bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Pottery from Hooper Bay Village, Alaska
Authors: Oswalt Wendell
Published: April 2006

Archaeological excavations along coastal Alaska from Cape Prince of Wales south to the Alaska Peninsula, a distance of approximately 2000 miles, were not initiated until 1948, when Giddings (1949) began work in the north at Cape Denbigh, and Larsen (1950) began at Bristol Bay in the southern section of this great area (see Fig. 7). During the summer of 1950 the writer carried out excavations at Hooper Bay, in approximately the center of the unworked region. Although the Hooper Bay Village material includes about 2000 artifacts and 1500 pot and lamp sherds, this paper is limited to a preliminary analysis of the cooking pots. The importance of pottery in determining the sequence within Eskimo prehistory has been neglected, in the face of the abundance of organic material which the frozen middens and house remains yield. The full significance of Alaskan pottery was not emphasized until de Laguna (1947) made her detailed study of the ware; also, Larsen (1950, p. 186) pointed out that potsherds are particularly good time indicators in a region like southwestern Alaska, where the preservation is poor. In this paper the Hooper Bay sherds are considered with particular reference to their position within the Bristol Bay-Norton Sound region and their relationship to finds of similar pottery in the north.
Investigations in Western South Dakota and Northeastern Wyoming
Authors: Hughes Jack T.
Published: April 2006

The field work on which this report is based was carried out during the summer of 1948 by a field unit of the Missouri Valley Project, River Basin Surveys, Smithsonian Institution. The unit consisted of Mr. J. M. Shippee and myself; we were assisted during part of the time by Messrs. H. F. Wilson, S. J. Phelps, and R. F. Worden of Hot Springs, South Dakota. Investigations covered the four-month period from June 1 through September 29.

Five proposed reservoir sites in the Cheyenne Basin were investigated more or less intensively. All are Bureau of Reclamation projects, in various stages of development, located in or near the Black Hills of western South Dakota and northeastern Wyoming. Angostura Reservoir received much more thorough exploration than the others; work at this site forms the basis for the present report. Edgemont and Keyhole reservoirs are omitted because the data from them have not yet been evaluated. Pactola and Johnson Siding reservoirs, alternate projects, were unproductive and require no discussion.
An Early Lithic Complex from Central Florida
Authors: Goggin John M.
Published: April 2006

During the academic year 1948-49 an archaeological survey of the central Florida region was initiated by the writer and carried out with the aid of University of Florida students. As a result a large number of sites have been located, many of which have no pottery on the surface but are characterized by an abundance of flint chips and chipped stone artifacts. Most of the stone points are not distinctive although a few, known as Suwannee points, are suggestive of fluted points and Plainview forms found elsewhere. With a hope of determining the cultural position of this type of point, and of defining possible lithic complexes in the region, a program of test excavations was planned. These have resulted in the recognition of a new lithic entity, the Santa Fe complex.
The Viru Valley Sequence: A Critical Review
Authors: Bennyhoff J. A.
Published: April 2006

The viru valley Project of 1946 was undertaken as an intensive and integrated study focusing the research of a number of anthropologists on the problems of a single, relatively small valley on the north coast of Peru. The ideal of the project was an analysis of the cultural history and prehistory of the Viru Valley from the time of earliest human occupation to the present. The final reports of the participants are now beginning to appear (Ford and Willey, 1949; Ford, 1949; Bennett, 1950) and these document the very substantial success of the project.
An Inductive Approach in the Teaching of Archaeology
Authors: Weiant C. W.
Published: April 2006

Archaeologists, by and large, have been too much engrossed with the problems of their own specialty to give much thought to pedagogy. So long as archaeological teaching remained largely in the graduate schools, where the training of would-be specialists is supplemented by museum projects and apprenticeships in the field, the situation did not greatly matter. The spreading popularity of anthropology has led to the establishment of undergraduate programs in anthropology, with the frequent inclusion of one or more survey courses in archaeology. In the light of this development it seems advisable to take stock of current methods of teaching the subject and give thought to the possibility of making our methods more effective.
Travertine Vase in the Guatemala National Museum
Authors: de Borhegyi Stephen F.
Published: April 2006

In the superb Dieseldorff collection, located in the Guatemala National Museum is an effigy vase hitherto unpublished which is thought worthy of description and comment.

