List of Awards
 Brian Fagan--For introducing a generation of college students to
archaeology through solidly researched and clearly written textbooks,
and for indefatigably sharing with the public the joy and wonder of
genuine archaeology, through books, articles, films, and now, the
Internet. |
  Paul Fish and Suzanne K. Fish--For serving as Program Committee Cochairs
and masterfully assembling the largest-ever scholarly program in SAA's
61-year history. |
 Jonathan Lizee--For bringing SAA into the information age by developing
the society's new World Wide Web site, and for exceptional service on
the Task Force on Information Technology. |
 Toni Moore--For dedicated and exceptionally skillful service as SAA's
public information officer at annual meetings, thereby ensuring that the
most current archaeological research becomes accessible to the general
public through the print and visual media. |
Carol Shull--For promoting a wider public appreciation of archaeology by encouraging the nomination of archaeological sites to the National Register of Historic Places and by initiating the National Register's recent conference and forthcoming publication on the public benefits of archaeology. |
 George Stuart--For ensuring a strong voice for archaeology within one of
America's premier research and educational institutions, the National
Geographic Society, and for helping SAA reach tens of thousands of
students by writing and producing the pamphlets "Your Career in
Archeology" and "Archaeology and You." |
 Mary C. Stiner--For her outstanding book Honor Among Thieves: A
Zooarchaeological Study of Neandertal Ecology, a powerful work promising
to be widely influential. |
| This study lays out explicit methodological frameworks within which to examine all the categories of evidence relevant to interpretation of a number of archaeological and paleontological assemblages from Italy. The convergence of evidence leads Stiner to conclude that a major economic transformation occurred in the middle of the Mousterian period, challenging our traditional interpretation that it occurred at the end. This will certainly stimulate Mousterian discussion and research far into the future. |
 Dean E. Arnold--In recognition of his long-term contributions to ceramic
ethnoarchaeology, ceramic ecology, and the ethnography of pottery-making
communities. His active scholarship continues to contribute to the
theoretical and substantive issues of the discipline. |
| Arnold designs his research around tight and well-specified theoretical concerns, grounding his investigations in specific geographical regions. He crafts his research meticulously: rationales and choices for collecting the evidence are clear at every turn. It is precisely the links that Arnold forges, joining theory to method to material culture, that signal the importance and relevance of his work for understanding ceramic technology specifically, and for other craft technologies as well. His fieldwork among contemporary Latin American potters has led to a better understanding of the impacts of technoeconomic and sociocultural change; his compelling oral presentations and thought- provoking writings have contributed significantly to archaeological literature; he is an extraordinary teacher and mentor; and he has made major contributions to ceramic ecology and ceramic theory, and the socioeconomics of pottery production, distribution, and exchange. |
 James H. Word--In recognition of a long and illustrious career as an
avocational archaeologist. |
| Word has worked tirelessly for more than three decades to further our understanding of the prehistory and early history of the southern High Plains as well as central and western Texas. In addition, he has published full technical reports on his three most significant projects: Baker Cave, Dunlap Complex, and Floydada Country Club site. He has served as a role model and educator of other amateur archaeologists, and as a long-time member of the Texas Archaeological Society, has provided guidance as an officer, regional director, and crew chief of the annual field school. Now retired, he continues his active role in archaeology, speaking about the importance of preservation of both sites and collections to numerous groups. |
 William R. Hildebrandt--For exemplary career-long research in cultural
resource management that has contributed greatly to an understanding of
