Charles E. Rozaire Award for Student

Research in California Archaeology

Dr. Charles E Rozaire
(photo courtesy of LA Museum of Natural History)

As a young man during the 1940s, Charles Rozaire was an active volunteer at the Southwest Museum, working with Mark Harrington and others at various sites in western North America. Inspired by these experiences, he received his Ph.D. from UCLA in 1957, writing about ancient twined weaving techniques. Following his Ph.D., he worked at the Nevada State Museum until accepting a job at Natural History Museum in Los Angeles, where he spent the majority of his career (1963-1990). Rozaire made lasting contributions to California and maritime archaeology through his work on the California Channel Islands. The collections he made and his field notes continue to be an important source of research material for archaeologists today.

Throughout his career, Rozaire spent significant time conducting archaeological fieldwork across California. He greatly valued these experiences, both socially and academically; and he wished there had been more funding to support field and laboratory projects during his career. This award is intended to promote such experiences among young archaeologists, and to bring greater attention to California’s rich past.

The award supports undergraduate or graduate student research in California archaeology that includes a significant fieldwork or collections component. Funding from the award is intended to help pay for the various costs associated with fieldwork or analyzing an existing curated collection and/or for preparing the materials for long-term curation. The award is to promote original research on the history or prehistory of California.

ALLOWABLE EXPENSES

Funding from the award (up to $2,000) may be used for fieldwork or collections expenses directly related to the study. These include travel to and from the field or museum; lodging, camping, and food to support a field crew; data collection; and/or the purchase or maintenance of minor field equipment (i.e., items under $300 such as shovels and screens). Expenses may also include initial stages of laboratory analysis associated with preparing the collection for further study and curation (e.g., illustrations or casting of artifacts, assistance with artifact or ecofact identification, purchase of curation supplies such as boxes or bags). Expenses not allowed include salary or stipends to field participants, tuition, or purchase of equipment over $300.

HOW TO PREPARE YOUR RESEARCH PROPOSAL

Complete proposals must include all of the following. Incomplete proposals will not be considered.

• Research proposal (see below)
• Detailed budget and justification for all expenses
• Schedule for conducting and finalizing research and presentation, not to exceed one year (including at the annual meeting of the Society for California Archaeology)
• Curriculum vitae
• Letter of support from a faculty advisor

The research proposal should be no more than three pages, including: (1) research statement and design; (2) field or lab methods to be employed; (3) how the data to be gathered from fieldwork or museum work relate to the research design; (4) the significance of the site or area to California archaeology; and (5) objectives and scientific or educational significance of the proposed research.

DEADLINES

Applications are due by December 15 of each year. Applications will be reviewed by the committee, with the winner contacted by January 15 of the meeting year. The winner will be announced and honored at the Banquet at the annual meeting later that year.

RECIPIENT’S OBLIGATIONS

By accepting the award, the recipient commits to presenting a paper or poster at the following annual conference of the Society for California Archaeology and to submitting a version of this paper to the Journal of California Archaeology or the SCA Annual Proceedings. If additional papers are published in other venues, the recipient is asked to acknowledge financial assistance from the award.

Submit your proposal to cer_student_award@scahome.org, with Rozaire Award Proposal in the subject line.

2024 Charles E. Rozaire Award for Student Research in California Archaeology

Jeremy McFarland
PhD Student
University of Nevada Reno

"Investigating Traditional Management of Marine Ecosystems on the Northwest Coast of California in the Late Holocene"

Multidisciplinary studies show how Native Californians have managed their terrestrial environments through landscape burning over many generations, but we know far less about how people in the area managed marine environments despite increasing archaeological evidence of ancestral mariculture innovations such as stone fish traps and shellfish gardens along the Pacific Coast of western North America. The proposed research in collaboration with the Bear River Band of Rohnerville Rancheria investigates the socio-ecological context associated with constructing intertidal rock features near a large coastal village site in southern Humboldt County, CA. Archaeological and ecological research supports the idea that these intertidal modifications enhanced habitat productivity associated with greater population densities and reproductive success for red abalone; other features appear to be fish traps amenable to mass harvesting techniques. Through diverse knowledge systems and methodological approaches, we will reconstruct the harvesting-enhancement strategies, tenure systems, and cultural activities performed at the adjacent village site to understand why Ancestral Bear River-Mattole peoples constructed these intertidal rock features and how specific practices relate to socio-economic systems operating between northwest California and the northern Great Basin during the Late Holocene.

The call for proposals for this project goes out each year in October.

Past Winners

2023 JILL EUBANKS, UNIVERSITY OF california, davis
2022 Peter banke, university of nevada, reno
2021 ALEC APODACA, UNIVERSITY OF california, BERKELEY
2020 jESSICA MORALES, UNIVERSITY OF california, DAVIS
2019 Kaitlin Brown, UNIVERSITY OF california, Santa Barbara
2017 Nathan Acebo, Stanford University