David A. Fredrickson Lifetime Achievement Award
California Indian Heritage Preservation Award
Martin A. Baumhoff Special Achievement Award
Mark Raymond Harrington Award for Conservation Archaeology
Helen C. Smith Award for Individual or Society Avocationalist Achievement
The SCA Award for Excellence in Cultural Resources Management
Golden Shovel Award
Outstanding Student Paper Award & Poster Awards
President’s Award
James A. Bennyhoff Award
Charles E. Rozaire Award for Student Research in California Archaeology
SCA Orphaned Archaeological Collections Professional Services and Curation Project
Emma Lou Davis Mentorship Award
General Provisions for awards
1) The awardee need not be a member of the SCA.
2) The awardee must be nominated by a member in good standing of the SCA.
Tom Origer
Origer and Associates
The Lifetime Achievement Award is given for cumulative contributions to California archaeology that have spanned a lifetime and are therefore reserved for the elder members of our profession.
Nomination Instructions: Describe the individual’s career accomplishments, personal and professional highlights, scope of influence, and other achievements. Please submit your nomination to President Brendon Greenaway at gro.emohacsnull@nodnerb.
The deadline for the submission of nominations is November 15 of each year.
Past Award Recipients:
*originally called the Lifetime Achievement Award
2023 – Tom Origer | 2009 – Russell L. Kaldenberg* | 1996 – Claude Warren* 1995 – Francis Riddell* 1994 – Roberta Greenwood* 1993 – David Frederickson* 1992 – D. L. True* 1991 – Lawrence Dawson* 1990 – James A. Bennyhoff* 1989 – Bert A. Gerow* 1988 – Phil C. Orr* 1986 – Albert Elsasser* 1985 – Franklin Fenenga* 1984 – Paul Ezell* 1983 – William J. Wallace* 1982 – Emma Lou Davis* |
2023 California Indian Heritage Preservation Award
Corrina Gould
Tribal Chair of the Confederated Villages of Lisjan/Ohlone
This award is similar to the SCA’s prestigious award Lifetime Achievement Award and is given for cumulative contributions by an individual or group to the preservation of their cultural heritage.
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 including 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:
- Need not be a member of the Society for California Archaeology.
- Must be nominated by a member of the Society for California Archaeology. Nonmembers may request a member to submit a nomination on their behalf.
- 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.
Nomination Instructions: Describe the individual’s career accomplishments, personal and professional highlights, scope of influence, and other achievements. Please submit your nomination to President Brendon Greenaway at gro.emohacsnull@nodnerb.
The deadline for the submission of nominations is November 15 of each year.
Past Award Recipients:
2023 – Corrina Gould | 2011 – Northwest Indian Cemetery Protective Association |
2023 Martin A. Baumhoff Special Achievement Award
Ken Gobalet
Department of Biology
California State University, Bakersfield (ret.)
This award 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.
Nomination Instructions: Describe the individual’s career accomplishments, personal and professional highlights, scope of influence, and other achievements. Please submit your nomination to President Brendon Greenaway at gro.emohacsnull@nodnerb.
The deadline for the submission of nominations is November 15 of each year.
Past Award Recipients:
2023 – Kenneth Gobalet | 2006 – Jack Meyer and Jeff Rosenthal 2005 – Irving Friedman and Robert L. Smith 2004 – Michael Moratto/Joseph Chartkoff 2003 – Thomas N. Layton 2002 – Michael A. Glassow 2001 – Glenn Farris 2000 – Richard E. Hughes – Randy Milliken 1998 – Sylvia Vane 1997 – Mark Sutton 1996 – Malcolm Margolin, News from Native California 1995 – Coyote Press: Gary S. Breschini and Trudy Haversat 1994 – Roy Salls 1993 – Phil Wilke 1992 – Jonathan O. Davis 1991 – W.I. Follett 1990 – Lavinia C. Knight |
2023 Mark Raymond Harrington Award for Conservation Archaeology
Beverly R. Ortiz
Native California Research Institute
This award recognizes contributions to site preservation, public archaeology, etc. It has traditionally been announced as a surprise at the Banquet.
Nomination Instructions: Describe the individual’s career accomplishments, personal and professional highlights, scope of influence, and other achievements. Please submit your nomination to President Brendon Greenaway at gro.emohacsnull@nodnerb.
The deadline for the submission of nominations is November 15 of each year.
