Fritz, Mueller receive Southeastern Archaeological Conference award

Gayle Fritz, professor of archaeology, and Natalie Mueller, a 2017 doctoral graduate, both of the Department of Anthropology in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, have received the Patty Jo Watson Award for the year’s best article or book chapter on Southeastern archaeology.

Presented by the Southeastern Archaeological Conference, the award recognizes their co-authored chapter titled “Women as Symbols and Actors in the Mississippi Valley: Evidence from Female Flint-clay Figurines and Effigy Vessels” in the book “Native American Landscapes: An Engendered Perspective.”

The award was established in 2012 to honor Patty Jo Watson, a renowned American archaeologist who set new standards for archaeological practice during a prolific career exploring the pre-Columbian history of the Southeastern United States.

Watson, a professor of anthropology at Washington University from 1969 to 2005, is now a distinguished university professor emerita. Mueller, who was first author of the award-winning chapter, is currently a postdoctoral researcher with the Integrated School of Plant Sciences at Cornell University.

The article originally appeared in The Source.