Rachael Smith is the 2021 recipient of the , presented by the Society for American Archaeology. Her thesis, "The Use of Portable X-Ray Fluorescence to Distinguish Individuals in a Commingled Assemblage of Human Remains," was selected by the Geoarchaeology Awards Committee on behalf of the entire Society.
Smith's interdisciplinary research applies geoarchaeology methods to forensic anthropology questions. Rachael is testing the feasibility of portable X-ray Fluorescence (pXRF) on commingled skeletal remains from a historic cemetery site. Her research aims to understand how much elemental signatures (e.g., calcium, phosphorous, manganese, and others) vary within a single bone and within an individual after being interred for several hundred years.
The Society for American Archaeology is an international organization and the largest organization of its kind in North America. One Goldberg Award winner is selected per year.