Committee Name: Fryxell Award for Interdisciplinary Research

Current Committee Charge: The Fryxell Award for Interdisciplinary Research Award Committee is charged with selecting an awardee whose research has contributed significantly to American archaeology.

Committee Composition: Committee composition is one chair and four members, who serve five-year terms. Committee chair rotates among topical foci. Committee membership is by appointment rather than by volunteers.

Committee Chair and End of Term: Michael Glascock [2014]

Committee Chair Contact Information: Michael Glascock, Archaeometry Laboratory, Department of Archaeology, University of Missouri Research Reactor, 1513 Research Park Drive, p: (573) 882-5270, fax: (573) 882-6360, email: glascockm@missouri.edu

Committee Members and Ends of Terms: Ben Fitzhugh [2015], Michael Glassock [2014], Paul Goldberg [2014], Mary C. Stiner [2015]

Board Liaison: Melinda Zeder

Award Description: The Fryxell Award is presented in recognition for interdisciplinary excellence of a scientist who need not be an archaeologist, but whose research has contributed significantly to American archaeology. The award is made possible through the generosity of the family of the late Roald Fryxell, a geologist whose career exemplified the crucial role of multidisciplinary cooperation in archaeology. The award cycles through zoological sciences, botanical sciences, earth sciences, physical sciences, and general interdisciplinary studies. The 2014 Fryxell Award will be in the area of physical sciences. The award consists of an engraved medal, a certificate, an award citation read by the SAA president during the annual business meeting, and a half-day symposium at the Annual Meeting held in honor of the awardee.

Who Is Eligible to Submit Nominations or Apply for Award: Any professional archaeologist may submit nominations for this award. Nominees must be SAA members by the time of their nomination.

Nomination/Submission Materials Required: Nominators must submit a letter that describe the nature, scope, and significance of the nominee’s contributions to American archaeology, as well as the nominee’s curriculum vita. Support letters from other scholars are helpful. Four to six are suggested. Please email submissions in pdf format to the committee chair.

Nomination/Submission Deadline: February 4, 2013

Other Special Requirements: The award cycles through zoological sciences, botanical sciences, earth sciences, physical sciences, and general interdisciplinary studies. The 2013 Fryxell Award will be awarded in the earth sciences category.

Selection or Evaluation Criteria: Nominees are evaluated on the breadth and depth of their research and its impact on American archaeology, the nominee’s role in increasing awareness of interdisciplinary studies in archaeology, and the nominee’s public and professional service to the community.

Committee Deliberation Process (e.g. dates, venue): The committee meets electronically after the nomination deadline has passed.

Nature of Award (e.g. monetary, medal, symposium): The award consists of an engraved medal, a certificate, an award citation read by the SAA president during the annual business meeting, and a half-day symposium at the Annual Meeting held in honor of the awardee.

Awardees

2011    R.Lee Lyman

No single person has brought such strong taphonomic and paleontological rigor to the discipline of zooarchaeology as R. Lee Lyman. His work has been instrumental in convincing Quaternary scientists and conservation biologists on the value of archaeological records to understanding past ecosystems. Early in his career, Lyman initiated leading-edge research by devising rigorous methods for measuring animal bone density, which greatly increased our ability to assess the role that human and nonhuman forces play in creating faunal assemblages. His research on cervids was immediately embraced by the archaeological community, and later expanded to include numerous taxa from diverse geographic locations and temporal periods. His problem-oriented research revolutionized the study of marine mammals with regional-scale analysis of butchery, prey demography, biogeography, and modern conservation. His publication record by any measure is extraordinary. Lyman’s meticulous, quantitative methods have become the gold standard to which his students and peers are always striving to achieve. It is for these reasons and more that we honor R. Lee Lyman with this award.

2010    Jane E. Buikstra
2009    Michael D. Glascock
2008    Paul Goldberg
2007    Vaughn M. Bryant
2006    Oscar Polaco Ramos
2005    Bruce D. Smith
2004    R.E. (Erv) Taylor
2003    George Rapp
2002    Deborah M. Pearsall
2001    Melinda A. Zeder
2000    Richards S. MacNeish
1999    Henry P. Schwarcz
1998    John W. Weymouth
1997    Vorsila L. Bohrer
1996    Elizabeth S. Wing
1995    Robert J. Braidwood
1994    Garman Harbottle
1993    Herbert E. Wright, Jr.
1992    Richard Yarnell
1991    Paul W. Parmalee
1990    Patty Jo Watson
1989    Joseph B. Lambert
1988    David M. Hopkins
1987    Richard I. Ford
1986    Donald K. Grayson
1985    Roger T. Saucier
1984    None
1983    John E. Guilday (posthumous)
1982    David J. Baerreis
1981    Karl W. Butzer
1980    James B. Griffin
1979    Peter J. Mehringer
1978    C. Vance Haynes