the Forensic Science Program at Nebraska Wesleyan University.
Her prehistoric archaeological field experience led her from Alaska to Denmark with a specialty in the North American Intermountain West. She worked in Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks, as well as on Indian Wars Battlefield sites with husband Douglas Scott. Working on historic battlefields was a short move to working on modern battlefields. In 1993, she accompanied a team from the Physicians for Human Rights to Croatia to exhume human remains, and has since been involved in forensic and human rights missions in Bosnia, Rwanda, and Cyprus. Connor blends her archaeological and forensic paradigms and field techniques, trying archaeological paradigms on site reconstruction on forensic scenes, and detailed forensic analyses on archaeological material.
Partial Bibliography:
Connor,
Melissa A. and D.D. Scott
in press Reconstructing the Battle:
Archaeological Evidence of Models and Warfare. In The Archaeology of Warfare, William Belcher, editor. Alta Mira
Press.
Connor,
Melissa A.
2002 I Say Artifact, You Say Evidence. Dig 4(3): 26-28.
Wm.
Haglund, Connor, Melissa A., and
D.D. Scott
2002 The Effect of Cultivation on Buried Human
Remains. In Forensic Taphonomy: The Post-Mortem Fate of Human Remains, Vol. II,
edited by W. Haglund and M. Sorg. CRC Press. Pp. 133-150.
Skinner, M.F., H.P. York, and Connor, Melissa A.
2002 Post-Burial Disturbance of Graves in Bosnia and
Herzegovina. In Forensic Taphonomy: The
Post-Mortem Fate of Human Remains, Vol. II, edited by W. Haglund and M.
Sorg. CRC Press. Pp. 293-308.
Connor,
Melissa A., and D.D. Scott, editors
2001 Archaeologists as Forensic Investigators:
Defining the Role. Historical Archaeology 35 (1).
Connor,
Melissa A., and D.D. Scott
2001 Paradigms and Perpetrators. In Archaeologists as Forensic Investigators:
Defining the Role, edited by M. Connor and DD Scott Historical Archaeology 35
(1).
Scott, D.D. and Connor,
Melissa A.,
2001 The Role and Future of Archaeology in
Forensic Sciences. In Archaeologists as Forensic Investigators: Defining the
Role, edited by M. Connor and D.D. Scott. Historical
Archaeology 35(1).
Scott, D.D., P., Willey, and Melissa A. Connor
1998 They Died with Custer: Soldiers Bones from the Battle of the Little
Bighorn. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman.
Connor,
Melissa A.
1997 Forensic Archaeology: An Application of
Methods. Anthropology Newsletter 38(3):29-30.
Connor,
Melissa A.
1996 The Archaeology of Contemporary Mass
Graves. SAA Bulletin 14(4)6-31
Connor, Melissa A., and D.D. Scott
1996 Archeologists and the United Nations
Tribunals. CRM 19(10):32.
Scott, D.D., and Melissa
A. Connor
1996 Context
Delicti: Archaeological Context in Forensic Work. In Forensic
Taphonomy: The Post-Mortem Fate of Human Remains, edited by W. Haglund and
M. Sorg, pp.27-38 CRC Press.
Connor,
Melissa A.
1995
Paradigm in the Rough. In Beyond Subsistence: Plains Archaeology and the
Postprocessual Critique, edited by P.Duke and M.Wilson. University of
Alabama Press.
Connor, Melissa A.
1993
Human Ecology of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. In the 7th Conference on Research and
Resource Management in Parks and on Public Lands. George Wright Society,
Michigan.
Romme, W.H., L. Floyd-Hanna, and Melissa A. Connor
1993
Effects of Fire on Cultural Resources at Mesa Verde NP. Park Science 13(3): 28-30.
Connor,
Melissa A.
1991 The
Application of Comparative Bone Histology to Fragmented Archeological Bone from
the Reno-Benteen Dump, Custer Battlefield National Historic Monument. In Little Bighorn Battlefield Archeology, The
Dump, Marker 7, and the Reno Crossing. Edited by Douglas D. Scott. J & L Reprint Company, Lincoln, Nebraska.
Connor, Melissa A., and K.P. Cannon
1991
Forest Fires as a Site Formation Process in the Rocky Mountains of Northwestern
Wyoming. Archeology in Montana,
Special Issue, Fire: Anthropological and Archeological Perspectives, 32
(2):1-14.
Connor, Melissa A., K. Chyi, D. C. Carlevato, and K. P. Cannon
1991 Ceramics and Clay Nodules from Jackson
Lake Wyoming: Description and Mineralogical Analysis. Plains Anthropologist
36(135).
Connor, Melissa A.,
1989 High Country Contentions: Comments on Bender and
Wright. American Anthropologist 91(4).
Scott, D.D., R. Fox, Melissa A. Connor, and D. Harmon
1989 Archaeological
Perspectives on the Battle of the Little Bighorn. University of Oklahoma
Press, Norman.
Connor, Melissa A., K. P. Cannon, and D.C. Carlevato
1989
The Mountains Burnt: Forest Fires and Site Formation Processes. North
American Archaeologist 10(4): 293-320.
Scott,
D.D., and Melissa A. Connor
1988
Reburial at the Little Bighorn. CRM
Bulletin Vol. II, No. 5-6.
Scott, D.D., Melissa
A. Connor, and C.C. Snow
1988 Nameless
Faces of Custer Battlefield. Greasy Grass
4: 2-4.
Scott, D.D., and Melissa
A. Connor
1986
Post-Mortem at the Little Bighorn. Natural
History 95 (6): 46-55.
