Rancher Archaeologist

From the open skies of Wyoming, here’s this month’s short story about ranch life, an insight I learned from my family, and a piece of trivia.

Story

George C. Frison had two different professions and excelled in both. He grew up on a family ranch where he learned responsibility and the enduring strength of human kindness. A couple of decades after fighting in the Pacific during World War II, he went to college and eventually earned his PhD in anthropology at the University of Michigan. When he returned to Wyoming, he accepted a tenure-track professorship at the University and became Wyoming’s first State Archaeologist.

George trained scores of graduate students through the decades, and many of them became nationally well-known in their chosen field. Dr. Frison received so many academic awards during his career, there isn’t enough room here to list them all. Perhaps his greatest achievement was his election to the National Academy of Sciences, a first for Wyoming!

In spite of all these accolades, he never lost his down-to-earth perspective on humanity and its virtues. Memories of his well-lived life continue to inspire his former students and others who knew him.

George also influenced the development of archaeology around the globe. But his greatest impact was at home where he and his wife, June, nurtured a generation of archaeologists while documenting the fantastic cultural history of our region. Being a part of that process has been a highlight of my “second” career after I left the I Lazy D.

George Frison and my dad, Frank Miller, were two former ranchers who established the foundation for my adult life and gave me the rational perspective I needed to contribute to society. They will forever be in my heart and mind. My gratitude toward their patient teachings knows no bounds. 

George Frison on the right and my uncle George Brox.

Insight

Frison was so influential in American archaeology that one practitioner named a particular type of stone tool analysis the “Frison Effect.”

Did You Know?

Frison’s accomplishments in archaeology earned him the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Society for American Archaeology?

Until next time,

Mark Miller

 “Those are post holes from a corral built to confine the surviving bison after they went of the cliff,” Frison said. The site is five thousand years old! From A Sometimes Paradise.