Past Award Recipients:
| 2022 – Barbara Tejada 2021 – Mark G. Hylkema 2020 – No Nomination 2019 – Richard A. Gould 2018 – Daniel F. McCarthy 2017 – Gary Breschini & Trudy Haversat 2016 – Amy Gilreath 2015 – Dr. Patricia C. Martz 2014 – Jerry Hopkins 2013 – Dan L. Mosier 2012 – Greg Greenway 2011 – Adrian Pratezellis 2010 – Department of Transportation (Caltrans) 2009 – Beth and Chris Padon 2008 – Janine McFarland 2007 – The Eleven Autonomous Bands of the Pit River Tribe 2006 – California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection 2005 – Julia Bendímez Patterson 2004 – Carolyn Shepherd 2003 – Beth and Chris Padon 2002 – John R. Johnson 2001 – Paul Chace 2000 – Mary Maniery | 1999 – Valerie Levulett 1998 – Russ Kaldenberg 1997 – Chester King 1996 – John W. Foster 1995 – Thomas N. Layton 1994 – William Olsen 1993 – Paul Shumacher 1992 – Breck Parkman 1991 – Charles Rozaire 1990 – Lester A. Ross 1989 – San Diego County Archaeological Society 1988 – David A. Fredrickson 1987 – Ronald V. May 1986 – M. J. Moratto and W. Seidel 1985 – Don S. Miller 1983 – Thomas F. King 1982 – Jay Von Werlhof 1981 – Frank Latta 1980 – Pacific Coast Archaeological Society 1979 – Fritz Riddell |
2023 Helen C. Smith Award for Individual or Society Avocationalist Achievement
2023 No Nomination
This award is given to an Avocational Society or Avocational Society Representative nominated by SCA members at large. There is a $200 cash award from the SCA.
Nomination Instructions: Describe the individual or society’s accomplishments, highlights, scope of influence, and other achievements related to the SCA. Please submit your nomination to President Brendon Greenaway at gro.emohacsnull@nodnerb.
The deadline for the submission of nominations is November 15 of each year.
Past Award Recipients:
| 2023 – No Nomination 2022 – Sierra Mono Museum and Cultural Center 2021 – Mary & Martin Jespersen 2020 – No Nomination 2019 – Astrid and Samuel Webb 2018 – Los Padres National Forest Partners in Preservation 2017 – Paul Peterson 2016 – No nomination 2015 – Gary A. Garrett 2014 – Jon Harman 2013 – Chinese Historical and Cultural Project of Santa Clara County, Inc. 2011 – Pacific Coast Archaeological Society 2009 – Nevada Rock Art Foundation 2008 – Colorado Desert District Archaeological Site Stewardship Program 2007 – Santa Clara County Archaeological Society | 2006 – Ventura County Archaeological Society |
2023 The SCA Award for Excellence in Cultural Resource Management
Jennifer Darcangelo
Tribal and Cultural Resources Land Consultant, Pacific Gas and Electric Company
The SCA Award for Excellence in Cultural Resource Management is given to an individual who shows outstanding leadership in the field of cultural resource management.
Nomination Instructions: Describe the individual’s career accomplishments, personal and professional highlights, scope of influence, and other achievements. Please submit your nomination to President Brendon Greenaway at gro.emohacsnull@nodnerb.
The deadline for the submission of nominations is November 15 of each year.
Past Award Recipients:
2023 – Jennifer Darcangelo | 2009 – Duane Christian |
2023 Golden Shovel Award
Thomas Wheeler
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 lab work.
Nomination Instructions: Describe the individual’s career accomplishments, personal and professional highlights, scope of influence, and other achievements. Please submit your nomination to President Brendon Greenaway at gro.emohacsnull@nodnerb.
The deadline for the submission of nominations is November 15 of each year.
Award Recipients:
2023 – Thomas Wheeler
2022 – Patrick Moloney
2021 – Neil Rhodes
2020 – David Glover
2019 – Charlotte A. Smith
2018 – Marc D. Linder
2017 – Maureen Carpenter
2016 – Douglas McIntosh
2015 – Edward Mike
2014 – Jerry Doty
2013 – David Makar
2012 – Michael “Bucky” Buxton
2011 – Bill Stillman
2023 Outstanding Student Paper Award & Poster Awards
Sue Hagen
Palomar College
Outstanding Student Poster Award
Giving a paper or poster at the SCA Annual Meeting? Submit your paper or poster by February 15, to the SCA Student Paper Competition. Papers should be submitted as e-mail attachments to the SCA Business Office at gro.emohacsnull@eciffo with “Student Paper Competition” in the email subject line. Please include the name of a faculty advisor in the email. If you are submitting a poster, include all relevant files in full layout. The awardee wins money, prestige, a banquet ticket, and more! Submission guidelines may be found here.
Award Recipients:
2023 – Sue Hagen & Ageng McCunney
2022 – Kimberly Algya
2021 – Kyle Palazzolo
2020 – Austin Dietrich and Enkhbayar Oyuntseteg
2019 – Noel Jones
2018 – Noel Jones and Katherine Jorgensen
2017 – Nichole Fournier
2016 – Lisa Bright
2015– No Award
2014 – Samuel J. Williams
2013 – Mikael Fauvelle
2012 – Kristina Gill
2011 – Karen Gardner
2010 – Joe Griffin
2009 – Jarrod “X” Kellogg
2008 – Melanie Beasley
2007 – Tsim D. Schneider and Adrian R. Whitaker
2006 – Victoria Stosel
2005 – Shannon Tushingham
2004 – Clarus J. Backes, Jr.
