Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropology

Born 30 January 1940 in Sacramento, and a lifetime resident of California, Sam Payen (as he was known by colleagues, friends, and family) was an archaeologist with an enduring focus on California native cultures and prehistory. More broadly, though, he mastered an incredible body of knowledge about northern and central California ethnography and prehistory, excavated numerous prehistoric sites, recorded many rock art sites, and explored caves in the Sierra Nevada for archaeological deposits. He also excavated historic sites and became sufficiently knowledgeable about historical archaeology that his expertise was sought out by others to help in analyzing historic artifacts recovered in the course of their projects. He participated in salvage excavations at reservoir construction and other sites, carried out eldwork on rock art and surface lithic assemblages in Baja California, studied Paleoindian archaeology, and critically evaluated alleged pre-Clovis discoveries across North America. He engaged in a very wide range of research activities, as detailed in the listing of his writings presented here, which identi es the colleagues with whom he worked and the major sites and projects that were involved. The list of writings is no doubt incomplete, and several projects on which he collaborated remain to be nished.