List of Awards
 Keith Kintigh President-elect |
 Barbara Little Secretary-elect |
 Rebecca Hawkins Board member |
 Sarah Neusius Board member |
 Janet Levy--
The job of awards coordinator is certainly one of the most anonymous, yet one
of the most important, within SAA. Janet Levy has done this job with
extraordinary skill and energy since 1995. She has kept close tabs on a dozen
award committees--answering questions, helping with committee appointments,
serving as the keeper of institutional memory, and making sure the awards
process runs smoothly and on time. She has also taken on the job of chairing
SAA's newly created Committee on Awards. Without her help, this part of the
annual business meeting simply wouldn't happen. And without her conscientious
support, my job as president would have been much harder. In recent years, Levy
has participated in the giving of many awards and so it is now only fitting
that she herself receive one.
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 William Lovis--
No issue that SAA has faced in recent years has been so fraught with difficult
choices, emotional debates, and legislative initiatives as that of
repatriation. William Lovis, as chair of SAA's Committee on Repatriation, has
handled all this with extraordinary skill and aplomb. Over the past three
years, Lovis and his committee have taken on a heavy workload--commenting on
legislation, reviewing regulations, drafting letters to agencies, and doing all
this under the constraints of the short deadlines that Washington politics
demand. For these contributions, and for his many years of previous service as
a member of the Repatriation Committee and as chair of the Government Affairs
Committee, I am pleased to honor Lovis with this award.
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 Stephen Dyson for Archaeology Magazine--
Over the past two decades, public education in archaeology has emerged as a
major priority for SAA. But in this respect, SAA has been a latecomer compared
to Archaeology magazine, which has been bringing archaeology to the
public for half a century. Throughout its long and distinguished history,
Archaeology has championed causes and covered issues of great importance
to American archaeology. In its editorial policy and its messages from the AIA
president, Archaeology has raised important issues concerning the proper
use of the archaeological record, the effects of modern development on sites,
the importance of public education and outreach, and the need to fight looting
and trafficking. Archaeology currently reaches over 200,000 subscribers,
40 times the number who read any given issue of American Antiquity,
Latin American Antiquity, or SAA Bulletin. For these
contributions, and in honor of its 50th anniversary, I proudly present
Archaeology magazine with this award. (Stephen Dyson, president of AIA
accepted the award on behalf of Archaeology.)
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 Ed Friedman--
No committee in SAA is larger, more active, and more important to the future of
archaeology than the Public Education Committee. The heart and soul of this
committee has been Ed Friedman, its long-time chair. During the 1980s, Ed was
instrumental in a number of public education initiatives that laid the
groundwork for our current program: he was a member of the National Park
Service's Public Awareness Working Group, a key player in the first "Save the
Past for the Future" workshop, and participated in the follow-up meeting called
"Presenting the Past to the Public." Out of these meetings grew the SAA's Task
Force on Public Education, which later became the Public Education Committee,
both of which were chaired by Friedman. He oversaw the writing of the "Action
Plan" of 1990 and the "Strategic Plan" in 1992, documents that have guided
SAA's public education program ever since. Under his leadership, our public
education program has flourished, generating many successful initiatives,
including such ventures as the Archaeology and Public Education
newsletter, the Archaeology Resource Forum, workshops for teachers, the
nationwide network of public education coordinators, SAA's archaeology week
poster contest, and a variety of informational brochures. For his many
accomplishments, inspiring leadership, and unparalleled contribution to
American archaeology, I am proud to honor Ed Friedman with this Presidential
Recognition Award.
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The SAA Book Award is given each year to the author of a book, published within the preceding three years, that has had or is expected to have a major impact on the direction and character of archaeological research. This year we have two winners.
 Tom D. Dillehay--
The first award goes to Tom D. Dillehay for his book Monte Verde, A
Pleistocene Settlement in Chile. The site of Monte Verde is critical to the
prehistory of the Americas as it presents the best evidence for a pre-Clovis
occupation of the western hemisphere. The award recognizes the extreme care
given to the site's excavation, analysis, and publication. The detailed
evaluation of the site formation processes and taphonomy sets a new standard
for all archaeologists--not just those interested in late Pleistocene sites.
