A CCPA Fellow is an individual recognized as a senior scholar in archaeology or related discipline, as well as someone that has made a substantial contribution to Colorado archaeology through both research and service.  

Adrienne Anderson


James Bell Benedict  (1938-2011)

Jim Benedict was born in Cincinnati, Ohio 11 November 1938.  As a child, he explored the rich Ordovician shales and limestones for fossils near his home, an activity that began his lifelong love of geology and natural history.  He graduated from Phillips Andover Academy and then served a stint in the Marines.  Following that, he entered the University of Colorado, graduating with a BS in Geology in 1961. He then entered the graduate program in geology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, earning a PhD in Geology in 1968.

In 1963, while conducting high altitude studies at CU’s  Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research (INSTARR) west of Boulder, he discovered the Murray game drive.  He recognized a concentration of hunting blinds and drive walls, all encrusted in lichen colonies, and realized the potential of incorporating archaeological sites into his studies of high altitude climate and geology.  He went on to establish the best lichen chronology in the New World, useful in aging cultural and geological features in the Front Range.  In 1971, the year he married his beloved wife, Audrey, he established the Center for Mountain Archeology.  He later described this move to archaeology by joking to geologists that he was “a backslider from geology into the social sciences” (GSA Kirk Bryan Award acceptance speech, 1975).

His numerous publications include the highly-acclaimed Center for Mountain Archeology Research Report series (nine total) that concentrated on the archaeology and geology of the Indian Peaks region of the Front Range. He was well-known for his work on the Altithermal refugium model for the Rockies, and for his models of annual migration rounds in the Front Range.   Jim’s talent for science was obvious in the meticulous and creative approaches he employed in all his projects, effectively weaving together data from highly disparate sources to form his conclusions.  He was truly a multi-disciplinarian in the finest sense of the term.  

Personal honors include being a member of Phi Beta Kappa, Sigma XI, a Fellow of the Geological Society of America, and was the winner of the Kirk Bryan Award (GSA) and the C. T. Hurst Award (Colorado Archaeological Society), and was a Research Associate for the Denver Museum of Nature and Science and a Faculty Affiliate at Colorado State University.  Near the end of Jim’s life, they established the Jim and Audrey Benedict Mountain Archaeology Fund at CSU.  Jim died 8 March 2011 after a hard-fought battle with kidney cancer.

Jim was inducted as a CCPA Fellow in 2011.


 

Dave Breternitz, South Dakota, 1951

Dave Breternitz, 2008


David Alan Breternitz (b. 1929)

My archaeological career probably began when I became a Charter Member of the Denver Chapter of the Colorado Archaeological Society, as a junior in high school.  My future was set in stone when I attended the University of Arizona Archaeological Field School at age 19 (After me, they never accepted another student who had just completed his freshman year of college!).  I was on the faculty of the University of Colorado, Boulder, for 24 years and during that time I had the opportunity to direct a variety of archaeological projects:  in 9 states; in Tunisia and Nigeria; Field School for 19 years; and, as Senior Principal Investigator for the Dolores Archaeological Project, for 7 1/2 years.  Since "retirement" I have participated in 70 separate archaeological projects (1/2 day to 19 weeks in duration), mostly as a Crew Member and the majority in Southwest Colorado .

David was elected CCPA Fellow in 1992

 


Edward Stephen Cassells (b. 1945)

E. Steve Cassells was born at a Navy base in California on 6 August 1945, the day the first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, making him an official baby "boomer".  Steve took his first geology course in 1967 at Chadron State College (NE) from Larry Agenbroad, and that inspired him to choose archaeology as his profession.  He entered the University of Arizona, and was on the crew at the Murray Springs Clovis site, directed by Vance Haynes and Larry Agenbroad during those years.  He earned an M.A. in 1972, and served in the U.S. Army before becoming an anthropology professor at Judson College (IL).  He was the Forest Archeologist for the Gunnison National Forest and then became the Colorado Assistant State Archaeologist in 1978.  He then started Plano Archaeological Consultants. During those years he wrote The Archaeology of Colorado and Prehistoric Hunters of the Black Hills, was awarded the C. T. Hurst Award by the Colorado Archeological Society, and served as President of CCPA.  He then entered the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he earned a Ph.D. in 1995 under the mentoring of Jim Stoltman and Vance Holliday. His excavations at the high-altitude Sawtooth game drive, with the help of Jim Benedict, formed the basis for his dissertation.  Steve and wife Jill now live in Longmont, and he is an anthropology professor at Laramie County Community College in Cheyenne.

Steve was elected CCPA Fellow in 2010.

