George Carr Frison
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
George Carr Frison (born November 11, 1924) is an American archaeologist. He has been given the Society for American Archaeology's Lifetime Achievement Award, the Paleoarchaeologist of the Century Award, and was elected to the National Academy of Sciences. He was Wyoming’s first State Archaeologist, and was a founder of the University of Wyoming Anthropology Department.
Contents [hide]
1 Early life
2 Education
3 Time line of accomplishments
4 Theory and practice
5 References
6 Selected works
7 External links
Early life[edit]
Frison’s grandparents, Jake and Margaret Frison, homesteaded to Leadville Colorado in 1890 with the dream of starting a cattle ranch. Unsatisfied by the limitations of their ranch property, they decided to try their ranching luck in the town of Ten Sleep in Northern Wyoming in 1901. By the 1920s, the ranch was a viable cattle operation with the three sons of Jake and Margaret obtaining their own homesteads of 640 acres (2.6 km2) each.
George Frison was born in Worland, Wyoming on November 11, 1924 (Thomson Gale 2007). Frison’s father was killed in an accident in 1924 before George Frison was born. Frison’s mother left when George was three, and his paternal grandparents in Wyoming raised him. Frison took to ranching as a young man and helped his grandparents run the family ranch.
Frison was intrigued by fossil dinosaur and mammoth bones he found as a youngster in Wyoming, along with a variety of archaeological features such as chipped and ground stone tools, rock shelters, rock art, and scaffold burials (Vittitow 2006). Many researchers, such as geologist Harold Cook, paleontologist Glenn Jepsen, and anthropologist Waldo Wedel were investigating the areas near the Frison ranch for various research projects. Frison was intrigued by Paleontologist Barnum Brown, of the American Museum of Natural History, who excavated dinosaur beds close to the Frison ranch in 1934. Frison brought several cigar boxes of fossils to him to identify. Barnum was the researcher who identified the bison bones at the Folsom site in New Mexico, so he discussed the Folsom complex with a young George Frison, who had never heard of Folsom before. These experiences were helping to shape Frison’s interest in and knowledge of both fossils and ancient American cultures (Vittitow 2006).
George Frison was an accomplished hunter and learned about hunting and animal behavior from his grandfather. Through experience and family ethics, Frison as a hunter was able to adopt a philosophy of conservation that worked for both the hunter and the hunted, and the common environment that both had to live in. Frison later believed that his philosophy must also have been the philosophy of early hunters.
When he was 11 years old he had his first, and most unforgettable, incident with a bison bull in a state park near Thermopolis, about 50 miles (80 km) from his home ranch, when ten loose bison wandered from the park, and Frison was able to secure permission to assist local cowhands to escort the bison back to the park. A young bison bull that created too much confusion among the other bison was left behind. Frison found the bison bull grazing a few days later and decided to outrun the bull on horseback. After both Frison and the bison cleared two fences, the bull stopped at the third fence, turned 180 degrees and decided to charge. Frison soon learned how an awkward and docile bison could soon be a danger, as both Frison and his horse toppled to the ground when the bull passed between the horse’s legs. However, all three managed to sustain no injury (Frison 2004).
After graduation from high school in 1942, Frison enrolled in the University of Wyoming. His education was cut short when World War II began and he decided to enlist in the United States Navy. He served in the amphibious forces of the South Pacific during World War II, and received an honorable discharge in 1946 to return to Ten Sleep to work on the family ranch. He felt with the thought that the ranch “was the only place on earth…I really wanted to get back to it and it needed somebody to really do some work on the place and hold it together. At that point, I didn’t have any great desire to go back to school (Vittitow 2006).” At this time he also began work as a hunting guide, and married June Granville (Vittitow 2006).
Frison joined the Wyoming Archaeological Society and spent over 20 years working as an avocational archaeologist. In 1952 George discovered a hidden cave full of atlatl and dart fragments, which were used by ancient American hunters as spear throwers, and took them to local archaeologist Dr. William Mulloy. George learned how to make the darts and atlatls himself and later, in 1965, described and published work on the cave now known as Springer Creek.
In 1956, George and June Frison adopted a daughter, Carol Frison Placek, who was born in 1952 (Beaver 2006). George continued to work as an avocational archaeologist until 1962 when the Frison family ranch and hunting and guiding business ended (Frison 2004).
