Birgitta Linderoth Wallace was a Swedish-born Canadian archaeologist who devoted her life to understanding peoples of the North Atlantic through archaeology. Her research included work on Indigenous peoples of Atlantic Canada, early French Acadians, British colonial forces, and, most notably, the Norse in Newfoundland. She devoted more than 50 years to understanding the small but complex site of L’Anse aux Meadows, an eleventh-century Norse base for exploration in Vinland. This research included an understanding of the Norse occupation within the long chronological history of Indigenous cultures present on the site. She viewed the Norse individuals not as mythical bold adventurers, but as very real struggling Greenland colonists, in search of resources to sustain their fledgeling colony. She was inspired by the ability of archaeology to reveal real people and human situations at all the sites she researched.

In 2015, the Canadian Archaeological Association presented Birgitta with the Smith-Wintemberg Award for her contributions to Canadian archaeology. In 2018, she received an honorary doctorate from Memorial University of Newfoundland and Labrador.

Birgitta had a passion for students, and worked to assist many in thesis preparations, and in developing skills in field work. She delighted in innovative technologies and new theories.

The purpose of this scholarship will be to assist students who demonstrate scholastic excellence, in developing research projects in cultures of the North Atlantic.

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