Steve Cassells, Murray Springs, 1971

 


Susan Margaret Collins (b. 1948)

Susan was born in Trenton, New Jersey and grew up in the suburbs of New York City, where she developed a taste for anthropology through family recreational visits to museums as an alternative to attending baseball games.  After transferring to the University of Colorado as an undergraduate, she realized that archaeology was a viable profession.  She participated in the University of New Mexico field school, excavating Developmental Pueblo sites near Taos and subsequently worked on a variety of CU research excavation projects at Mesa Verde pueblo sites and at shell middens on the northwest coast of Canada.  As a student researcher, she also worked part of one summer in Missouri on a rock   shelter dig and as part of a team that excavated saturated mastodon remains from several peat bogs.

She earned her PhD in Anthropology at CU in 1975.  Her dissertation involved the analysis of site locations in the Santa Fe area during the thirteenth century.  She then was appointed to the faculty of Western Carolina University, where she taught archaeology and physical anthropology.  Susan returned to the West in1978 and embarked on a decade of fieldwork in Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, and New Mexico, working variously in private consulting, as professional staff at Colorado State University, and as a program director for the Zuni Tribe.        

After 22 years of service, Susan retired in 2011 from the position of State Archaeologist and Deputy State Historic Preservation Officer of Colorado, serving on the senior management team of History Colorado, and the State Historical Society of Colorado.  She nurtured multiple programs within the Office of Archaeology and Historic Preservation and participated in strategic planning for the organization as a whole.  Her accomplishments include strengthening the practice of archaeology of the historic era within the state, facilitating participation of Native Americans in management of their heritage resources, extending the reach of local preservation programs, and improving the state's cultural resource database.

Susan has been honored with the Colorado Archaeological Society C.T. Hurst Award for Lifetime Achievement in Colorado Archaeology and the Colorado Preservation, Inc. Ann Pritzlaff Award for Exceptional Stewardship of the Cultural Heritage of Colorado.  

Susan was inducted as a CCPA Fellow in 2011.


Frank Warren Eddy (b. 1930)

Frank Eddy was born in Roanoke, Virginia in 1930.  He entered the University of New Mexico in 1948, completing his B.A. in Anthropology in 1952.  He then went on to graduate school at the University of Arizona, receiving his M.A. in 1958.  He was then hired as curator of the Laboratory of Anthropology at the Museum of New Mexico in Santa Fe.  He left there in 1965 to begin PhD studies at the University of Colorado.  Upon completion of the degree in 1968 he took over as the Executive Director of the Texas Archaeological Salvage Project at the University of Texas.  In 1970 he was hired as a faculty member at the University of Colorado, where he remained until retirement.  His early years included fieldwork at the early historic sites of Yorktown and Jamestown, and then at the massive Glen Canyon project.  Later he conducted salvage work in Egypt on the Aswan Dam project.  He assisted Joe Ben Wheat on both his Yellow Jacket and Jurgens sites excavations.  He is the author of the acclaimed textbook, Archaeology: A Cultural-Evolutionary Approach.  In 1970, perhaps his crowning work was for the U.S. Forest Service on their Chimney Rock Archaeological Project in southern Colorado.   

Frank was elected CCPA Fellow in 2000.

Frank Eddy, Chimney Rock, 1972

 

Al Lancaster, Mesa Verde, 1968


James Allen Lancaster (1894-1992)  

Al Lancaster was born in 1894 in Clifton, TN, and died in Colorado in 1992 at the age of 98.  During his adult years, Al was a farmer in the Cortez, CO vicinity, and became interested in the archaeological remains so ubiquitous on the landscape.  He signed on to help Paul Martin excavate Lowry Ruin, and then later with J.O. Brew at his well-known excavations at Alkali Ridge in S.E. Utah.  Despite his lack of formal archaeological education, his experiences enabled him to serve as a NPS ranger at Hovenweep, Tumacacori, Yucca House, Aztec Ruin and Chaco Canyon.  He worked on excavations and stabilization projects at Mesa Verde for 25 years and assisted with University of Colorado archaeological field schools for six years.  He was the author of 63 manuscripts and monographs on Mesa Verde alone.  In 1962 Al was presented the Distinguished Service Award from the Department of Interior, their highest award.   

Al was inducted as a Fellow into the Colorado Council of Professional Archaeologists in 1982.


Elizabeth Ann Morris (b. 1932)

Elizabeth Morris was born to archaeologists Earl H. and Anne Axtell Morris in 1932.  She graduated from Boulder High school in 1949, received her AB from Antioch College in 1954 and both her MA (1957) and PhD (1959) from the University of Arizona .  While at Antioch College , Liz had an internship with Paul S. Martin and Elaine Bluhm at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago .  This internship helped her decide to become an archaeologist.

After receiving her degrees, Liz worked on the Iranian Prehistoric Project with Robert Braidwood and the Harvard Upper Paleolithic Project in France under the direction of Hallman Movius.  She was a research assistant at the Laboratory of Tree Ring Research in Arizona and edited the southwestern archaeological journal Kiva.   