This vase, Museum number 5923, represents,a kneeling monkey; most probably a spider monkey (Fig. 81, a, b). The pear-shaped vase represents the body. The head and arm projects in full relief from the wall of the vessel, while the legs and a part of the tail are in somewhat lower relief. The monkey is clasping his long, curled tail by both hands above his head. Part of the rim, the left arm, and part of the tail are broken off (see Fig. 82, a, b.) Minor details such as fingers, eyes, and mouth were made by incising and grooving. The height of the vase is 14 cm. It is of unknown provenience but is thought to have been found near San Pedro Carcha (Alta Verapaz) by the late E. P. Dieseldorff.
Some Amerasian Pottery Traits in North Asian Prehistory
Authors: Tolstoy Paul
Published: April 2006

Asiatic origins have, at one time or another, been suggested or at least considered for a number of traits connected with the manufacture and decoration of the earlier New World pottery. The well-known paper by McKern (1937) is among the most explicit statements on the subject. Griffin (1946; Sears and Griffin 1950a) has held similar views for some time. Like McKern, he has primarily in mind traits of the Woodland pattern of eastern North America, although he also mentions some non-Woodland traits among those which have counterparts in the Old World (1946, p. 45).

Since McKern's paper, the distribution in time of the traits involved has become a lot better established. With the help of the still suspiciously regarded radiocarbon dates, our perspective on ceramic history in the United States has been extended over a span which appears to be that of some four millennia. Among the more significant additions to the Asiatic half of the distributional picture first place must be given to recent Soviet work in eastern Siberia.
Comments on Gila Polychrome
Authors: Schroeder Albert H.
Published: April 2006

In the October, 1956, issue of American Antiquity (pp. 180–3) an article appeared by Edward B. Danson and Roberts M. Wallace entitled “A Petrographic Study of Gila Polychrome.” The authors imply that up to the time of their publication Southwesternists assumed that Gila Polychrome was traded from one small area (Roosevelt- Tonto Basin) to all other regions. As far as I know this idea was restricted to those who adhered to Gladwin’s hypothesis of the Salado culture. They even quote a statement of mine (1952: 330) out of context to support their point.
Rejoinder to Krieger, Suhm, and Jelks
Authors: Kelley J. Charles
Published: April 2006

In the January issue of American Antiquity (Vol. 22, No. 3, pp. 310–5) Alex D. Krieger, Dee Ann Suhm, and Edward B. Jelks have replied to my critical review of their publication, “An Introductory Handbook of Texas Archaeology” (Bulletin of the Texas Archaeological Society, Vol. 25, Austin, 1954) in very strong and highly personal terms. It is a temptation to reply in similar terms but it is probable that no useful purpose would be served by such action.
The Turkey Bluff Focus of the Fulton Aspect
Authors: Lehmer Donald J.
Published: April 2006

Despite the general lack of detailed reports on individual sites, the broad framework of the prehistory of eastern Oklahoma has been fairly well outlined in recent years. Orr (1946) presented a summary of the situation at the Spiro site. In the same year Krieger (1946) set up two aspects with a number of component foci which include the Spiro materials together with a majority of the other cultural manifestations in the area and in 1949 he amplified and partially revised sections of his earlier discussion (Newell and Krieger, 1949). Baerreis (1951) presents a significant body of data on preceramic horizons in the northeastern part of the state, and the recent paper by Bell and Baerreis (1951) summarizes most of the existing information on Oklahoma in general.
Additional Ronquin Sites in the Middle Orinoco Valley
Authors: Riley Carroll L. , Olvey Charles W.
Published: April 2006