archaeology in California and the Great Basin. |
| While he is recognized as a leading authority on maritime economies and the evolution of coastal adaptations, Hildebrandt has also focused on California mid-Holocene lifeways, gender organization, obsidian quarry production, and faunal analysis. For the past 20 years, 10 as president of the Far Western Anthropological Research Group, Hildebrandt has conducted substantive archaeological research in the West, including writing an array of high-quality technical studies and reports, considered benchmarks for current academic and CRM research. Committed to reaching wider scholarly audiences, Hildebrandt has published many of the technical studies as monographs and much of his research in regional and national journals. |
 Daniel R. Finamore--For his dissertation Sailors and Slaves on the Wood-
cutting Frontier: Archaeology of the British Bay Settlement, Belize
(Boston University, 1994; advisor, Patricia McAnany). |
| Finamore's work is an original and creative archaeological contribution to the study of social and economic frontier transformations in the modern world, and specifically, it provides an understanding of Belizian cultural heritage by centrally situating African ancestors of contemporary Belizians in their country's historical development. With careful attention to historical context, he skillfully integrates field survey data, forestry history, written texts, and excavated remains to trace the development of English timber extraction in 18th-century Belize. Through the study of 19 wood-cutting camps, he reveals the processes of change from an early, loosely integrated, egalitarian frontier society to a later stratified and formalized society. In his characterization of change, Finamore emphasizes labor systems, contrasting the early gangs of English ex-privateers and sailors to the later gangs composed of African slaves, a form of nonplantation slavery that is poorly studied either historically or archaeologically. He makes an important contribution to our understanding of slavery in the Americas by revealing the material world of these African slave gangs and bringing the unwritten history of these first African American inhabitants to the foreground. |
Marcia Ann Dobres--For her dissertation Gender in the Making: Late Magdalenian Social Relations of Production in the French Midi-Pyrenees, (University of California, Berkeley, 1995; advisor, Margaret Conkey), which contributes a new conceptual framework for the study of the social relations of production involved in the technologies of past communal societies. Dobres argues for a gender-informed perspective that technologies are social undertakings, and addresses the analysis of the techniques and social relations of production of late Magdalenian bone and antler technology from this position. She creatively develops and builds a comprehensive theoretical framework and couples this with an innovative, empirically based methodological approach.
Robert McCormick Adams--For his national leadership in the promotion of
science and archaeology and, in particular, for his support of
institutional and public policies regarding archaeology, encouraging us
all to better appreciate the past.
During a long and extraordinary career, Adams has enriched,
strengthened, and guided major institutions, always supporting the
national goals of archaeology. Adams has held many leadership roles,
including several at the University of Chicago and with the National
Academy of Sciences. He has been a trustee to numerous other
institutions of importance to national life such as Morehouse College,
the Russell Sage Foundation, and the Santa Fe Institute. He has
collaborated on many publications relevant to the larger view of
scientific research. Perhaps his best-known role was as secretary of the
Smithsonian from 1984 through 1994, a period of fiscal restraint during
which Adams was instrumental in acquiring the Heye Foundation
collection. This collection of Native American art and artifacts would
form a major part of the National Museum of the American Indian, created
by Congress with Adams's strong backing. During this period he also
helped to implement legislation calling for the repatriation of Native
American remains and religious artifacts (Native American Graves
Protection and Repatriation Act), one of the most multifaceted and
deeply felt issues confronted by archaeologists.
