Dr. Attila Gyucha, Associate Professor in the Department of Anthropology, and his long-time collaborator, Dr. William Parkinson at the Field Museum/University of Illinois at Chicago, have been awarded the Honorary Citizenship of the City of Vésztő in southeastern Hungary, the municipality's highest civic distinction, in recognition of more than 25 years of archaeological research, heritage preservation, and community engagement. In the official laudatio accompanying the award, the City of Vésztő praised the duo for combining "scientific rigor, creativity, international collaboration, heritage preservation, training, and dedication to the local community" through their longstanding service to the region.

 

Since 1998, Gyucha and Parkinson have directed and co-directed a series of collaborative research projects with Vésztő serving as their long-standing operational and research headquarters, transforming scholarly understanding of prehistoric developments on the Great Hungarian Plain. Combining archaeological investigations at both local and regional scales with interdisciplinary scientific approaches, these projects have also provided field training for generations of undergraduate and graduate students from the United States, Hungary, and across Europe. More recently, the initiative has expanded to include major heritage preservation efforts, most notably the conservation and revitalization of the unique in situ archaeological trench at the tell site of Vésztő-Mágor.

 

The award recognizes Gyucha and Parkinson's contributions to establishing Vésztő as an internationally recognized center for archaeological research, field training, and heritage science.