SCA MEETING AWARD WinnerS

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 Research Award 
James A. Bennyhoff Student 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.
3) Submit your nomination(s) to the SCA president.
4) Nominations are due by December 15th each year.

2024 David A. Fredrickson Lifetime Achievement Award

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. 

Joan schneider
read joan's nomination

Award Recipients:
*originally called the Lifetime Achievement Award

2024 - Joan Schneider
2023 - Tom Origer
2022 - Mark Q. Sutton

2021 - Kent Lightfoot

2020 - Julia Bendímez

2019 - Julia Costello

2018 - Randy Milliken

2017 - Shelly Davis-King

2016 - Terry L. Jones

2015 – Michael J. Moratto

2014 – Susan M. Hector

2013 – Glenn J. Farris

2012 – Andrew Yatsko III*

2011 – Joseph Chartkoff*
2010 – Ken Wilson*
2009 – Russell L. Kaldenberg*
2008 – Eric Ritter*
2007 – Keith L. Johnson*
2006 – Michael A. Glassow*
2005 – L. Mark Raab*
2004 – Lowell John Bean*
2003 – William (Bill) Olsen*
2002 – Robert L. Edwards*
2001 – Jerald J. Johnson*
2000 – Thomas Blackburn*
1999 – Makoto Kowta*
1998 – Jay von Werlhof*
1997 – Vera Mae Fredrickson*

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*

2024 California Indian Heritage Preservation Award​

dirk charley
Tribal Secretary/Council Member, Dunlap Band of Mono Indians
Read dirk's nomination

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:

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.

Nomination Instructions: Describe the individual’s career accomplishments, personal and professional highlights, scope of influence, and other achievements. 

Award Recipients:

2024 Martin A. Baumhoff Special Achievement Award

Eric Wohlgemuth
Far Western Anthropological Research Group, Inc.

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.

Award Recipients:

2024 - Eric Wohlgemuth
2023 - Ken Gobalet

2022 – Kelly McGuire

2021 – no nomination

2020 – Californian State Parks

2019 – Lynn H. Gamble

2018 – Mark W. Allen

2017 – Jon Erlandson
2016 – Jeanne Arnold

2015 – William R. Hildebrandt

2014 – Victor Golla

2013 – Dwight D. Simons

2012 – Randy T. Milliken, Al Schwitalla, and Pacific Legacy

2011 – Don Laylander

2010 – Kent Lightfoot and Otis Parrish

2009 – Greg White

2008 – Terry Jones and Kathryn Klar

2007 – Robert L. Bettinger

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

2024 Mark Raymond Harrington Award for Conservation Archaeology

don laylander
ASM Affiliates, Inc.
read don's nomination

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

Award Recipients:

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

2024 - No Nomination
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

2005 – San Diego Archaeological Center

2004 – Colorado Desert Archaeological Society

2003 – Pacific Coast Archaeological Society

2002 – Kern County Archaeological Society

2001 – Coastal Marine Archaeological Resources

2000 – Luther and Betsy Bertrando, San Luis Obispo County Archaeological Society

1999– Sacramento Archaeological Society

1998 – Archaeological Survey Association of Southern California

1997 – Fort Guijarros Museum Foundation

1996 – Friends of Sierra Rockart

1995 – Santa Cruz Archaeological Society

1994 – San Diego Archaeological Society

1993 – Fresno Archaeological Society

2024 The SCA Award for Excellence in Cultural Resource Management

myra herrmann
City of San Diego (ret.)
read myra's nomination

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.  

Award Recipients:

2024 - Myra Herrmann
2023 - Jennifer Darcangelo

2022 - CA State Tribal Historic Preservation Officers (THPOs)

2021 – Clayton Lebow
2020 – Patti Garcia

2019 – Elaine Sundahl

2018 – Randall Dean

2017 – Robert Jackson

2016– Susan Goldberg

2015 – Tina Biorn

2014 – Marie Cottrell

2013 – Randy S. Wiberg

2012 – Michael P. Sampson

2011 – Janet Eidsness

2010 – Far Western Anthropological Research Group
2009 – Duane Christian

2008 – Trish Fernandez

2007 – Information Centers of the California Historical Resource Inventory System

2006 – Stan Berryman

2004 – C. William Clewlow, Jr.