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Stephen Plog-- Occasionally, an award will be made for outstanding contributions to the public understanding of archaeology. This year's second Book Award recognizes a superb example in this latter category: Stephen Plog's Ancient Peoples of the American Southwest. This book presents a nicely written and beautifully illustrated overview of the prehistory of the native peoples of the Southwest. It is up to date and richly annotated with excellent guides to the literature. The final chapters on the historic period connect prehistory with the modern native groups. The book's popular appeal is further enhanced by a visitor's guide to southwestern monuments open to the public. |
 Robert L. Rands--
This year's Award for Excellence in Ceramic Studies goes to Robert L. Rands,
who has contributed to ceramic studies for almost five decades. Throughout his
career, he has conceived of ceramic studies in multi-dimensional terms and
contributed to both theoretical and methodological aspects of ceramic analysis.
Rands presented his first paper on the ceramics of Palenque at the 1952 SAA
meeting and participated in the seminal Maya Lowlands Ceramics Conference in
1965. During those years he focused on spatial analysis as a basis for
inferences about centralization in early state societies and examined
variability in natural resources, relating their use to production and trade
issues. In subsequent years, Rands pioneered the study of compositional
approaches to ceramic studies in order to address questions of regional
exchange and interaction. His research on the ceramics of Palenque represents a
culmination of this multidimensional approach. Although Rands's research has
focused on the Lowland Maya, his articles in the Handbook of Middle American
Indians remain key references on Highland Maya pottery and figurines. SAA
commends Rands for his long and productive career and the many innovations to
ceramic analysis that he has introduced into the field.
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Reca Jones--
The Crabtree Award for outstanding contributions by an avocational
archaeologist is presented to Reca Jones of West Monroe, La. For the past 25
years, Jones has been actively preserving and recording the prehistory of
northeastern Louisiana. She has documented ceramic collections of relic
hunters, conducted archaeological surveys in the Ouachita and Mississippi river
valleys, obtained site access for professional archaeologists, assisted in
field excavations, and conducted replication experiments. She has published her
work in state and national journals, and her research has been presented at
state, regional, and national meetings. Jones has served as president of the
Louisiana Archaeological Society, and currently is a board member of the
Louisiana Archaeological Conservancy. These achievements have been accomplished
while holding a full-time job, raising a family, helping run a farm, and taking
every available archaeology class at Northeast Louisiana University. Perhaps
her greatest achievement is her work at Watson Brake, a Middle Archaic mound
complex. Jones was the first to recognize the oval configuration of 11 mounds
and ridges, which she recorded with the state in 1983. In 1981, John Belmont of
Harvard and Jones mapped the site; and in 1985 she published the first account
of the site. She has since encouraged professional archaeologists to
investigate the site, research that finally began in 1993. For more than 20
years, Jones's monitoring of Watson Brake has prevented damage to the site by
timbering operations and relic hunters. Jones's efforts are a testament to hard
work, persistence, dedication, and remarkable enthusiasm. SAA is proud to
recognize Reca Jones's many achievements with the Crabtree Award.
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 David A. Frederickson--
SAA awards the 1998 Excellence in Cultural Resource Management Award to David
A. Frederickson for his outstanding contribution in Program Administration and
Management. Frederickson is professor emeritus at Sonoma State University and a
long-time proponent of quality CRM. Early in his career, he became an advocate
for research in CRM and the participation of Native Americans in the business.
In the 1960s, Frederickson was a founding member and first president of the
Society for California Archaeology. A few years later, he established the
Anthropological Studies Center at Sonoma State University, which focuses on
contract archaeology and ethnography. As the ASC grew, Frederickson established
a master's program in CRM at the university that still draws students. In
addition to these accomplishments, Frederickson fostered collaboration in
historic preservation as a trustee of the California Preservation Foundation.
In the 1980s, he also worked with others in California to formulate a state
historic plan. Not only has Frederickson shown great skill in CRM program
administration and management, but he has also trained, taught, and helped many
researchers through the years. It is for all these reasons that we honor him
with this award.
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 Mark D. Varien--
The SAA Dissertation Award for 1998 is presented to Mark D. Varien for his
dissertation entitled "New Perspectives on Settlement Patterns: Sedentism and
Mobility in a Social Landscape." The dissertation was written at Arizona State
University under the guidance of Keith Kintigh and a distinguished committee.
Varien's dissertation is exceptional in that it makes genuinely important
contributions to theory, method, and our substantive understanding of an
important archaeological region. His primary theoretical contribution concerns
household economy and community mobility. He made major refinements to standard
methodology in order to reconstruct prehistoric demography. These too will have
a significant impact on the discipline over the next few years. Finally, he has
made a significant contribution to our understanding of the Mesa Verde region
of southwestern Colorado. His dissertation is a model for others to emulate in
the future.
