Megan Moscarello ’22 has received the 2025 St. Cloud State University Distinguished Thesis Award.
Moscarello’s thesis, “Rock Art Documentation in the Digital Age: The Rafter Z Site (24RB2809) in Rosebud County, Montana,” conducted important rock art research within southeastern Montana.
“My thesis highlighted both traditional and digital methodologies for recording and analyzing prehistoric rock art,” Moscarello said. “In today’s increasingly digital age, it is important that we seek and experiment with novel uses of technology to help improve the archaeological record and to strengthen future research potential for those who come after us.”
A thesis is the culmination of a graduate student’s significant scholarly activity that demonstrates the student’s mastery of the background and principal works of the field of study.
Moscarello’s thesis was submitted for consideration by Anthropology Professor Mark P. Muñiz, joined by Kelly Branam Macauley and Linea Sundstrom on the thesis committee.
“She combined archaeological survey, ethnohistoric data, and rock art analysis in very innovative ways to record and analyze a very important rock art site in Montana that was previously unknown because it is on private land,” Muñiz said. “The site is probably best known for containing images of 36 shield-bearing warriors and 14 freestanding shield motifs.
“She makes a convincing argument that the Rafter Z site documents a co-occupation of southeastern Montana by both Crow and Kiowa/Kiowa-Apache peoples that is earlier in time than archaeologists previously thought,” Muñiz added. “She made a really important contribution to archaeology, rock art studies, and American Indian history at a site that will surely by cited by professional researchers from now on.”
Moscarello graduated in December 2022 with a Master of Science in Cultural Resource Management, and she was nominated by the Cultural Resource Management graduate program for her outstanding master’s level research.
The abstract and full thesis are available to view in the Repository.
Other Nominees
SCSU would also like to recognize the other nominees, their thesis committees and graduate programs. Special thanks to the FA Graduate Committee members for their time reviewing each thesis: Dr. Michael Schwartz, Dr. Sara DeVos, Dr. Andy Anda, Dr. Rachel Friedensen and Dr. Sarah Sengupta.
Amaya Bruner, Master of Science in Biology, “Study on Water-soluble Cannabidiol (CBD) Effects in Experimental Models of Type 1 Diabetes (T1D)”
Armando Gaspar, Master of Science in Applied Economics, “An Analysis of Gender Wage Gap in Timor-Leste”
Cassidy Lehrke, Master of Science in Applied Behavior Analysis, “The Effects of Stimulus Pairings on Surrogate Conditioned Motivation Operations”
Luis Lopez Parada, Master of Arts in Teaching English as a Second Language, “The Acoustic Phonetic Features of the Epenthetic Vowel in sC Onset-Initially Syllables by Salvadoran-Accented English Speakers”
