Wiessner Receives Human Roots Award
Anthropologist Pauline 'Polly' Wiessner is honored with the seventh HUMAN ROOTS AWARD for her life's work in archaeological research.
Updated on Nov. 10, 2026 in Social Sciences
MONREPOS Archaeological Research Centre presented the HUMAN ROOTS AWARD, endowed with 10,000 Euros, to Pauline 'Polly' Wiessner in 2025. The award honours scientists who have made significant contributions to understanding human behavioural evolution.
Why it matters
The jury recognised Wiessner's life's work, including numerous ethnological studies that contribute to archaeological research. The award reflects the value of ethnographic fieldwork in understanding how human societies developed over time.
The award carries a 10,000 Euro endowment and is presented for the seventh time, with MONREPOS presenting it since 2017. Wiessner served as a research associate at the Max Planck Institute for Behavioural Physiology from 1981 to 1996.
The players
MONREPOS Archaeological Research Centre and Museum for Human Behavioural Evolution
MONREPOS is an institution of the Leibniz-Zentrum für Archäologie in Mainz, Germany, that studies human behavioural evolution through archaeological research and public museum programs.
Pauline 'Polly' Wiessner
Wiessner is an anthropologist born in 1947 whose fieldwork among the Ju/'hoansi and Enga peoples has shaped the study of exchange, ritual, and conflict in small-scale societies.
The details
Wiessner has conducted research among the Ju/'hoansi in the Kalahari Desert in north-eastern Namibia and parts of Botswana, and has studied rituals, exchange economies, and warfare among the Enga of Papua New Guinea. She is a professor at the University of Utah and Arizona State University and a member of the US National Academy of Sciences.
Timeline
Wiessner was a research associate at the Max Planck Institute for Behavioural Physiology from 1981 to 1996.
MONREPOS began presenting the HUMAN ROOTS AWARD in 2017.
The seventh HUMAN ROOTS AWARD was presented to Wiessner in 2025.
The Big Picture
The HUMAN ROOTS AWARD, presented by the Leibniz-Zentrum für Archäologie's MONREPOS centre since 2017, extends an institutional program that links ethnographic fieldwork to archaeological interpretation. Wiessner's recognition reinforces the role of long-term fieldwork with living foraging and farming societies in that program's scope.
The recognition highlights how fieldwork among foraging and farming communities can inform how researchers understand social behaviour. Readers interested in human origins can follow research published through academic and museum programs on behavioural evolution.
The takeaway
Long-term fieldwork with living communities remains a key method for understanding how human social systems develop. Readers interested in the field can explore ethnographic research and archaeological museum programs to see how these approaches connect.
Further reading
Explore more in Social Sciences to see how anthropologists study human behaviour across cultures.
