• David A. Fredrickson Award
• Mark Raymond Harrington Award
• Martin A. Baumhoff Award
• Helen C. Smith Award
• Thomas F. King Award
• California Indian Heritage Preservation Award
• Outstanding Student Paper
• Golden Shovel Award
• James A. Bennyhoff Award

---

David A. Fredrickson Award

This is given for cumulative contributions to California archaeology that have spanned a lifetime and are therefore reserved for the elder members of our profession. Although once awarded as a surprise, the recipient of the Lifetime Achievement award is now notified well ahead of time so that they and their supporters can plan to attend the Annual Meeting Awards Dinner. The recipient is identified during the Annual Meeting with a special ribbon on his or her name tag, and is hosted, along with family members, at the awards dinner.

The deadline for 2013 submissions is January 1, 2013. Download the nomination form.

---

Mark Raymond Harrington Award for Conservation Archaeology

This award recognizes contributions to site preservation, public archaeology, etc. It has traditionally been announced as a surprise at the Banquet.

The deadline for 2013 submissions is January 1, 2013. Download the nomination form.

---

Martin A. Baumhoff Special Achievement Award

This is given for a distinct, noteworthy effort, or for cumulative efforts on special topics such as specialized analyses or publication. It has traditionally been announced as a surprise at the Awards Dinner.

The deadline for 2013 submissions is January 1, 2013. Download the nomination form.

---

Helen C. Smith Award for Avocational Society Achievement

This is decided upon from applications made by members at large by the Avocational Society Representative and a panel of reviewers for achievements made over the preceding year. There is a $200 cash award from the SCA that goes with this.

The deadline for 2013 submissions is January 1, 2013. Download the nomination form.

---

Thomas F. King Award for Excellence in Cultural Resources Management

This is given to an individual who shows outstanding leadership in the field of cultural resources management. Nominations are made to the Thomas F. King Award Committee and the award is presented at the Awards Banquet.

The deadline for 2013 submissions is January 1, 2013. Download the nomination form.

---

California Indian Heritage Preservation Award

The Society for California Archaeology is honored to formally recognize contributions made by California Indians to the preservation of their cultural heritage. The desire to preserve the heritage of this state is something that California Indians and archaeologists have in common.

We know that many generations of California Indians have struggled for cultural survival and autonomy. Through this struggle, they have persevered, and in doing so, have given us a greater understanding of their culture and history. Their perseverance has also led to the current blossoming of California Indian heritage.Recognizing that any one individual or group may have participated in many different ways, some examples of the kind of contributions this award is meant to honor include the following:

• Maintaining traditional ways and knowledge
• Creating cultural centers, demonstration sites, and workshops
• Publishing, and otherwise documenting traditional stories, songs, and history
• Educating archaeologists, anthropologists, and historians, thereby building bridges of understanding between the academic and traditional worlds
• Participating in legal contexts to safeguard the respect of their ancestors, achieve federal recognition of their tribes, or otherwise taking part at state and national levels for the well-being of their communities
• Improving the social, economic, and cultural well-being of their communities

The SCA California Indian Heritage Preservation Award was created to honor California Indians who have contributed to one or more of these important accomplishments. It is with sincere appreciation and respect that we offer this award each year from the year 2000 onward.

A nominee for this award:

1. Need not be a member of the Society for California Archaeology.
2. Must be nominated by a member of the Society for California Archaeology. Nonmembers may request a member to submit a nomination on their behalf.
3. Must be a California Indian who has contributed to the preservation of his or her culture in a substantial way either through cumulative contributions or one exceptional contribution.

This award is most similar to the Society for California Archaeology’s most prestigious award, the Lifetime Achievement Award. It is most often given for cumulative contributions (by an individual or group) that have spanned a lifetime and therefore tends to be reserved for elder candidates. It may, however, be given to more junior candidates for outstanding onetime contributions. The goal of the award is to recognize one outstanding individual or group. However, occasionally more than one award may be given. It is also possible to give the award to individuals or groups from the past.

The individual or group recipient of the California Indian Heritage Preservation Award is notified well ahead of time so that they and their supporters can plan to attend the banquet. They are identified during the meeting with a special ribbon on their name tag, are provided accommodation and travel by the SCA, and are hosted to the banquet.

The deadline for 2012 submissions is January 1, 2012. Download the nomination form.

---

Outstanding Student Paper Presented at the Annual Meeting

Giving a paper or poster at the SCAs? Don’t miss the opportunity to win money, prestige, a banquet ticket, and more! Submit your paper or poster by March 1st, 2012 to the SCA Student Paper Competition. Papers should be submitted as e-mail attachments to the SCA Business Office (Email the SCA). Please indicate “Student Paper Competition” in the e-mail subject line. Also please include the name of a faculty advisor in the email. Papers should be a minimum of 8-10 pages in length double-spaced, with references. Poster session presentations should include all relevant files in full layout.

