Timothy Earle, Professor Emeritus in the Department of Anthropology, has been awarded the Society for American Archaeology (SAA) Lifetime Achievement Award, the highest honor in his field.
According to their website, the Lifetime Achievement Award is conferred to “an archaeologist for specific accomplishments that are truly extraordinary, widely recognized as such, and of positive and lasting quality.” Previously called the Distinguished Service Award, it has been presented annually to a wide range of outstanding professionals responsible for great scholarly, pedagogical, and/or institutional achievements in archaeology. Earle is the 45th person to receive this honor.
Earle is an economic anthropologist specializing in the evolution of complex societies, prehistoric economies, and material culture. He has conducted multi-year, international field research projects in three world regions: Polynesia, South America, and Europe. His multiple, landmark studies have contributed significantly to the current understanding of irrigation systems and intensification of agriculture, engineered landscapes, and how land tenure translated into political hierarchy and systems of economic control.
Earle served as chair of the Department of Anthropology (1995-2000) and president of the Archaeology Division of the American Anthropological Association. He continues to study comparatively the long-term development of political economies, emphasizing contrasts between intensified agricultural landscapes and long-distance trading and raiding as affecting political power.
The award will be presented at the 88th SAA Annual Meeting in the Oregon Convention Center in Portland, Oregon on March 31, 2023.
Check out some of Professor Earle’s most frequently cited works: