2017 John L. Cotter Award for Excellence in NPS Archeology

The NPS has announced the winners of the 2017 John L. Cotter Award for Excellence in NPS Archeology. This award is presented to archeologists who excel in scientific archeological research, community involvement, and public education.

The winners are:

Greg Burtchard. NPS photo.

Greg Burtchard (Professional Achievement Award)

Greg Burtchard has been actively engaged in disseminating archeological research results; and developing and maintaining partnerships with universities and federal agencies. Burtchard also greatly expanded interaction and collaboration between Mount Rainer NP and federally-recognized tribal members and the traditionally associated people of the Muckleshoot Indian Tribe, the Puyallup Tribe of Indians, the Nisqually Indian Tribe, the Cowlitz Indian Tribe, the Squaxin Island Tribe, and the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation.

In Holocene Subsistence and Settlement Patterns: Mount Rainier and the Montane Pacific Northwest. Archaeology in Washington, Burtchard addresses the capacity of this and other mountain landscapes to attract and sustain pre-contact hunters and gatherers. He offers a food intensification model based on forager to collector principles and demonstrated through paleo-climate modeling and sampling that vegetative communities on the mountain were highly variable over time. Burtchard used his paleo-climate models to inform predictive modeling for archeological sites in high country, and as a result, was able to identify many new sites.

Watch the ArcheoThursday webinar: Cascade Mountain Land-Use: 9,000 Years of Human Presence on Mount Rainier.

William Griswold (Project Award)

With co-editor Dr. Donald W. Linebaugh, and ten other contributors, William “Bill” Griswold published important archeological scholarship about the Battles of Saratoga. The Saratoga Campaign: Uncovering an Embattled Landscape highlights over 75 years of archeology at Saratoga NHP and explores the variety of archeological techniques and technologies used to uncover the past at the park. It has quickly become a key part of the park's archeological public outreach. Griswold's leadership on this project is evident through the coordination of the authors, the integrity of the work presented, the thematic flow of the narrative that is told through the book, and the overall high quality product that was published. He has been a strong advocate for the park's history, and this book is another example of his passion and commitment to his work.