The site of Pueblo Viejo extends knowledge of Ronquin-style ceramics farther east along the Orinoco than hitherto reported and provides new information on Ronquin settlement of the south bank of the Orinoco River. Laja de Manapiri adds another prehistoric settlement to the relatively thick cluster in the Caicara-Parmana area. Both sites contain Late Ronquin ceramics in a variety of forms including vessels, adornos, and figurines. Early Ronquin material is found at Laja de Manapire and is probably present at Pueblo Viejo. The Middle Orinoco is important archaeologically because of the possibility that the Ronquin styles link the Antillean area and northern Venezuela with the Guianas and the Upper Orinoco-Amazon region.
Temporal Placement of Alma Neck Banded
Authors: Wasley William W.
Published: April 2006

Alma Neck Banded has long been considered to be a component of Mogollon 1 and Mogollon 2 horizons. Present evidence indicates, however, that this pottery type is a horizon marker for Mogollon 3 when it does not occur in the same context with Three Circle Neck Corrugated and Mangas Black-on-white of Mogollon 4. Apparently Alma Neck Banded first appeared in the southwestern United States between A.D. 600 and 700 and continued to be made until about 950. It is still difficult to determine the order of temporal priority between Alma Neck Banded and Kana-a Gray.
A Possible Andean Influence in Central Mexico
Authors: Wicke Charles R. , Bullington Maudie
Published: April 2006

Stone slabs recently discovered in the region near Tejupilco in the State of Mexico are sculptured in a simple, low-relief, bold, geometric style unlike known Mesoamerican styles but with striking parallels in the Peruvian Andes.
Use of Infrared Photography in Archaeological Field Work
Authors: Buettner-Janusch John
Published: April 2006

Photographic emulsions sensitized to wave-lengths of radiation in the infrared region of the spectrum have been used in technical studies for a number of years. During excavation of the Barbeau Creek Rock Shelter, in Randolph County, southern Illinois, in 1952 and 1953, I experimented with infrared films, taking pictures of profiles in the site. The midden in this shelter consisted largely of a light, dun-colored loess which came from the tops of the bluffs in the area. Ordinary photographs of the profiles in the midden are dull and without sufficient contrast between features to be useful for analytical purposes. The possibility of making dramatic, high contrast prints from infrared negatives is well known. For this reason photographs of the profiles were made with infrared film. The results the first season were promising. Not only did features in the profiles show up clearly on the prints, but some appeared which were not visible in prints made with panchromatic film and which were not apparent to the eye.
Reconnaissance Notes on the Site of Huari, near Ayacucho, Peru
Authors: Rowe John H. , Collier Donald , Willey Gordon R.
Published: April 2006

Ever since the late Julio C. Tello gave it a prominent place in his scheme of the development of Peruvian culture the great site of Huari (or Wari, as Tello always wrote it) has been a vexing problem in Andean archaeology. As was the case with so many of his explorations, Tello never published a report on his work at Huari and his general statements about what he found there leave the reader in considerable confusion. The authors of this paper took advantage of a flying trip over the Peruvian Central Highway made in 1946 to make a brief visit to Huari and came away with the feeling that even the small amount of fresh information they could contribute to archaeological knowledge would be worth reporting.
Tumuli in Southwestern Pennsylvania
Authors: Carpenter Edmund S.
Published: April 2006

In the spring of 1791 a soldier in the army of Major General Arthur St. Clair, pausing on his march through western Pennsylvania to view a prehistoric earthwork along the Monongahela, wrote in his journal

This ancient work, from appearances, must have been built many hundreds of years ago, but who were the people at that time inhabiting this country? for what causes were they built? Here I am at a loss, yet I am not alone: still that can be of no satisfaction to me; but on enquiries of this nature, the mind is not satisfied with mere conjecture; it requires more substantial food, the food of certainty…[The ruins] must, I think, be attributed to the workmanship of man…but who they were, from whence they came, at what period they arrived, or where they have passed to, I believe we must ever remain in ignorance (Anonymous, 1810, p. 23-4).
Cherokee Pottery from Northern Georgia
Authors: Caldwell Joseph R.
Published: April 2006