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Fryxell Award for Interdisciplinary Research
 John W. Weymouth--
This year's winner of the Fryxell Award for Interdisciplinary Research in
archaeology is John W. Weymouth, who earned his PhD in physics from the
University of California-Berkeley in 1951. Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, he
explored the application of a variety of physical and analytic
techniques--among them x-ray diffraction of ceramics--to archaeology. Since the
early 1970s, he has made physical sensing techniques his prime research focus.
He initially experimented with proton magnetometer survey as a tool for
locating buried features at archaeological sites. Since then, and even in
retirement, he has expanded his purview, working with resistivity, ground
penetrating radar, and chemical surveying. Weymouth has continually refined
these techniques, pioneering their use in a wide range of historic and
prehistoric contexts in North America, Japan, and Europe. In addition, Weymouth
is a generous scholar, eager to share his knowledge, expertise, maps, and data.
He is a patient teacher, enthusiastically explaining the complexities of
geophysics to archaeological and diverse popular audiences. He has consulted
with countless archaeologists, pushing sensors or filters to perform at the
highest possible level. For making geophysical techniques an indispensable part
of the archaeological tool kit, SAA is honored to present this award to
Weymouth.
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Excellence in Lithic Studies Award
 Kenneth Hirth--
For his multiple contributions to the study of ancient lithic production and
trade within the broader economies of Mesoamerica, for his extensive
experimental work with stone tools, and for his dedicated teaching of students
in these fields, SAA is pleased to honor Kenneth Hirth as the 1998 recipient of
the Excellence in Lithic Studies Award. His research on modes of lithic
production and distribution is noteworthy for its consistent attention to the
social, economic, and behavioral implications of stone tool industries. For
example, in studies of obsidian craft production in Mexico, he and his students
have explored the many socioeconomic consequences of craft manufacturing and
exchange. His work in Honduras has considered the important ritual uses of
semiprecious stone artifacts. Moreover, Hirth is a very skilled knapper who has
successfully replicated ancient methods and who has trained many students in
these unique skills. He also has recently integrated use-wear analysis and
neutron activation analysis with his research. A two-time Fulbright-Hays
Fellowship recipient, Hirth has authored more than 65 articles and chapters and
six books and monographs. Many of these have made important contributions to
our understanding of the past through comprehensive and insightful analyses of
stone industries.
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Professional Member Category The Professional Poster Award goes to Shannon P. McPherron and Harold L. Dibble for their poster "The Middle Paleolithic Site of Pech de l'Aze IV." This year's Student Poster Award goes to Lisa Nagaoka for her poster entitled "Resource Depletion, Extinction, and Subsistence Change in Southern New Zealand." |
State Archaeology Week Poster Contest
| Each year the State Archaeology Week Poster Contest is held at the Annual Meeting, sponsored by the Public Education Committee and the Council of Affiliated Societies. This year's event included over 30 posters, which were on display in the Exhibit Hall. The winners are: Third Prize, Massachusetts (received by Brona Simon); Second Prize, Utah (submitted by Renee Weder, but not present); First Prize, Wyoming (received by Julie Francis). | |
 Brona Simon |
 Julie Francis
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Excellence in Public Education Award
 Jan Coleman-Knight--
This year's Award for Excellence in Public Education is presented to Jan
Coleman-Knight for her outstanding contributions to the education of students
and teachers, and for her development of curriculum materials for the teaching
of archaeology. Coleman-Knight is chair of the History-Social Science
Department at Thornton Junior High School in Fremont, California, where she
teaches 7th-grade world history. In addition, she teaches graduate-level
courses in history-social science methods at Cal-State, Hayward, and has
trained teachers as a facilitator for the State History Projects at UCLA and
San Francisco State. Among her many accomplishments, Coleman-Knight was
instrumental in redesigning the curriculum in California's History-Social
Science Framework, placing an emphasis on archaeology. The California State
Framework has been adopted by several other states. She wrote the Teacher's
Curriculum Institute materials on medieval China and Japan. Coleman-Knight
received one of 24 NEH/AIA national fellowships to attend a summer institute on
trade in the ancient Mediterranean. As a result of her participation in this
institute, her students have developed web sites on Roman engineering and
trade. She also was awarded the Golden Bell Award from the California School
Board Association for her "Trekking Through the Stone Age" project.