Distinguished Service Award
 Elizabeth S. Wing--For her pioneering efforts in the study of human
interaction with animal populations, her accomplishments in
environmental archaeology, and her role in nurturing the careers of
interdisciplinary archaeologists. |
| Wing has been a leading figure in the integration of the biological sciences with the study of the human past. Her work on the domestication of New World camelids, guinea pigs, and dogs was the first to investigate the role of these animals in the economic systems of pre- contact peoples in the Americas. Her landmark studies of island archaeofaunas have documented the role of human populations in shaping animal succession of island environments. Her book Paleonutrition: Method and Theory in Prehistoric Foodways, coauthored with Antoinette Brown in 1979, remains a landmark in the synthesis of cultural attitudes and approaches to subsistence, human biology, and zooarchaeology. She has pioneered new methods that have become standard tools in zooarchaeology. She has long lobbied for, nurtured, and protected one of the finest programs in environmental archaeology in the United States at the Florida Museum of Natural History, where she now is curator of zooarchaeology, and has used this program as a training ground for a diverse array of students. As a wonderful role model, she has imbued in many researchers a dedication to interdisciplinary science in archaeology, and she is admired for her steely will, determination, and, above all, her grace and generosity. |
Award for Excellence in Lithic Studies
 Jay K. Johnson--For his innovations in stone tool research, his
extensive publishing in this area, and his expertise as a teacher of
stone tool studies. |
| While beginning his research in lithics by working with obsidian artifacts from the Maya site Palenque, Johnson has focused over the past 20 years on the southeastern United States, where his studies have brought new approaches to lithics study. Significant research efforts have included studies of Archaic chert quarries, stone tool breakage pattern analysis, Poverty Point blade technologies, and prehistoric exchange systems, involving both Archaic and Mississippian cultures. His book coauthored with Carol Morrow, The Organization of Core Technology, represented the first concerted effort to deal with early stages in the lithic production system. He has also done obsidian research at the sites of Cuello and Nohmul in Belize and continues his involvement with Maya lithic studies. |
 Stephen H. Lekson--For his poster "Chaco and Casas Grandes" in the
Professional category. |
 Adam King--For the poster "Political Change in the Etowah River Valley
Chiefdoms" in the Student category. |
 Clinton C. Hoffman--For the poster "Location, Location, Location: Early
Holocene Prime Real Estate in the Great Basin" in the Student category. |
Public Education Recognition Award
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| Producers and Writers of the Paramount Network Television series StarTrek Voyager and StarTrek: The Next Generation--To recognize their outstanding contributions to improved public understanding and appreciation of anthropology and scientific archaeology. |
| These two StarTrek series have portrayed archaeology and cultural anthropology in positive ways that emphasize the importance of mutual cultural understanding through awareness of material remains and the excitement of scientific archaeology, and have countered the inappropriate perception of archaeology as treasure-seeking adventurism. As one of the most successful series on network television, programs reach a large and varied audience each week with a reminder of the StarTrek mission: exploration of other worlds is to be peaceful, the goal is to learn about other worlds, respect is to be accorded other cultures encountered, and interference with cultural and social development in other contacted societies is prohibited. In particular, four specific programs are cited: StarTrek Voyager's "Emanations" and StarTrek: The Next Generation's "The Chase," "Gambit (Parts 1 and 2)," and "Captain's Holiday." The personnel recognized are Executive Producers Rick Berman, Michael Piller, and Jeri Taylor; Supervising Producer Brannon Braga; and Writers Ira Steven Behr, Joe Menosky, Ronald D. Moore, and Naren Shankar. |
 Honorable Bill Richardson--To honor his efforts in sponsoring and
passing the Chacoan Outliers Protection Act of 1995.
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| Without the commitment and perserverance of Rep. Richardson, D-N.M., over three Congresses, this important piece of legislation would not have become law. The act adds an additional 5,519 acres to the Chaco Culture Archaeological Protection Site System while protecting nine additional Chacoan sites in New Mexico. The archaeological record of the Chacoan culture is part of the cultural heritage of all Americans; as a result of his concern and dedication, these important sites will now receive the recognition and preservation that they deserve. |
 Matt Crenson--For his article "A Climate for Growth," published in the
Dallas Morning News April 3, 1995. |
| The piece, written in a clear, accessible style, helps to foster increased public understanding of, and appreciation for, the goals of archaeology. Using direct quotations from a series of papers by archaeologists and climatologists, Crenson allows these scientists to present and support their view that major climatic change may have stimulated the development of agriculture in four regions of the world at the same time. Crenson deserves special merit for creating an interesting narrative from a series of conference papers. The dialogue among supporters and opponents of the climate-change model brings to the lay reader an awareness of how archaeologists, working with other scientists, make use of archaeological, botanical, and climatological evidence. The article's layout and accompanying artwork add to the presentation's effectiveness. |