Roald H. Fryxell

[1] He was a Professor of Anthropology at Washington State University (WSU) and pioneer in the interdisciplinary field of geoarchaeology, with a career that involved work on monumental projects in North America and even outer space.

From a young age, Roald was involved in drawing, sports, and poetry but pursued science, and later selected geology for his graduate studies.

After their honeymoon in Jackson Hole, Roald worked a short stint as the naturalist for Grand Teton National Park until starting graduate school at Washington State University (WSU).

While at WSU, Roald broadened his education, taking classes in ecology, archaeology, and pedology under Rexford F. Daubenmire, Richard Daugherty and Henry Smith.

Fryxell worked with his students and Richard Daugherty on the Marmes Rock Shelter at the confluence of the Palouse and Snake Rivers.

During the 1960s Fryxell worked with two members of the U.S. Geological Survey under a National Science Foundation grant to study an archeological site named Hueyatlaco, at the north shore of the Valsequillo Reservoir, in the state of Puebla, Mexico.

This preserved entire sections of the stratigraphy of a site, which could then be brought back to the archaeological laboratory at Washington State University.

[2] In 1971 after the Marmes project, Fryxell was selected to be part of the team of geologists in Houston who examined rocks brought back from the Moon during the Apollo program.

Despite the salvage efforts, Fryxell and Daugherty continued to fight the Army Corps of Engineers and Federal Government to delay the inundation of the site and preserve the area for future generations.

An overlook shelter at the Palouse Falls is also named after him, as is the Roald H. Fryxell Memorial Scholarship at Augustana College.

At Washington State University, colleagues established the Roald Fryxell Publication Fund for the Department of Anthropology.