---

Golden Shovel Award

The Golden Shovel Award is a special presidential commendation given to a longstanding member of the society who has made contributions through continued efforts in field or labwork. Many other awards are given for publications or other academic or professional achievements. The Golden Shovel Award is for the sometimes unsung ( although many are are often the grist of campfire legends) heroes of the trenches and the benches who ensure the recovery of the essential data that support our discipline.

---

James A. Bennyhoff Memorial Fund Award

Award to support original research on the prehistory of California and the Great Basin, with special consideration given to projects emphasizing analysis of existing museum collections, those housed in regional repositories and/or those reported in inventories and reports which focus on: 1) the development, significant refinement and/or modification of time-sensitive typologies or seriation studies useful in identifying prehistoric spatial or temporal units, or 2) relating primary data to revision of existing culture historical taxonomic frameworks.

Complete proposals are due on 4 January 2013.

SCA student members are invited to submit research proposals for the James A. Bennyhoff Memorial Award. The award is intended to support original student research on the prehistory of California and the Great Basin.

Projects may involve more than one subdiscipline of anthropology and may have objectives beyond those of culture history; nonetheless, a significant portion of the study must involve direct work with artifacts or other primary source data (e.g., mission registers, historical/archival documents), and must show promise to enhance the scientific understanding of California and Great Basin prehistory. Research projects may involve preparation of a thesis, dissertation, or a formal refereed publication.

Funding from the award (up to $1,000) may be used by the recipient for any purpose directly related to the study; e.g., travel for the purpose of studying collections, photography, illustrations, graphics, radiocarbon studies, or obsidian analyses. Additional support is available to conduct up to 100 obsidian hydration readings (courtesy of Origer’s Obsidian Laboratory), up to 50 obsidian source analyses (courtesy of Richard Hughes at Geochemical Research Laboratory)and up to four AMS dates courtesy of the CAMS facility at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.

Complete proposals for the James A. Bennyhoff Memorial Fund Award must include all of the following. Incomplete proposals will not be considered.

• Research proposal relevant to the studies of Dr. Bennyhoff
• Detailed budget and justification, making full use of the award
• Statement defining where the research will be presented and/or published
• Schedule for conducting and finalizing research and presentation, not to exceed one year
• Curriculum vitae
• Letter of support from a faculty advisor

Proposals should include the general guidelines contained in the James A. Bennyhoff Award Grant Proposal Guide which are available here. Compliance with these requirements is critical to evaluating the award proposals. The James A. Bennyhoff Memorial Fund Award recipient will be announced during the 2013 Society of California Archaeology Annual Meeting banquet awards ceremony in Berkeley.

You can find out more about James A. Bennyhoff and his influential contributions to California and Great Basin archaeology here.

Complete proposals in a PDF format should be emailed to Terry L. Joslin, the James A. Bennyhoff Memorial Fund Award Committee Chair.

Any questions about the proposal process or award can be directed to the Committee Chair’s email address above or at 805.235.9747.

---

Below are award-winning research designs:

2012 – Devin L. Snyder:

“Evaluating the Validity of the Chico Regional Culture Chronology: Radiocarbon and Obsidian Analysis at Three Late Period Village Sites”

Nearly 50 years ago, California State University, Chico initiated a long-term research program dedicated to establishing a regional chronology for Glenn and Butte counties. Unfortunately, since that time, the local chronological sequence has continued to rely on a limited number of radiocarbon dates from only three sites, including CA-BUT-233, CA-BUT-294, and CA-GLE- 105. In an attempt to update and evaluate the validity of a chronological sequence that is largely based on projectile point and olivella shell bead typologies, this project proposes to radiocarbon date intact stratigraphic features from three large previously excavated village sites, CA-BUT-1, CA-BUT-7, and CA-BUT-12, submit obsidian samples from similar proveniences for hydration and sourcing purposes, and compare the results of these dating methods to not only one another but also an existing chronology in need of further absolute dating support.

2011 – Kristina Gill:

“Obsidian Exchange on the Santa Barbara Channel Islands: Correlating Obsidian Hydration Readings with Radiocarbon Dates From Well-Stratified Sites on Santa Cruz Island”

The refinement of obsidian hydration conversion rates for the Santa Barbara Channel region will be conducted, utilizing the excellent stratigraphic preservation found on the islands to correlate radiocarbon dates directly with obsidian rim hydration readings. The research proposed here also includes an investigation of the obsidian exchange network and how this changed through time.