2003 – Adrian Praetzellis

2002 – Dwight Dutschke and Hans Kreutzberg

2001 – David Whitley

2000 – Michael J. Moratto

1999 – Brian Byrd

1998 – Thomas F. King

2024 Golden Shovel Award

tim kennedy

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 Form

Award Recipients:

2024 - Tim Kennedy
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

2024 Outstanding Student Paper Award & Poster Awards

kristina moore
PALOMAR COLLEGE

Giving a paper or poster at the SCA Annual Meeting? Submit your paper or poster by January 15,  to the SCA Student Paper Competition. Papers should be submitted as e-mail attachments to the SCA Business Office at office@scahome.org 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:

2024 - Kristina Moore
2023 - Sue Hagen & Ajeng McCunney

2022 – Kimberly Algya

2021 – no award

2020 – Kyle Palazzolo

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

2024 President’s Award

The President’s Award is given for above and beyond service to the SCA and California archaeology in general.

Award Recipients:

2024 -  Amira Ainis, Gregorio Pacheco, and Shelly Davis-King
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

2023 James A. Bennyhoff Research Award

G. TIMOTHY GROSS, PHD, RPA 10295
ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR, DEPT. OF ANTHROPOLOGY

SABRE 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.

Award Recipients:
2022 – G. Timothy Gross
2021 – Richard Hughes

2024 James A. Bennyhoff Student Award

Award Recipients:

2024 - No Award given
2023 - No award given

2022 - Jeremy McFarland

2022 - Liz Neic

2021 - Erica J. Bradley

2019 - Kristina Crawford

2018 – Brian Barbier

2018 – Nichole Fournier

2017 - David C. Harvey

2016 - Gregory R. Burns

2016 - 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 Joslin

2007 – Donna Gillette

2006 – Elizabeth Sutton

2005 – Allika Ruby

2004 – Deanna Grimstead

2004 - Brandon Patterson

2003 – Shannon Tushingham

2002 – Alexander Degeorgy

2001 Kathleen Hull

2000 Torbin Rick

1999 Sharon McFarland

1998 Eric Wohlgemuth

1997 – Rene Vellanoweth

1996 – Nelson Siefkin

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.

2024 SCA Orphaned Archaeological Collections Professional Services and Curation Project

zoe levit
UNIVERSITY OF NEVADA, RENO

My primary goal is to work with orphaned collections currently at UNR to develop a standard protocol to extract data from shell midden materials that might not be the immediate subject of research to expedite accessioning in appropriate repositories. It is common for universities to hold on to collections in the hope that they will someday be useful for research. My goal is to develop a system that can be used by archaeologists in these situations to obtain the data most likely to be of use in future research, which has four primary benefits: 1) universities and other institutions will be able to accession materials, opening up storage space; 2) archaeologists will have necessary data on hand for future studies, expediting research; 3) samples will be more expeditiously curated at appropriate facilities, so they can be more readily monitored; and 4) a standardized protocol allows for more straightforward training of students, who can conduct future data collection under the supervision of their professors. I will use materials originally excavated on Santa Rosa Island, California (SRI) by Douglas Kennett and Don Morris from 1996 to 1999 that are currently on loan to UNR to develop these protocols. I will focus on collections from CA-SRI-28, -96, and -97, located at China Camp along the southwestern coast of SRI. China Camp is the location of the historically named village of Nawani and will yield data that can be used to understand the formation of Late Period villages on the island (Glassow et al. 2010). I will also include collections from CA-SRI-50, a middle Holocene interior residential base, to demonstrate applicability to collections from different time periods (Jazwa et al. 2015; Kennett 1998). To contribute to both the development of my thesis and generate data that could be used by future researchers.

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