While attending a meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Denver in 1961, Frison learned that in order to succeed with an academic career in archaeology, he must have a formal university education. Frison sought advice from Professor William Mulloy at the University of Wyoming regarding future research and educational possibilities, and in 1962 he decided to enroll at the University of Wyoming, at age 37, to finish his undergraduate work (Frison 2004).
Education[edit]
In 1964 George Frison received a Bachelor of Science degree with honors in anthropology from the University of Wyoming (Vittitow 2006). Frison proceeded to graduate school at the University of Michigan with a fellowship from the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation, under James B. Griffin and Arthur Jelinek (Beaver 2006). Frison soon learned that the current literature on human hunters and hunting lacked credibility, and rarely took into account the hunted animal’s behavior, and often portrayed the hunter using unrealistic and illogical forms of hunting methodology (Frison 2004).
In 1965 George Frison received a Master’s degree in anthropology from the University of Michigan, and was accepted into the University’s PhD program. In 1967, he received his Doctorate degree in anthropology from the University of Michigan.
Time line of accomplishments[edit]
1967: Frison was appointed head of the newly formed Anthropology Department at the University of Wyoming. He builds the University of Wyoming’s Anthropology Department from a two faculty member undergraduate program in 1968 to a highly regarded PhD program (Vittitow 2006).
1968: Appointed the first Wyoming State Archaeologist (Beaver 2006).
1972: Frison was elected President of the board of the Plains Anthropological Society for one year (Beaver 2006).
1995: Retires from the University of Wyoming Anthropology Department (Beaver 2006).
1997: Elected to the National Academy of Sciences, while the University of Wyoming’s Board of Trustees established the George C. Frison Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology, a research facility dedicated to the study of North American, High Plains, and Rocky Mountain archaeology (Vittitow 2006).
1999: Received the Paleoarchaeologist of the Century award at the "Clovis and Beyond" conference (Beaver 2006).
2005: Frison was awarded the Society for American Archaeology Lifetime Achievement Award (Vittitow 2006).
2007: Frison searved as Professor Emeritus of Anthropology at the University of Wyoming.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
George Carr Frison (born November 11, 1924) is an American archaeologist. He has been given the Society for American Archaeology's Lifetime Achievement Award, the Paleoarchaeologist of the Century Award, and was elected to the National Academy of Sciences. He was Wyoming’s first State Archaeologist, and was a founder of the University of Wyoming Anthropology Department.
Contents [hide]
1 Early life
2 Education
3 Time line of accomplishments
4 Theory and practice
5 References
6 Selected works
7 External links
Early life[edit]
Frison’s grandparents, Jake and Margaret Frison, homesteaded to Leadville Colorado in 1890 with the dream of starting a cattle ranch. Unsatisfied by the limitations of their ranch property, they decided to try their ranching luck in the town of Ten Sleep in Northern Wyoming in 1901. By the 1920s, the ranch was a viable cattle operation with the three sons of Jake and Margaret obtaining their own homesteads of 640 acres (2.6 km2) each.
George Frison was born in Worland, Wyoming on November 11, 1924 (Thomson Gale 2007). Frison’s father was killed in an accident in 1924 before George Frison was born. Frison’s mother left when George was three, and his paternal grandparents in Wyoming raised him. Frison took to ranching as a young man and helped his grandparents run the family ranch.
Frison was intrigued by fossil dinosaur and mammoth bones he found as a youngster in Wyoming, along with a variety of archaeological features such as chipped and ground stone tools, rock shelters, rock art, and scaffold burials (Vittitow 2006). Many researchers, such as geologist Harold Cook, paleontologist Glenn Jepsen, and anthropologist Waldo Wedel were investigating the areas near the Frison ranch for various research projects. Frison was intrigued by Paleontologist Barnum Brown, of the American Museum of Natural History, who excavated dinosaur beds close to the Frison ranch in 1934. Frison brought several cigar boxes of fossils to him to identify. Barnum was the researcher who identified the bison bones at the Folsom site in New Mexico, so he discussed the Folsom complex with a young George Frison, who had never heard of Folsom before. These experiences were helping to shape Frison’s interest in and knowledge of both fossils and ancient American cultures (Vittitow 2006).
