Examples of funded Grants:

2025 Grant awarded to Emily Thurman
Masters Thesis Support, Arizona State University

I would like to express my sincerest gratitude for your support of my master’s project through the Dr. David R. Wilcox Archaeology Grant. Your support is instrumental in advancing my research on the distribution of Spondylus in the Phoenix Basin.

This research grant will allow me to spend three weeks in Tucson over the summer learning the fundamentals of marine shell analysis under the guidance of Arthur Vokes, retired curator of the Arizona State Museum. I will learn to identify marine shell species, classify shell ornaments, and determine evidence of manufacturing techniques on worked shell from an expert shell analyst. I will gain hands-on experience through assisting with shell artifact analysis and documentation of the Norton Allen collections and other collections housed at the Arizona State Museum.

These skills are paramount for my future research direction. Learning from Arthur Vokes this summer will provide me with foundational knowledge and skills necessary to analyze shell artifacts located in museums and repositories. I will be able to correctly identify Spondylus and other marine shell species in collections and identify similarities among shell artifact types from different sites. With this knowledge, I can contribute to broader discussions about marine shell acquisition and use in the Greater Southwest.

Thank you once again for your generous support. I am truly grateful for this opportunity to develop essential skills and grow as a researcher. I will keep the Chapter updated on my progress, and I look forward to presenting the results of my project at a future meeting.

2024 Grant awarded to Dakota Larrick
PhD Thesis Support, University of Arizona
Thanks to the Verde Valley chapter of the AAS I was able to complete three successful radiocarbon “wiggle-matches” on wood samples from a cliff dwelling at the Palatki Heritage Site in the Verde Valley. I acquired a total of 9 radiocarbon dates on timbers from three rooms in the dwelling (Rooms 2, 3, and 35, one wood sample from each). Through these tests I could confirm that the cliff dwelling has at least one major construction phase dating to the first half of the 13th century, between approximately 1200 to 1250. 

Dendrochronological dating of Palatki at the Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research using the traditional cross-dating method was previously unsuccessful, leading us to attempt radiocarbon wiggle-matching. The wiggle-match method in dendrochronology involves selecting individual rings (or pooled rings, when necessary) for radiocarbon dating and calibrating them against the international radiocarbon curve (IntCal20), using the known number of years (rings) between each measurement as a reference point. 

This work functioned as a successful pilot test for further applications of wiggle-matching on cliff dwellings in the Sierra Madre Occidental of northwest Mexico as part of my dissertation research, while also allowing me to make a meaningful contribution to the archaeology of Arizona during my time as a graduate student of the University of Arizona. A publication detailing these tests is currently in preparation. 

2024 Grant awarded Caitlin W.

PhD Thesis Support, Arizona State University

The David R. Wilcox Archaeology Grant has been instrumental in facilitating Caitlin’s research on the white slip clays used to decorate Salado polychrome pottery (a.k.a. Roosevelt Redware) from sites in the Phoenix Basin of Arizona.

Specialized compositional analyses require the use of scientific instruments that are not widely available, and these analyses often entail costs that can mount quickly. The David R. Wilcox Archaeology Grant has allowed her to work with the Archaeometry lab at the University of Missouri Research Reactor (MURR) to conduct laser ablation inductively coupled mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) of white slip clays on 112 samples of Salado polychrome pottery.

Together with the results of a recent pilot study of 40 samples, she will have characterized the slip chemistry from 152 different vessels from eight different sites across the Phoenix Basin. Because white clays are not common in the geology of the Phoenix Basin, it seems likely that the white slip clays may have been brought to the area from elsewhere.

The results of this study will aid in understanding whether potters accessed different sources of white slip, and whether patterns in the use of different sources may have changed through time. Examining the results of the slip characterization study alongside the results of recent neutron activation analysis (NAA) of body clays from the same vessels will allow her to explore the possibility that multiple networks of interaction may be reflected in the materials used in the production of these vessels.

‘Establishing an empirical understanding of the production and provenance of Salado polychrome pottery and its constituent materials requires the generation of a good amount of new data, and funding support from the David R. Wilcox Archaeology Grant is helping to make this happen. I am very grateful to the Verde Valley chapter of the Arizona Archaeological Society for their support through this grant. I look forward to sharing the results of the study!’

2023 Grant awarded Joanne G.
Masters Thesis Support, Northern Arizona University
Examining the patterns between exhibition content, the presence of indigenous voices, and the average length of guest interaction with archaeology-focused exhibits at the Museum of Northern Arizona and the Heard Museum.

The David Wilcox scholarship supported Joanne in studying the backgrounds of Arizonan archaeological exhibitions, during which she began questioning if the presence of Indigenous voices effect visitor perspectives in these spaces. As a culmination of her work, Joanne will present a talk on her Master's Thesis work, 'Disconnection and Reconnection: Visitor Perspectives, Archaeology, and Indigenous Presence in Southwestern Arizonan Heritage Exhibitions' in to the Verde Valley Archaeological Chapter, Arizonan Archaeological Society in Spring 2024.

'My graduate education significantly benefited from understanding the intersections of Indigenous presence, Archaeology and Visitor Studies in Arizonan exhibition spaces. This scholarship aided in me finishing my last semester of school and in travel to both museum institutions.'

This funding also aided in giving Joanne access to university faculty resources such as statistical software and academic databases on museum studies, visitor studies and archaeological resources.

'I am grateful for the VVCAAS for their support and interest about my thesis work and the opportunity to present on Archaeological exhibitions, visitor feedback and Indigenous perspectives within these spaces.' 

2022 Grant awarded Emily Jonsson
Conservation Internship in the Arizona State Museum
This internship allowed Emily to study the contamination of cultural materials, during which time she began questioning how nuclear testing programs and uranium mining in the Southwest affected the preservation of artifacts and archaeological sites. As a culmination of her work, Emily presented a talk titled, 'Atomic Pasts: Preserving the Legacy of Nuclear Testing in the Southwest' to the Verde Valley Chapter, Arizona Archaeological Society in March, 2023.

“The opportunity to study how modern contaminants affect cultural materials in the Conservation Lab at ASM would not have been possible without the support of this grant. My graduate education significantly benefited from getting work hands-on with collections and artifacts in a museum setting, as asking questions from a conservation standpoint has changed the way I approach sites and artifacts. I am beyond grateful to the VVCAAS for their support and enthusiasm about my work and for the opportunity to present on nuclear testing and cultural resources!”

2022 Masters Thesis Support, Northern Arizona University

Ceramic Exchange in Northern Arizona: Mapping of prehistoric ceramics; trading of ceramics through Northern Arizona. Benjamin P., Master's Program, Northern Arizona University.