2003
Rip Rapp Archaeological Geology Award

Rolfe D. Mandel
Kansas Geological Survey

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Presented to Rolfe D. Mandel

 Citation by E. Arthur Bettis III

It is a great pleasure and honor to introduce my friend and colleague, Rolfe Mandel, for the presentation of the 2003 GSA Rip Rapp Award. Few have influenced geoarchaeology through research and service as much as Rolfe, and I am pleased that GSA has recognized the level of his accomplishments with this award.

Rolfe has been involved in archaeological geology for over twenty years. He has served the discipline in government, academic, consulting, and editorial positions, and has been a driving force in forging a closer alliance between archaeology and geology. Geoarchaeology is Rolfe's calling, his research is impeccable, his field trips are legendary, and he is one of those rare people that walks the walk and talks the talk of Quaternary geology, pedology, and archaeology.

Rolfe's contributions to archaeological geology are many, but two are truly outstanding in their scope and impact. His decades of research on the geoarchaeology and alluvial landscape history of the central Great Plains of the United States have revolutionized our understanding of the region's Holocene landscape history and fostered landscape evolution-based approaches to evaluating the history of human habitation. As a result of extensive investigations in Kansas, Nebraska and Oklahoma he has formulated the most well-dated regional history of basin-wide fluvial response to Holocene bioclimatic change in the world. Rolfe has masterfully blended archaeological geology studies from a large number of cultural resource management investigations to develop a framework for understanding the impact of geologic and pedologic processes on the preservation and visibility of the central Great Plains archaeological record. In the course of this endeavor he has formed strong interdisciplinary ties with archaeologists, paleoecologists, soil scientists, geographers, and geologists across the region.

Rolfe's long-lasting and tireless effort to forge a formal relationship between GSA and the Society for American Archaeology has brought about a major increase in the interest in archaeological geology and geoarchaeology in both societies. He founded the Geoarchaeology Interest Group of SAA, which now boasts 562 members and regularly sponsors symposia and field trips at the annual SAA meeting. Rolfe has served the Archaeological Geology Division of the GSA in several capacities, including chairing the division and as the newsletter editor. He also chairs the division's educational committee and maintains the Directory of Graduate Programs in Archaeological Geology and Geoarchaeology, an invaluable resource for students. Few individuals have been as active in promotion and participation of their professional society as Rolfe has been in both GSA and SAA.

Rolfe's expertise and contributions are not limited to the Great Plains. He has undertaken geoarchaeological investigations at a number of localities east of the Rocky Mountains, including Watson Breaks, the oldest mound complex in North America, Big Eddy, where a record of human habitation spanning the last 12,000 years is preserved, and Big Bend National Park. As a geomorphologist with a thorough understanding of archaeological processes and sites, Rolfe has contributed immensely to several Near Eastern archaeological projects. His work at sites in Egypt and Jordan helped to explain how people living in sites located in arid environments were able to extract the maximum amount of resources from a harsh surrounding. His research also aided in understanding occupational sequences at "mega-sites" such as Ain Ghazal in Jordan. In addition, Rolfe's research was instrumental in establishing a cultural link with extinct pygmy hippopotamus at the controversial early Holocene site of Akrotiri Aetokremnos in Cyprus.

Under his editorship Gearchaeology: An International Journal has emerged as the premiere professional journal of geoarchaeology. Rolfe's untiring work with authors and lobbying for special issues focusing on topics in the forefront of the discipline sets him apart as one of the best editors of today's professional geoscience and archaeology journals. In addition to the journal, his editorial skills are evident in Geoarchaeology in the Great Plains, a historical and theoretical perspective on geoarchaeological research that has been widely acclaimed by both archaeologists and geologists.

Rolfe has been on the cutting edge and continues to push the frontier in his research. His present focus on Quaternary geology and first Americans in the Great Plains promises many significant discoveries and several new chapters in the story of people's presence on the Plains. Rolfe is an inspiration to his colleagues, an outstanding mentor and role model, and an ambassador for the world's archaeological geology and geoarchaeology community. His efforts and accomplishments reflect the spirit and standards of the award he is receiving and GSA should be honored to count a person of his professional and personal caliber in its membership.

  2003 Rip Rapp Archaeological Geology Award - Response by Rolfe D. Mandel

I am honored to receive this award, and thank you, Art, for your kind, over-generous words. I also thank the Archaeological Geology Division Awards Committee for its support and Rip Rapp for helping establish this division and for endowing the award.

