Prof Summerhayes, who is now doing research in Japan, felt ''honoured and privileged not only for myself, but for archaeology in PNG''.
He also felt proud for Otago University, which had ''provided the support needed to undertake this important research''.
Prof Summerhayes has become an Officer of the Order of the Logohu, the citation acknowledging sustained ''service to the community through his significant contribution to the archaeology of Papua New Guinea''.
''Logohu'' refers to the bird of paradise, the official national symbol of PNG since its independence.
He believed the award would raise awareness of archaeology in PNG.
Australian-born, Prof Summerhayes, a New Zealand citizen, has been a professor in the Otago anthropology and archaeology department since 2005. He has worked on PNG archaeology for more than 30 years, undertaking regular fieldwork for 25 years.
His work in the Ivane Valley, in the Papua Highlands, had pushed back the proven date of humanity in PNG to 50,000 years ago, considerably earlier than the previously accepted dates of about 30,000-35,000 years.
At that stage, Australia and New Guinea were joined in a continental landmass called Sahul. His research findings had also impacted on Australia by providing the oldest radiocarbon dates for Sahul.
These findings proved important for world archaeology. Modern humans had only been in Europe for 35,000 years, and his research had ''impacted on our knowledge of the spread of modern peoples out of Africa''.
''People must have left Africa earlier than [previously] thought,'' he said.
His PNG research had also been critical in understanding the origins, 3300 years ago, of the Austronesian-speaking peoples of the Pacific, including Polynesians, he said.