From November 15, 1950, to April 7, 1951, an archaeological survey was conducted by the Smithsonian River Basin Surveys, in cooperation with the National Park Service and the Corps of Army Engineers, of the area to be flooded by the dam at Buford, Georgia. On the upper Chattahoochee River we came across an aboriginal cooking pit containing quantities of pottery which could be unhesitatingly identified as historic Cherokee. While a certain amount of confusion as to just what might constitute Cherokee ceramics was dispelled some years ago by the publication of Hiwassee Island, it does seem advisable to present the Buford material as an areal and temporal variant. It differs in some particulars from the Overhill pottery described by Lewis and Kneberg from the Little Tennessee; there are other differences from recently identified Cherokee pottery from the middle Etowah River in northwest Georgia; and again, it is unlike some ceramic assemblages from Lower Cherokee towns in northeast Georgia and western South Carolina.
Geologic-Climatic Dating in the West
Authors: Antevs Ernst
Published: April 2006

Geologic-Climatic dating of archaeological finds in the arid and semiarid western United States is based on geology, on the relationship between moisture, vegetation, and geological processes, and on climatic history. The procedure of dating includes 4 main steps, namely, (1) study of beds and geological features, (2) climatic interpretation of beds and features, (3) assignment of the bed with the human record to a particular regional climatic age or phase, and (4) correlation of the regional relative chronology with a dated climatic history. The geological study of the site includes texture, structure, and appearance of the beds or terrace deposits, their modes and conditions of formation, their sequence, fossils, and artifacts, the soil zones, caliche incrustations, and erosions. The climatic interpretation of the beds and features is made in conformity with the delicate regional relationship between climatic conditions and changes and geological processes and deposits.
Reply to Aschmann's Comment
Authors: Quimby George I.
Published: April 2006

I read Aschmann's comments with great interest, welcome the opportunity to reply to them, and wish also to add some comments I have received by letter from others.

I used the terminology of Antevs, but not his chronological framework, which is quite different from that presented tentatively by me. In fact, I feel certain that Antevs would be much rougher in his assessment than Aschmann.

My grievous remark on climate stems from ignorance and my impression that the cool periods followed the glacial advances. Among the implications of such an idea are that somehow additional precipitation in high latitudes caused the glacier to grow and this in turn somehow produces in varying degrees a cool climate locally, probably somewhat dependent upon the magnitude of the icecap. I suppose that such factors as prevailing wind direction, tracks of high and low pressure areas and positions of large bodies of water are among the variables that would have to be considered.
Association of Artifacts with Mammoth in the Valley of Mexico
Authors: anda Luis Aveleyra Arroyo De , Maldonado-Koerdell Manuel
Published: April 2006

In the past 30 years discoveries of great importance in the prehistory of Mexico have been made in the vicinity of Tepexpan, a town some 35 kms. northeast of Mexico City. Diaz Lozano (1922-23, 1927) disinterred a mammoth identified as Mammuthus (Archidisko-don) imperator Leidy, whiah is now seen partially mounted in the entrance hall of the Instituto Geologico de Mexico. Mullerried (1933, 1934) collected teeth and bones of the ground sloth Mylodon harlani Owen on lands of the Colonia Estrella on the northern side of Mexico City near the old exit road to Pachuca, which continues on to Tepexpan and Teotihuacan. Both Diaz Lozano and Mullerried simply described the sequence of strata at the fossil localities, mentioning the nature and depth of the deposits, but without applying specific names to the formations.
The Present Status of Chemical Methods for Dating Prehistoric Bone
Authors: Cook S. F. , Heizer R. F.
Published: April 2006

It is now over half a century since Carnot (1893) published his pioneer work dealing with the chemical analysis of fossil bone. In the intervening decades the problem has been investigated by occasional students who have approached the field from different directions. Recently interest in chemical methods has been intensified and the attention of archaeologists has been brought to a focus by the attempt of Oakley (1951) to utilize the fluorine content of human bones as a criterion of age. Also during the past few years a joint project has been pursued by the Departments of Anthropology and Physiology at the University of California (Berkeley) through the generosity of the Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research. Thus a considerable effort has been expended, and a reasonable volume of results are on record, with reference to the chemical changes which occur in fossil bone. At the present time it appears that a general survey of this work is in order, together with an appraisal of its value as a tool for the archaeologist and palaeontologist. Fairly comprehensive listings of published works on the subject of bone fossilization occur in Heizer (1950, 1952).
Burin Types from Southern Virginia: A Preliminary Statement
Authors: Miller Carl F.
Published: April 2006