2002 – Nathan Stevens
2001 – Alexander DeGeorgey
Emma Lou Davis Mentorship Award
Tsim Schneider
Tribal Citizen, Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria
Associate Professor
University of California, Santa Cruz
The Emma Lou Davis Mentorship Award was instituted in 2021 at the request of the Women in California Archaeology (WCA) committee and the Coalition for California Diversity (CDCA). From the Newsletter (Colligan 2022: SCA Newsletter 56(2):11: “The inspiration for this award came from a recent SCA survey (VanDerwarker et al. 2018) that identified the crucial role mentorship has played in archaeology. This issue is particularly salient for women and underrepresented groups. Good mentorship can save us from dropping out at difficult points in our careers and aid in building network alliances. As a result, members of the WCA and CDCA have sponsored this Mentorship Award to honor archaeologists who have mentored women and underrepresented communities in the discipline in a significant way. We aim to recognize valuable contributions by our colleagues and peers who assist others and contribute to making archaeology a more equitable and diverse space. We want to honor this award by naming it after Emma Lou Davis, a renowned archaeologist whose pioneering work paved the way for a more diverse field today.”
2023 President's Award
The President’s Award is given for above and beyond service to the SCA and California archaeology in general.
Award Recipients:
2023 – Elem Xemfo Dance Group, Elem Indian Colony
2022 – Adrian R. Whitaker & Suntayea Steinruck
2021 – Maggie Trumbly
2020 – Alex DeGeorgey, Michael Newland, Natalie Brodie, and the Institute of Canine Forensics
2019 – Dorthea (Dotty) Theodoratus
2018 – Helen McCarthy
2017 – Denise Wills
2015 – Patricia Mikkelsen
2014 – Tom Origer and C. Kristina Roper
2012 – Shelly Davis-King
2022 James A. Bennyhoff Student Award
Jeremy D. McFarland
University of Nevada, Reno
Expanding the Chronology of Coastal Settlement and Mobility in the King Range National Conservation Area, Northern California
Numerous sites are found along the coastline of the King Range National Conservation
Area in northwestern California, but no coastal sites have been dated to the Early Archaic (~8000-5000 cal BP) and few to the Middle Archaic (~5000-2500 cal BP). The majority of sites dating to the Early Archaic in northwestern California are located along inland river corridors and ridgetops. This inconsistency limits the analysis of changes between
sociolinguistic groups in technology, settlement-subsistence practices, and trade/exchange
relationships through time. This study will develop a deeper chronological sequence of coastal
occupation in the King Range by dating sites which may predate 2,750 cal B.P. based on their
position on the landscape. I will continue to compile CRM reports and other gray literature for
northwestern California and synthesize the results of obsidian studies. This information will help
me explore concepts of trade and mobility across environmental and social boundaries.
Liz Niec
Sonoma State University
Establishing Units of Contemporaneity at the Borax Lake Site Through Obsidian Hydration Analysis
This study of the Borax Lake site (CA-LAK-36) will use three existing surface collections and
conduct systematic sampling of the site surface to determine if there is temporal integrity and to establish units of contemporaneity through obsidian hydration dating. With this research, I seek to follow in the footsteps of Bennyhoff by providing new data from the Borax Lake site which has a known Paleoindian Period occupation. Obsidian hydration, x-ray fluorescence, and lithic analysis will be conducted to build on the information provided by past studies of the site. A synthesis of site research will be discussed in relation to developments in Paleoindian studies in the North Coast Ranges, Western Pluvial Lakes Tradition, the Great Basin, and the greater Far West. This research seeks to provide data to help shape future research at the Borax Lake site and better understand potential connections of Clovis, Western Stemmed Tradition, and Borax Lake Wide Stem tool diagnostics. The goals of this research include discussing site composition and horizontal site structure in ways that Haynes and Meighan could not, building on the knowledge of technology at the site through analysis of formal and informal tools, and examining regearing through remote discard.
The call for proposals for this project goes out each year in October.
For information on the award and the list of recipients, please see the James A. Bennyhoff Memorial Fund Award page.