2010 – Melanie Beasley:

“Paleodietary Reconstruction of Spatial and Temporal Change in the Prehistoric San Francisco Bay Area: Stable Carbon and Nitrogen Isotope Analysis at the Ryan Mound (CA-ALA-329)”

For this research, I will investigate late Holocene dietary patterns in the San Francisco Bay Area using stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes of bone collagen and stable carbon isotopes of bone apatite. I will examine bone samples selected from human burials from the Ryan Mound (CA-ALA-329), which have been made available through San Jose State University, with full permission and support of the Muwekma Ohlone Indian Tribe. The three parts of this research project will contribute to the extensive research already completed by Alan Leventhal (1993) on the site and yield a more complete reconstruction of spatial and temporal change in the diets of the Ryan Mound population during its occupation along the southeastern shore of the San Francisco Bay.

2009 – John Schlagheck:

“Obsidian and Radiocarbon Analysis of Material from Two Middle Holocene Sites on the North Central Coast of California”

The primary goal of this project is refine the cultural chronology of the North Central Coast with specific attention to the establishment of regional and long distance trade patterns and interaction spheres. More specifically, radiocarbon dating material recovered from intact stratigraphic features identified at CA-SCR-7 and CA-SCR-10 will be used in conjunction with obsidian sourcing to illuminate cultural characteristics established along the North Central Coast during the Middle Holocene. Obsidian sourcing data and radiocarbon dates generated during this research will be used to identify which obsidian sources were most dominant on the North Central Coast, determine if dominate obsidian sources changed over time, and provide information to facilitate future debates on trade patterns.

2008 – Terry Joslin:

“Red Abalone (Haliotis rufescens) Middens along the Cambria Coastline: Defining Chronological Signatures of Specific Middle Holocene Adaptations”

The chronological refinement of collections from Middle Holocene red abalone midden deposits will be undertaken using standard and AMS radiocarbon dating combined with obsidian hydration and sourcing analysis to assign specific traits associated with these deposits. The research proposed here intends to define what specific temporal interval(s) the Cambria red abalone middens occupied and what time sensitive artifacts are associated with site occupations. These data will provide the basis for reconstructing settlement patterns and defining maritime adaptations of these unique sites along the northern coast of San Luis Obispo County, California.

2007 – Donna Gillette:

“Contextualizing the Pecked Curvilinear Nucleated Art Tradition of Hopland Research and Extension Center”

Dissertation research will be centered at the Hopland Research and Extension Center (HREC) in Mendocino County, California, the location of three clusters of boulders that exhibit visible signs of use and are thought to represent fertility ritual. Known as PCNs (Pecked Curvilinear Nucleated elements), these markings (i.e., rock art) are a portion of a broader tradition of cultural markings that are found at more than 100 sites throughout the Coastal Ranges of California. Field research at the HREC will include representatives of the Hopland Pomo people, and, in part, will focus on placing the tradition in a temporal context utilizing two existing collections (over 2,000 unanalyzed artifacts at UC Davis), a provenienced surface collection (360 artifacts from the HREC), and artifacts resulting from current subsurface investigations near the boulders. Obsidian hydration testing and sourcing will facilitate the study.

2006 – Elizabeth Sutton:

“Temporal and Spatial Variability of Digging Stick Weights from the Santa Barbara Channel Region”

Investigations of many archaeological sites in the Santa Barbara Channel region have recovered a large number of artifacts known as digging stick weights. This study will involve a systematic analysis of these tools to determine whether there are typological differences associated with temporal or spatial parameters, or with different soil types that can be associated with edible, underground resources. Similar kinds of differences will be analyzed for weights recovered from mortuary and residential contexts. At least 175 digging stick weights from the study area are known to be housed in the collections of at least four important institutions (UCSB, UCLA, UCB, and the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History).

2005 – Allika Ruby:

“Timing of the Meganos Intrusion into the Eastern Bay Region of California: Evidence from CA-ALA-413″

An existing archaeological collection from ALA–413, the Santa Rita Village site, will be examined to investigate the timing of the Meganos Intrusion into the eastern Bay Region of central California . Chronological refinement of the collection will be undertaken through radiocarbon dating and obsidian hydration and sourcing analysis to assign specific traits to the Meganos culture. These data can then be used to reconstruct settlement patterns, long distance trade networks, and regional conflict.

2004 – Deanna Grimstead and Brandon Patterson:

“Proposed Investigations in the Cache Creek Natural Area, Colusa and Lake Counties, California”

Work to support two thesis projects would establish the age of a group of prehistoric sites and components in the Cache Creek drainage. Once established, the associated lithic and faunal assemblages will be evaluated. Will attempt to understand trade relationships and projectile point maintenance.

2003 – Shannon Tushingham:

“Examining Existing Frameworks that Model Change in the North California Coast”

Attempt to refine the regional chronology of the northwest coast by observing trends in time sensitive markers, focusing on coastal versus interior occupation. Intends to sample sites in a variety of environmental contexts: Smith River, Pacific coast, Lakes Earl and Talawa estuaries, and mountainous uplands of interior. Proposed to present data at SCA meeting.