From several sites within the John H. Kerr (Buggs Island) Reservoir area of Mecklenburg County, southern Virginia, a number of stone artifacts have been identified as burins or gravers. (The term “burin” will be used rather than “graver” as the latter term implies a limited use for such tools as engraving implements rather than for other purposes as well.) Associated with these burins are various types of projectile points, scrapers, borers or perforators, choppers, and a few cleavers or “coups-de-poing” comparable in chipping traditions to Old World examples. These burins occur not only on lamellar but on rough percussion flakes of chert.

While in Europe such tools occur chiefly in upper Paleolithic industries, Burkitt (1933: 59) considers: “For a tool to be classed as a graver it is necessary that it should have at least one graver facet… . When secondary work is done on a blade or flake as, for example, when an edge is trimmed, vertical blows are dealt on the edge, the flake or blade itself being held horizontally.
Preliminary Report on the Leonard Rockshelter Site Pershing County, Nevada
Authors: Heizer Robert F.
Published: April 2006

In september, 1949, while in west central Nevada for the purpose of collecting vegetal materials from the lowermost cultural levels of Lovelock cave (Loud and Harrington, 1929) to be used for radiocarbon dating, the author revisited an open rockshelter site some six miles up the valley from Lovelock cave. The site, since named Leonard rockshelter (site 26- Pe-14) after Zenas Leonard who in 1833 traversed the Humbolt Sink area as a member of the Walker expedition (Leonard, 1904), is not referred to by Loud and Harrington. It is the same site from which, in 1936, Thomas Derby mined bat guano and recovered artifacts described in a brief article (Heizer, 1938). The bat guano formed a layer two to three feet thick lying on ancient gravels of Lake Lahontan and beneath a thick accumulation of aeolian dust and rockfall.
Fish Remains from a Shellmound in Marin County, California
Authors: Follett W. I.
Published: April 2006

Through the kindness of Clement W. Meighan, I have been enabled to examine a collection of fish remains obtained from an aboriginal shellmound on Strawberry Point, a promontory on the northwest shore of Richardson Bay, Marin County, California. Richardson Bay, an arm of San Francisco Bay, extends in a northerly to northwesterly direction from Sausalito. A description of this shellmound, and an explanation of the numerical grid system employed in its excavation, have been published by McGeein and Mueller (1955: 52–3, Figs. 22–3), who designated the site “Mrn 20.” With commendable thoroughness the excavators saved every bone encountered, and it is thus possible to present an identification of every bone rather than the more usual listing of species from a small, selected sample.
The Desert Cultures and the Balcones Phase: Archaic Manifestations in the Southwest and Texas
Authors: Kelley J. Charles
Published: April 2006

The concept of a continent-wide Archaic cultural horizon in North America has been developing for over a decade. Recently, this concept has received considerable reinforcement in publications and in discussions at conferences. It now appears to have fairly general acceptance among American archaeologists who have concerned themselves with the problem. Basic to this concept is the identification of the southwestern Desert cultures as the cultural and temporal equivalent of the eastern Archaic, and the recognition of the Balcones phase of Texas as a cultural keystone uniting these western and eastern cultures into one continuous culture area on the same temporal level, forming the Archaic horizon in American prehistory.
Ultrasonic Cleaning of Artifacts: A Preliminary Consideration
Authors: Spier R. F. G.
Published: April 2006

Ultrasonic cleaning, a technique of wide industrial application, is suggested as applicable to archaeological artifacts. Speed and superior cleanliness ought to be its principal merits. A review of various ultrasonic methods and some pilot tests reveal an incapacity to handle large quantities of dirt. Preliminary cleaning may solve this problem. Two direct mechanical methods of ultrasonic cleaning are proposed as they offer simplicity, ruggedness, economy, and field adaptability.
A New Method for the Seriation of Archaeological Collections
Authors: Meighan Clement W.
Published: April 2006