George Frison was an accomplished hunter and learned about hunting and animal behavior from his grandfather. Through experience and family ethics, Frison as a hunter was able to adopt a philosophy of conservation that worked for both the hunter and the hunted, and the common environment that both had to live in. Frison later believed that his philosophy must also have been the philosophy of early hunters.
When he was 11 years old he had his first, and most unforgettable, incident with a bison bull in a state park near Thermopolis, about 50 miles (80 km) from his home ranch, when ten loose bison wandered from the park, and Frison was able to secure permission to assist local cowhands to escort the bison back to the park. A young bison bull that created too much confusion among the other bison was left behind. Frison found the bison bull grazing a few days later and decided to outrun the bull on horseback. After both Frison and the bison cleared two fences, the bull stopped at the third fence, turned 180 degrees and decided to charge. Frison soon learned how an awkward and docile bison could soon be a danger, as both Frison and his horse toppled to the ground when the bull passed between the horse’s legs. However, all three managed to sustain no injury (Frison 2004).
After graduation from high school in 1942, Frison enrolled in the University of Wyoming. His education was cut short when World War II began and he decided to enlist in the United States Navy. He served in the amphibious forces of the South Pacific during World War II, and received an honorable discharge in 1946 to return to Ten Sleep to work on the family ranch. He felt with the thought that the ranch “was the only place on earth…I really wanted to get back to it and it needed somebody to really do some work on the place and hold it together. At that point, I didn’t have any great desire to go back to school (Vittitow 2006).” At this time he also began work as a hunting guide, and married June Granville (Vittitow 2006).
Frison joined the Wyoming Archaeological Society and spent over 20 years working as an avocational archaeologist. In 1952 George discovered a hidden cave full of atlatl and dart fragments, which were used by ancient American hunters as spear throwers, and took them to local archaeologist Dr. William Mulloy. George learned how to make the darts and atlatls himself and later, in 1965, described and published work on the cave now known as Springer Creek.
In 1956, George and June Frison adopted a daughter, Carol Frison Placek, who was born in 1952 (Beaver 2006). George continued to work as an avocational archaeologist until 1962 when the Frison family ranch and hunting and guiding business ended (Frison 2004).
While attending a meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Denver in 1961, Frison learned that in order to succeed with an academic career in archaeology, he must have a formal university education. Frison sought advice from Professor William Mulloy at the University of Wyoming regarding future research and educational possibilities, and in 1962 he decided to enroll at the University of Wyoming, at age 37, to finish his undergraduate work (Frison 2004).
Education[edit]
In 1964 George Frison received a Bachelor of Science degree with honors in anthropology from the University of Wyoming (Vittitow 2006). Frison proceeded to graduate school at the University of Michigan with a fellowship from the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation, under James B. Griffin and Arthur Jelinek (Beaver 2006). Frison soon learned that the current literature on human hunters and hunting lacked credibility, and rarely took into account the hunted animal’s behavior, and often portrayed the hunter using unrealistic and illogical forms of hunting methodology (Frison 2004).
In 1965 George Frison received a Master’s degree in anthropology from the University of Michigan, and was accepted into the University’s PhD program. In 1967, he received his Doctorate degree in anthropology from the University of Michigan.
Time line of accomplishments[edit]
1967: Frison was appointed head of the newly formed Anthropology Department at the University of Wyoming. He builds the University of Wyoming’s Anthropology Department from a two faculty member undergraduate program in 1968 to a highly regarded PhD program (Vittitow 2006).
1968: Appointed the first Wyoming State Archaeologist (Beaver 2006).
1972: Frison was elected President of the board of the Plains Anthropological Society for one year (Beaver 2006).
1995: Retires from the University of Wyoming Anthropology Department (Beaver 2006).
1997: Elected to the National Academy of Sciences, while the University of Wyoming’s Board of Trustees established the George C. Frison Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology, a research facility dedicated to the study of North American, High Plains, and Rocky Mountain archaeology (Vittitow 2006).
1999: Received the Paleoarchaeologist of the Century award at the "Clovis and Beyond" conference (Beaver 2006).
2005: Frison was awarded the Society for American Archaeology Lifetime Achievement Award (Vittitow 2006).
2007: Frison searved as Professor Emeritus of Anthropology at the University of Wyoming.
Amazon Forum Fav đź‘Ť
Upvote
0