Elizabeth started her teaching career at Temple University but by 1970 had returned to Colorado to teach at Colorado State University (CSU).  While there Liz served as the department chair as well as the Director of CSU’s field school.  Since 1988 she has been a Professor Emerita at Colorado State University .  

Liz has travelled all over the world doing archaeological, ethnographic and historical work.  She has excavated or presented professional papers in Canada, Mexico, Russia, Austria, China, Israel, Iran, France and Denmark.  

Officially retired Liz continues to pursue research at high-altitude sites in the Rockies and Basketmaker sites in the southwest.

Liz was named CCPA Fellow in 1992. 

Elizabeth Morris, 2002
Photo by Benjamin Gell

Omer Stewart, Boulder, 1980s


Omer Call Stewart (1908-1991)

Omer Stewart was born in Provo, Utah in 1908.  He attended the University of Utah, earning a B.A. in anthropology in 1933.  He went on to graduate school at the University of California-Berkeley, earning his Ph.D in 1939.  His primary training and interest lay in ethnology, and spent much of his career working with the Ute, including a special emphasis on their peyote religion.  His early archaeological experiences were as a cook for various expeditions into the Southwest, including Julian Steward at Promontory Point and Black Rock Cave in 1930, as well as Lynn Hargrave's Rainbow Bridge and Monument Valley Expedition in 1933. He initially taught at the University of Texas, and then did a post-doctoral appointment at the University of Minnesota.  He served in the Army during W.W. II from 1941 to 1945.  Returning home after the war, he began his teaching career at the University of Colorado, and remained there until his retirement in 1974. He was responsible for developing a site form in 1947 for archaeological site recordation in Colorado.  Following the death of CAS leader, C. T. Hurst, in 1949, Omer assumed the leadership as the Executive Secretary of the Colorado Archaeological Society, serving in that capacity until 1952.  Omer always considered himself an avocational archaeologist, and remained a strong supporter of CAS throughout his lifetime, passing away in Boulder in 1991.

Omer was elected CCPA Fellow in 1982.       


Joe Ben Wheat (1916-1997)

Joe Ben Wheat (known affectionately to all as "Joe Ben") was born in Van Horn, Texas in 1916..  His initial academic exposure to anthropology was at UC-Berkeley under the tutelage of giants Alfred Kroeber and Robert Lowie.  He later received his M.A. and Ph.D. at the University of Arizona.  Most in Colorado know him from his association with the University of Colorado Museum after he replaced Herb Dick as Curator of Anthropology.  His expertise spanned the scope of New World prehistory.  His report on his excavations at the Olson-Chubbuck site became a classic in Paleoindian studies.  In addition to working at another Paleoindian kill, the Jurgens site, along the Kersey Terrace in NE Colorado, he spent many years with CU students excavating large complex Anasazi ruins north of Cortez around Yellow Jacket.  He also became a world-renowned expert in Southwestern Native American textiles.  Despite his busy schedule, Joe Ben was known for generously sharing his time with anyone who appeared at his door in the museum with a question or an artifact in need of identification.  He began retirement in 1982, but continued his Yellow Jacket work for many years thereafter.  He passed away in Boulder in 1997. 

Joe Ben was elected CCPA Fellow in 1982.

Joe Ben Wheat, Jurgens Site, 1970

Marie Wormington , Uncompahgre Plateau, 1930s


Hannah Marie Wormington Volk (1914-1994)

Marie Wormington was born in Denver in 1914 and remained a resident there the rest of her life.  She was an East High School classmate of John Cotter, who also went on to fame in the archaeological profession.  She received he B.A. at Denver University under E. B. Renaud, and then set out to gain field experience in Upper Paleolithic archaeology in France.  Upon her return she was hired by J. D. Figgins (of Folsom site fame) as a staff archaeologist at the Denver Museum of Natural History, and served in that capacity for the next 31 years (with time out for graduate studies).  She undertook graduate school at Radcliffe and Harvard, becoming only the second woman admitted into the Harvard anthropology department.  Her mentors there were Clyde Kluckhohn and Kirk Bryan.  She received her M.A. and Ph.D. from Radcliffe in 1950 and 1954.  She undertook numerous archaeological excavations over the years, but is best known for her syntheses – especially Prehistoric Indians of the Southwest (1947) and the many editions of Ancient Man in North America (1939).  She became the first woman president of the Society for American Archeology in 1958 and was honored by them with the SAA Distinguished Service Award in 1983. She remained active in the field up until her demise in her Denver home due to smoke inhalation in 1994 as the result of a smoldering cigarette. 

Marie was elected CCPA Fellow in 1982.