This graphical technique utilizes only three types of artifacts from the collection to the seriated. The relationship between the three selected types is plotted on three-pole graph paper. The points on the graph are clustered along a line representing change through time; hence the archaeological materials are arranged in their correct temporal sequence. Data from Paragonah, Utah, and Pindi, New Mexico, two Southwestern sites for which the time sequence is known, are used for empirical tests of the seriational technique. In both cases there is close agreement between the results of the seriation and the time sequence revealed by field evidence.
New Traces of an Inland Neolithic Culture in the Chukotsk (Chukchi) Peninsula
Authors: Okladnikov A. P. , Nekrasov I. A.
Published: April 2006

The El'gytkhyn site consists of a cache of stone artifacts and a nearby campsite on the shores of Lake El'gytkhyn on the central Anadyr plateau. The cache contained some 50 artifacts, both knives and points made on large flake-blades and carefully retouched by pressure flaking, and blanks from which they were made. Similar points were found at the campsite along with scrapers and other tools, many retouched chips, prismatic nuclei, and the blades struck from them. Previously, similar artifacts had been found at the Amguema site about 300 km. to the east and the Chirovoe site about 100 km. to the south. The latter is a settlement with pottery as well as stone artifacts. The inland Neolithic culture is compared to the Caribou Eskimo and the Yukaghir, and the El'gytkhyn site is interpreted as the summer hunting camp of people following reindeer to the north from permanent winter villages like the Chirovoe site. The presence of blades removed from prismatic cores, retouched points and other artifacts, tools with graver facets, and pottery in both the Chukchi inland Neolithic and the Paleo-Eskimo cultures suggests movements from the Asiatic to the American Arctic by 4000 years ago.
A Monolithic Ax from Alabama
Authors: Miller Carl F.
Published: April 2006

An elaborately carved fragment of metamorphosed schist was sent to me not long ago. I was told that it was plowed up in a field near Fosters, Alabama, which is approximately 7 miles north of Moundville State Park and thus well within the sphere of influence of that cultural center. The specimen is owned by James Willard Dorroh of Buhl, Alabama.

The object constitutes the major portion of a very beautifully carved monolithic ceremonial ax (Fig. 1) superficially resembling one in the Peabody Museum at Yale University (Cat. No. 3701) which has been described by Saville (1916: 5) and MacCurdy (1916: 301).
The Alibates Flint Quarry, Texas
Authors: Shaeffer James B.
Published: April 2006

It has been thought that one of the most easily recognized types of flint used in the manufacture of stone tools in the Southern Plains is Amarillo or Alibates flint (Kidder 1932: 31, 44; Krieger 1946: 50, 62; Skinner 1956: 13). This flint has been widely recognized in Texas, central and western Oklahoma, southern Kansas, eastern Colorado and western New Mexico (Watson 1950: 32; Bell and Baerreis 1951: 84; Suhm and Krieger 1954: 71). The material has been dated as early as Folsom and as late as protohistoric (Roberts 1942: 18; Schmidt and Toldan 1953: 173; Baker, Campbell, and Evans 1957: 2).
A Dugout Canoe from Ontario
Authors: Kidd Kenneth E.
Published: April 2006

In recent years several dugout canoes have been found in Ontario, but details are lacking for most. One raised from shallow water at Balsam Lake is badly eroded and appears to be of some antiquity. It is a sleek craft of unusual length, remarkably slim proportions and contour, and considerable rigidity, despite its apparent lightness in proportion to its size, because of its substantial bow and stern.
Some Fluted Projectile Points from Illinois
Authors: Fowler Melvin L.
Published: April 2006

Fluted points, like many other artifacts, seem to be more common than previously thought. Once attention is called to a given item representative specimens are 'found in existing collections only waiting to be recognized. Smail (1951) has presented a discussion of many points of this type from the St. Louis area in Illinois.