2023 – No Award
2022 – Jeremy D. McFarland and Liz Niec
2021 – Erica J. Bradley
2020 – No award
2019 – Kristina Crawford
2018 – Brian Barbier
2018 – Nichole Fournier
2017 – David C. Harvey
2016 – Gregory R. Burns and Susan D. Talcott
2015 – Allison Hill
2014 – (No award given)
2013 – Carly Whelan
2012 – Devin L. Snyder
2011 – Kristina Gill
2010 – Melanie Beasley
2009 – John Schlagheck
2008 – Terry L. Joslin
2007 – Donna Gillette
2006 – Elizabeth Sutton
2005 – Allika Ruby
2004 – Deanna Grimstead and Brandon Patterson
2003 – Shannon Tushingham
2002 – Alexander DeGeorgy
2001 – Kathleen Hull
2000 – Torbin Rick
1999 – Sharon McFarland
1998 – Eric Wohlgemuth
1997 – René Vellanoweth
1996 – Nelson Siefkin
2022 James A. Bennyhoff Research Award
Timothy Gross, PhD, RPA 10295
Associate Professor
Department of Anthropology
Springs (CA-SDI-6669) Update and Publication Project, San Diego County, California.
Sabre Springs (CA-SDI-6669) is a large site with occupations dating from as early as 2950 BP to the end of the Late Prehistoric Period. A large excavation was conducted there in 1984 but the report was not written until 1992 and it was never widely circulated. For my sabbatical this fall, I am updating that report and preparing it for publication. The proposed new research is refining the chronology of the site using AMS dating (a technique we could not afford in 1990), combined with obsidian hydration and artifact typology. At many sites in the San Diego area, Archaic components are obscured by abundant Late Prehistoric material. The original dating budget and artifact analysis, especially the projectile point typology, allowed us to recognize a Sabre Springs Archaic occupation. One of the goals of this project is to refine our understanding of the dating of this occupation.
Previous Award Recipients:
2022 – G. Timothy Gross
2021 – Richard Hughes
2023 Charles E. Rozaire Award for Student Research in California Archaeology
Jill Eubanks
University of Nevada, Reno
“Investigating Precontact Resource Conservation of Artiodactyl Populations in the San Francisco Bay Area”
Building upon previous models (diet breadth, costly signaling, climate change, and resource intensification) which use a single explanatory cause to explain the artiodactyl abundance, the proposed research investigates how Ancestral Ohlone peoples hunted deer in the California, San Francisco Bay area. Using CRM-generated collections and multiple lines of evidence collected from teeth and bone, the proposed research will test the hypothesis that the increase of artiodactyl remains in the Bay Area archaeological record is the result of people actively managing non-migrating species (deer) by focusing their hunting efforts on males, allowing females to reach sexual maturity and reproduce. By contrast, the proposed research will also test the hypothesis that migrating species (elk) were not managed but intensively hunted, regardless of age or sex, due to an inability to ensure that management practices could be enforced outside the local kin group. Data to test these hypotheses will be drawn from (1) proteomic analysis to estimate sex of artiodactyl remains; (2) dental cementum increment analysis to estimate artiodactyl age and season of death; (3) sulfur isotope analysis to estimate possible artiodactyl migration movements and locality of death (i.e., local versus non-local individuals); and (4) environmental habitat and diet reconstruction based on carbon and nitrogen stable isotope analysis.
The call for proposals for this project goes out each year in October.
2023 SCA Orphaned Archaeological Collections Professional Services and Curation Project
Alexandria M. Firenzi
University of Nevada, Reno
The primary objective of the proposed project is to inventory and extract faunal and chronological data from orphaned collections of a series of prominent shell midden sites on Santa Rosa Island (SRI) excavated from 1996 to 1999 by Dr. Douglas Kennett and Don Morris. For this project, I will inventory and extract faunal data from five large coastal settlement sites: CA-SRI-28 (1 unit), CA-SRI-40 (2 units), CA-SRI-41 (1 unit), CA-SRI-77 (1 unit, 1 column sample), and CA-SRI-96 (1 unit). These collections have only been partially sorted by undergraduate volunteers, and only limited chronological data from them has been published (Kennett 1998, 2005). The sites that I propose to investigate represent important coastal residential sites that, along with data from a previously published site that I will also prepare for accessioning (CA-SRI-97), have the potential to provide valuable information about the nature of increased territoriality and social complexity that occurred on the northern Channel Islands during the Medieval Climatic Anomaly (MCA; 1150-600 BP; Jazwa et al. 2019; Arnold 1992; Kennett et al. 2009). Furthermore, analysis of these existing collections decreases the need for additional excavation on SRI and will allow for the opportunity to accession these existing collections, making them available for future researchers. Additionally, I plan to rely heavily on existing faunal collections as the primary source of archaeological data for my dissertation research at the University of Nevada, Reno (UNR), and this project represents the beginning of my data collection. I request $2600 to fund four radiocarbon dates that are necessary to refine the chronology of site use, pay undergraduate students hourly to assist with collections processing, and travel to the Santa Barbara
Museum of Natural History (SBMNH) to accession these collections.
The call for proposals for this project goes out each year in October