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 Loretta F. Neumann--
SAA is honored to present its 1998 Public Service Award to Loretta F. Neumann
for her contributions to preserving America's archaeological heritage. As a
congressional staff member between 1973 and 1986 (starting as a legislative
analyst to Rep. John Seiberling), Neumann handled issues and legislation on
energy, environment, and land conservation. Soon afterward, Neumann was a
professional staff member for the House Committee on Interior and Insular
Affairs and served on the General Oversight and Alaska Lands, Public Lands,
Public Lands and National Parks, and Public Lands subcommittees. Neumann
contributed to the development and successful passage of major archaeological
legislation during her tenure in Congress, especially the Archaeological
Resources Protection Act of 1979. From the private sector, she helped SAA in
the development of the 1987 Abandoned Shipwreck Act, the Native American Graves
Protection and Repatriation Act of 1990, and the 1992 amendments to the
National Historic Preservation Act. She was also instrumental in the
development of the National Center for Preservation Technology. But most of
all, Neuman almost single-handedly guided SAA from the amateur to the
professional era of government affairs. Today, SAA is the recognized leader
among archaeological organizations in Washington politics, thanks to the
foundation that Neumann helped lay. This Public Service Award is a tribute from
SAA for Loretta Neumann's long service to archaeology and historic preservation
over many years. She has made a real contribution to building the system of
legislation and professional lobbying that we now all take for granted.
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 Diedtra Henderson--
The Gene S. Stuart Award is presented annually to a member of the press in
recognition of outstanding efforts to enhance public understanding of
archaeology. In an article entitled "New Branch of the Human Family Tree?" in
the Seattle Times of December 23, 1997, Diedtra Henderson provides
current information about the initial human occupation of the Americas as
context for Kennewick Man, who, since his discovery in 1996, has generated much
excitement and controversy, both among archaeologists of various persuasions
and among archaeologists and Native Americans in terms of the treatment of
human remains. Using quotations and commentary from several scholars and citing
archaeological and physical anthropological data from southern Asia to Chile,
Henderson presents the story of the "Paleo-Americans" as possible predecessors
to the Clovis Big-Game Hunters. Against the background of the archaeological
issues and values, Henderson quotes a Native American leader to illustrate the
perspective of those who oppose the use of human remains to solve scientific
problems. Given the issues at hand, Henderson merits special commendation for
her balanced approach. Her style is clear and compelling and makes the material
readily accessible to the lay person. In her article, research interests and
values are weighed fairly against respect for human remains in a fashion that
the general reader can understand and appreciate. Therefore, and with great
pleasure, the committee presents the Gene S. Stuart Award for 1998 to Diedtra
Henderson of the Seattle Times.
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 Raymond H. Thompson--
SAA takes enormous pleasure in presenting the 1998 Distinguished Service Award
to Raymond H. Thompson, director of the Arizona State Museum for more than 30
years and head of the University of Arizona's Anthropology Department for 16
years. Thompson's service to the Society is distinguished; he has served as
president, associate editor, and on the executive committee, but his service to
the profession of archaeology does not end there. He has been the chair of
Section H of the AAAS, a member of the editorial board of Science, a
director and president of the Council for Museum Anthropology, a member of the
steering committee of ASCA, and was involved in innumerable other museum and
preservation organizations. At the University of Arizona, Thompson was an
outstanding teacher; his legendary course, "Principles of Archaeology," taught
at 8 a.m. every semester for 40 years, turned thousands of students on to
archaeology. At the museum he was a pioneer in two crucial areas,
computerization and conservation of collections, and was central in linking
museums with cultural resource management. And last, but not least, he is said
to write great doggerel and limericks. Thompson has already received many
awards and honors; we are glad to add the SAA's Distinguished Service Award to
the list.
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| The Native American Scholarship Fund was established in 1988, largely through the efforts of Robert Kelly and David Hurst Thomas. Now, 10 years later, the fund has finally grown to the point where the principal can support an annual scholarship. The scholarship is named in honor of SAA's first president, Arthur C. Parker, who was of Seneca ancestry. The goal of the scholarship is not to produce Native American archaeologists, but rather to provide training for Native Americans, so that they can take to their communities an understanding of archaeology, and also that they might show archaeologists better ways to integrate the goals of native people and archaeology. I am pleased to announce that the recipient of the first Arthur C. Parker Scholarship is Angela Steiner, who is currently a PhD student at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Her dissertation research looks at the movement of Native Hawaiian organizations to gain control over their cultural heritage through the authority of NAGPRA, and her professional goal is to return to Hawaii and work in an institution where she can provide guidance, assistance, and education about archaeology, preservation, and collections issues to Native Hawaiians. The $1,500 check from the scholarship will be used by Neller to help her attend curatorial training on the nature of materials and the causes and effects of deterioration to enable caretakers to make informed decisions regarding collections care. |