Recently several interesting specimens have been brought to the Illinois State Museum and are here illustrated, due to their unusual combination of attributes and location. The first of these (Fig. 57) was found in Fulton County in 1924 by the late Frank Aidrich of Bloomington, Illinois. It is lanceolate in shape, WA inches long, 114 inches wide about % of the length from the base, and lenticular in cross section. Its very delicate chipping produced parallel long flake scars running from each edge to the center. The base is ground on each side and across the bottom.
Report on the South Peruvian Coast: Chala to Arica
Authors: Stumer Louis M.
Published: April 2006

Early in 1953, the author and Richard Schaedel, while traveling the Carretera Panamericana, undertook an archaeological examination of the coastal regions of Peru from Chala to the Arica area of Chile. The survey was remarkably unproductive. Publications concerning this region are also remarkably scarce. Uhle (1919) published a monograph on the archaeology of the Tacna-Arica area; and Kroeber (1944) discussed briefly the northern part of the region. Other than this, the scientific literature seems to be a blank, although the chronicles state that Inca domination, at least, was an accomplished fact.

The reason for the paucity of sites is seen, in part, in the nature of the country, a description of which may be in order at this point. From Chala south to Atico, a distance of 89 kilometers, the road passes for the most part along a narrow coastal plain which in this area is merely a rocky beach, never more than 3 kilometers wide. Back of this beach the coastal range of the Andes rises very abruptly.
Lead in the Bones of Prehistoric Lead-glaze Potters
Authors: Jarcho Saul
Published: April 2006

In 1932 Haury described lead-glaze pottery from the Southwest. In view of his report, it appeared desirable to find out whether the makers of such pottery suffered from lead poisoning. A series of 46 bone specimens from Kinishba, where lead-glaze pottery was made, and a control series of 33 specimens from Point of Pines, where such pottery is not known to have been made, were screened by X-ray and by X-ray diffraction. The 11 most promising specimens were then analyzed by atomic absorption spectrophotometry. Lead was found in quantities believed to be below the toxic range; concentrations in the control series from Point of Pines were, with few exceptions, higher than in the experimental series from Kinishba.
Maya Blue: An Unsolved Problem in Ancient Pigments
Authors: Gettens Rutherford J.
Published: April 2006

The early peoples of Southern Mexico decorated pottery and painted pictures on walls with a stable blue pigment which is not found elsewhere in the world. Investigation of this blue was started over 30 years ago, but still the true nature of the blue color principle is unknown. Since the blue cannot be destroyed by boiling nitric acid, it does not seem to be vegetable or organic in origin. It is quite unlike azurite or natural ultramarine or other blue minerals which were employed as sources of blue pigment by other ancient peoples. The main obstacle in the investigation is the extreme scarcity of research material. The only samples of the blue available for testing are thinly painted films on potsherds and on wall painting fragments where it is mixed with lime plaster and other impurities. Although attempts to procure lump specimens of the blue, even in gram quantitives, have failed, some progress has been made. It is now known that the inorganic base of the blue pigment is a clay mineral called attapulgite. Ordinary attapulgite is nearly colorless. We still do not know what makes the clay blue; whether it is a special kind of attapulgite or if the Maya produced it artifically. In this paper all the evidence accumulated to date is reviewed.
Floor Area and Settlement Population
Authors: Naroll Raoul
Published: April 2006

Total area of the dwelling floors and total population of the largest settlements of eighteen societies show a loglog regression which suggests that the population of a prehistoric settlement can be very roughly estimated as of the order of one-tenth the floor area in square meters.
The Mechanization of Artifact Processing
Authors: Folan William J. , Rick John H. , Zacharchuk Walter
Published: April 2006