People often ask me how and why I became a geoarchaeologist. The answer to the first part of this question is difficult because in reflecting on my career, I see so many twists and turns along the path, with many individuals influencing my direction. My parents, both scientists, stand at the beginning of that path. As a child growing up in San Antonio, my idea of a good time was looking for fossils in road cuts in the Texas hill country, and my parents spent numerous Sundays escorting me on those adventures. They fostered my interest in natural history, and encouraged me to explore the environment. I am very grateful for their guidance and support.

Although I started out majoring in biology at San Antonio College, Millard Brent, a physical geographer on the faculty, took me under his wing and steered me towards the geosciences. In 1971, I transferred to the University of Texas (UT) and majored in geography. Again, an individual, in this case Curt Sorenson, played a significant role in shaping my career. Curt got me fired up about geomorphology and soils, an interest that has never waned. He also instilled in me a passion for field work and, perhaps most important of all, he was (and remains) an endless source of encouragement. Curt left UT for the University of Kansas (KU) in 1975, and talked me into entering the geography graduate program at KU the following year. I told friends and family my absence from Texas would be brief, perhaps three or four years. Little did I know that I would become a resident of the Central Great Plains for the next 27 years.

During my early years at KU, I took geomorphology courses from Wakefield Dort, a geologist. He introduced me to geoarchaeology, describing his own research experience at sites such as Owl Cave and Shriver. Although it sounded very interesting, my involvement in geoarchaeology was yet to come.

Upon completing my M.A., I became a Research Associate at KU's Institute for Social and Environmental Studies (ISES). For several years, my research at ISES focused on mined-land reclamation and various land-use issues. However, that changed in 1981 when Alan Simmons, an archaeologist, became the director of the cultural resources management program at KU's Museum of Anthropology. Alan was working in the Great Plains and eastern Mediterranean, and invited me to join in his research. This was a defining moment in my career, and it led to frequent collaboration and a long-lasting friendship. At about the same time, Art Bettis and I became acquainted. Art's geoarchaeological research in western Iowa captured my attention. I started thinking about how temporal and spatial patterns of late-Quaternary landscape evolution shaped the archaeological record of the Central Plains, and addressed this issue in my doctoral dissertation at KU. It has been the centerpiece of much of my research during the past 20 years.

My teaching career started in the department of geography and geology at the University of Nebraska-Omaha (UNO). After four years at UNO, I returned to Kansas and spent the next 10 years working in two worlds: the world of a private consultant practicing geoarchaeology in the Central Plains and Midwest, and the world of an adjunct professor in the geography department at KU. My role in academia involved serving on thesis and dissertation committees, conducting geoarchaeological research in the U.S. and eastern Mediterranean, serving as Editor-in-Chief of Geoarchaeology, occasionally teaching field school, and a variety of service-related tasks. The point I want to make is that this was a very rewarding experience and it allowed me to interact with many people, especially archaeologists. However, I must add that it was an exhausting period of my life. Paul Goldberg and many of my other close colleagues often listened to me kvetch about "the journal" and other things that consumed my time. I thank them for not hanging up the phone.

In April of this year, my career path became more focused. With the establishment of an endowed geoarchaeological research program at the Kansas Geological Survey, I was placed in charge of searching for Paleoindian and pre-Clovis cultural deposits in the Central Plains and Midwest. Or, as my wife would say, I now have a real job. This is an exciting challenge for me, and I am grateful to Lee Allison, Director of the Kansas Geological Survey, for recognizing the value of this research.

So, why did I become a geoarchaeologist? I could provide a long, philosophical answer, but I will cut to the chase. Practicing geoarchaeology is a lot of fun, and I am looking forward to continuing down that path.

Many friends and colleagues have been a source of enthusiasm and support. I thank Art Bettis, Paul Goldberg, Vance Holliday, Ed Hajic, Reid Ferring, Julie Stein, Jack Hofman, Alan Simmons, Joe Saunders, Alston Thoms, Chris Hill, and Chris Caran, to name a few. A special thanks goes to my mentors, Curt Sorenson and Wakefield Dort, for their guidance and patience. Last, but not least, I am grateful to my wife, Sharon, and my son, Daniel, for enduring my frequent departures to places often far from home. Their tolerance and encouragement, and the support of my friends and colleagues, have been my inspiration. Thank you, all of you, for helping me achieve this award.