2002 – Alexander Degeorgy:

“Identifying Paleo-Archaic Assemblages within the Cache Creek Primitive Area, Lake County, California”

Identifying Paleo–Indian and Lower Archaic sites within the Cache Creek Primitive Area through implementation of principles of geomorphology for Master’s thesis. Collection of obsidian from landforms to understand temporal position of sites and establish landscape evolution chronology for region.

2001 – Kathleen Hull:

“Native Cultural Response to Demographic Collapse at Euroamerican Contact in Yosemite Valley”

Study of short– and long–term cultural consequences of population decline at Euroamerican contact in Yosemite Valley using archaeological, ethnohistoric, and ethnographic data. Identifying pre– and post–contact sites through radiocarbon and obsidian hydration analyses; characterize obsidian geochemical makeup to contrast material acquisition in pre– and post–contact periods.

2000 – Torbin Rick:

“Refining the Chronology Single-Piece Circular and J-Shaped Fishhooks of Coastal California”

Obtained three AMS radiocarbon dates on shell fishhooks from the Channel Islands of southern California as part of a larger study to date shell fishhooks throughout California coast. Findings published in Radiocarbon, Volume 43, No. 1, 2001 (pp. 83–86), with acknowledgement of financial support from SCA Bennyhoff fund; larger study submitted for review to Journal of Archaeological Science; paper given at SCA. Obtained AMA date of 560 cal. BP on single–piece fishhook originally dated by association to 5500 BP; earliest dates for these artifact forms are thought to be 3000 cal BP based on additional AMS dates. Emphasized the uses of AMS dating to refine artifact, site, and regional chronologies.

1999 – Sharon McFarland:

“Examination of Long Distance and Local Trade Obsidian Exchange Systems in San Diego County”

Temporal and geographical boundaries and change in long distance and local obsidian exchange systems in San Diego County. Obsidian from Archaic sites form Coso (eastern California); obsidian from Late Prehistoric sites usually Obsidian Butte in Imperial Valley. Thesis finished and defended at SDSU. Fifty–two specimens analyzed through fund (total of 941 for thesis). Relationship between source and region was statistically significant (north–south inter–group exchange routes replaced by east–west intra–group trade), but not mutually exclusive; a third important source in the region was identified, from near San Felipe, Baja California, Mexico. A hydration rate for the Obsidian Butte source was proposed (t=47microns 2) using arrow points (no dart points available) in conjunction with radiocarbon dates and the Coso hydration rate.

1998 – Eric Wohlgemuth:

“AMS Dating of CA-SOL-315 Feature”

Data for dissertation on the evolution of intensive plant use in native Central California – resolve discontinuities in radiocarbon and hydration for two Solano County sites. No write up of findings, but three presentations given: Sacramento Archaeological Society; SCA Annual meeting;’ SCA Northern Data Sharing meeting. Funds used for one of several AMS dates from rock features to date a potentially early cemetery at SOL–315 (Windmiller or Early Berkeley). Middle Period dates were returned. Radiocarbon dates on human bone from the cemetery indicated they were 4000–4500 hears old. Additional radiocarbon and hydration analysis form nearby site SOL–391 indicated a 4800–3400 BP occupation associated with passive acorn leaching pits dug in an area with a high seasonal water table.

1997 – Rene Vellanoweth:

“AMS Radiocarbon Dating of an Olivella Rectangle Bead from Central Oregon”

AMS date of Olivella Grooved Rectangle bead from Fort Rock Valley, Oregon. Part of a larger study of the chronometric refinement of OGR beads and other shell artifacts throughout western North America. Paper to be submitted to Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropology . In general OGR beads from southern California date to about 5000 CYBP, while those in the Great Basin tend to be about 500 to 2,000 years younger (based on associated charcoal dates). The AMS date of a bead associated with 4000 BP radiocarbon dates from structural floors was about 5000 cal BP, indicating that the temporal lag between desert and coast may not be real.

1996 – Nelson Siefkin:

“Shell Bead Manufacture and Chronology in the Tulare Lake Basin, California”

Excavations at KIN–66/H, a large, natural mound on the shore of Tulare Lake dating to the Middle and Late prehistoric/historic periods, revealed a burial with over 5,000 associated Olivella and Haliotis beads. He hypothesizes that the complete split–punched beads represent raw material for bead blanks as opposed to finished beads. Proposed to examine bead detritus fromKin–66/H, and reevaluate temporal placement of split–punched beads of Tulare Lake Basin. Ran radiocarbon dates on Anodonta mussel (no correction factors for freshwater mussel from San Juaquin Valley). Two dated to the Middle Period, two in the Middle/Late Transition, and one in the Late Period; all but one of the Middle Period dates agreed with associated artifacts. It was also concluded that split punched beads did not serve solely as raw materials but were opportunistically utilized.