Price, T.D., Melissa A. Connor, and John Parsen
1985 Bone Chemistry and Reconstruction of Diet. Journal
of Archaeological Science 12: 419-422.
Connor, Melissa A., and D.C. Slaughter
1984 A Diachronic Investigation of Eskimo Diet
Utilizing Trace Element Analysis. Arctic Anthropology 21(1): 123-134.
Forensic
Technical Reports:
Connor,
Melissa A.
1999 Bivolje Brdo
Exhumation. State Commission on Missing
Persons (17-19 June 1998). Forensic
Monitoring Project Report. Physicians for Human Rights, Tuzla, Bosnia and
Hercegovenia
1999 Bukova Greda
Exhumation. Republika Srpska Commission
on Missing and Tracing. (21 August 1998). Physicians
for Human Rights, Tuzla, Bosnia and Hercegovenia
1999 Domanovici
Exhumation. State Commission on Missing
Persons (18 June 1998). Forensic
Monitoring Project Report. Physicians for Human Rights, Tuzla, Bosnia and
Hercegovenia
Connor, Melissa A. and H. York
1999 Buna Exhumation. State Commission on
Missing Persons (25 August 1998). Forensic Monitoring Project Report.
Physicians for Human Rights, Tuzla, Bosnia and Hercegovenia.
Haglund, W. D., Melissa A. Connor, R. Stair, and T. Simmons
1999 The Chemmani, Sri Lanka, Exhumations: A Report from the Expert
Observers. Physicians for Human Rights, 100 Boyleston Street Suite 702, Boston
MA.
Connor,
Melissa A.
1999 Prijedor Exhumations: Federal Commission
on Missing Persons-Croat Side (16 October 1999). Forensic Monitoring Project
Report. Physicians for Human Rights, Tuzla, Bosnia and Hercegovenia.
1998 Bijelo Pole Exhumations. State
Commission on Missing Persons (15 June 1998).
Forensic Monitoring Project Report. Physicians for Human Rights, Tuzla,
Bosnia and Hercegovenia.
1998 Bivolje Brdo Exhumation.State
Commission on Missing Persons (17-19 June 1998). Physicians for Human Rights,
Tuzla, Bosnia and Hercegovenia.
1998 Brkanovo Brdo and Mostarsko
Blato Exhumations. State Commission on Missing Persons (8-9 June 1998). Forensic Monitoring Project Report.
Physicians for Human Rights, Tuzla, Bosnia and Hercegovenia.
1998 Bukova Greda Exhumation.
Republika Srpska Commission on Missing and Tracing (21 August 1998). Physicians
for Human Rights, Tuzla, Bosnia and Hercegovenia
1998 Buna Exhumations. State Commission on Missing Persons (24
August 1998). Forensic Monitoring
Project Report. Physicians for Human
Rights, Tuzla, Bosnia and Hercegovenia.
1998 Donji Rujani Exhumations and
Borovača Surface Collection. Republika Srpska Commission on Missing and Tracing (11 June 1998). Forensic Monitoring Project Report. Physicians for Human Rights, Tuzla, Bosnia
and Hercegovenia.
1998 Livač Exhumations. State Commission
on Missing Persons (15 June 1998).
Forensic Monitoring Project Report. Physicians for Human Rights, Tuzla,
Bosnia and Hercegovenia.
1998 Pijesci Exhumations. State Commission on
Missing Persons (18 June 1998). Forensic
Monitoring Project Report. Physicians for Human Rights, Tuzla, Bosnia and
Hercegovenia.
1998 Rogatica Exhumations. State Commission
on Missing Persons (1-4 September; 15 September 1998). Forensic Monitoring
Project Report. Physicians for Human Rights, Tuzla, Bosnia and Hercegovenia.
1998 Rogatica Exhumations. State Commission on Missing Persons (4-8
October; 4-11 November 1998). Forensic Monitoring Project Report. Physicians
for Human Rights, Tuzla, Bosnia and Hercegovenia.
1998 Zaklopača Exhumations. State
Commission on Missing Persons (22-24 June 1998). Forensic Monitoring Project Report.
Physicians for Human Rights, Tuzla, Bosnia and Hercegovenia.
Connor,
Melissa A., and J. Gould
1998 Duljevac Exhumations. State Commission
on Missing Persons (15-17 September 1998).
Forensic Monitoring Project Report. Physicians for Human Rights, Tuzla,
Bosnia and Hercegovenia.
Connor,
Melissa A., J. Gould, B. Kennedy, and H. York
1998 Prozor Exhumations. State Commission on
Missing Persons (23 September – 27 October 1998). Forensic Monitoring Project Report.
Physicians for Human Rights, Tuzla, Bosnia and Hercegovenia.
Connor,
Melissa A., H. York, and M. Skinner
1998
Čaprazlije Cemetery Exhumations and Provo Surface Collection.
Republika Srpska Commission on Missing
and Tracing (11 June 1998). Forensic Monitoring Project Report. Physicians for Human Rights, Tuzla, Bosnia
and Hercegovenia.
Haglund, W. D., Melissa A. Connor, D.D. Scott, and T. Gros
1997 Report of a
Forensic Investigation for the Remains of Andras Kassapis near Mania, Cypress.
Report for Office of Southern European Affairs, U.S. Department of State,
Plus, over 90 archaeological technical reports and 20
papers presented at conferences.
Cultural Resource Management | Workshops | Forensic Archeology | Site and Scene Mapping and Cartography | Connor Biography