The increased costs of processing artifacts can be substantially reduced by the use of labor-saving devices in the laboratory. A standard washing machine has been modified for washing historic-period artifacts with minimal breakage. Forty-five man-hours of hand washing can be accomplished in one hour by machine, with comparable standards of cleanliness. The numbering of artifacts, using rubber stamps, can represent time savings of 80 per cent on certain classes of material. Use of a sandblaster for cleaning iron artifacts triples the output of the conventional electrolytic treatment. A ceramic pantograph and a modified diagraph show promise of reducing the time required to draw pottery sections.
Blades and Cores in Oregon
Authors: Dumond D. E.
Published: April 2006

Examination of material in the Oregon State Museum of Anthropology reveals two apparent cores and several blades among surface finds from the Northern Great Basin. Collections from excavations at The Dalles, on the Columbia River, contain cores and blades from levels radiocarbon dated at about 5900 B.C., and possible examples from earlier levels.
Reply to Berlin
Authors: Rainey Froelich , Alfred Kidder , Satterthwaite Linton , Coe William R.
Published: April 2006

Facts and opinions are given that contest Berlin’s specific condemnation of a single excavation at Tikal, Guatemala, and his general censure of the Tikal Project.
Stirrup-spout Bottles from Central Africa
Authors: Rowe John Howland
Published: April 2006

It is not true that stirrup-spout bottles are absent in the Old World. The Brooklyn Museum possesses an ethnographic specimen of a stirrup-spout bottle collected in 1930 among the Mangbetu in the northern Congo. This bottle is strikingly similar in many features to Cupisnique style stirrup-spout bottles from the north coast of Peru. There is another Mangbetu style stirrup-spout bottle in the R. H. Lowie Museum in Berkeley.

Using the Tlatilco-Cupisnique case above mentioned as an example, it might be argued that a stirrup-spout bottle is a perfectly natural ceramic form to invent more than once; if so, then one would expect to find it in those parts of the Old World where vessels were used to store liquids. On the contrary, this form was evidently unknown in the Eastern Hemisphere, suggesting diffusion from a single point of origin as the most reasonable hypothesis to account for its distribution in the Western Hemisphere (Coe 1963: 103).
Birch-bark Scrolls in Archaeological Contexts
Authors: Kidd Kenneth E.
Published: April 2006

Two instances of birch-bark “scrolls” in archaeological contexts are reported from the Head-of-the-Lakes region of Ontario. One site in Rainy Lake yielded numerous examples; another in Quetico Park produced several other specimens. Archaeologists should be aware of the possibility of making such finds in the paper-birch area.
The Place of the Culture of Verkholenskaia Gora in the Archaeological Sequence of the Baikal Region
Authors: Medvedev G. I.
Published: April 2006

This paper analyzes archaeological remains from Verkholenskaia Gora in Cis-Baikal and discusses the placement of this culture in the archaeological sequence of the Baikal region. The tools are classified on the basis of manufacturing technique and technological function. The discovery of a bone arrowpoint at this site may increase the antiquity of the bow by several millennia. A comparison of the materials from Verkholenskaia Gora with materials from other regional archaeological assemblages suggests that the site was occupied at the end of the transitional period that extends from the Palaeolithic of the Mal'ta stage to the Neolithic. Verkholenskaia Gora is therefore assigned to the Siberian Mesolithic.
A Datable Chumash Pictograph from Santa Barbara County, California
Authors: Deetz James
Published: April 2006

Pictographs in southern California, while spectacular, are of little interpretive value to the archaeologist unless they can be assigned a date and a cultural affiliation. The nature of most pictograph sites has precluded any normal archaeological dating, such as through portable art found in stratified cave fill. A sandstone slab recovered from a historic Chumash site in 1961 bears recognizable pictographs which make it possible to assign at least some of the cave pictographs to the Chumash during the late 18th century. Although it is still not possible to determine the function of pictographic art in Chumash culture, its presence in villages suggests a somewhat different distribution of these paintings than was formerly suspected.
The Buffalo Pound in North-Western Plains Prehistory: Site 48 CA 302, Wyoming
Authors: Frison George C.
Published: April 2006

The Ruby site, 48 CA 302, in the Powder River Basin of Wyoming, is a buffalo pound dating to late Middle Period with a radiocarbon age of 1670± 135 years: A.D. 280 GX-1157). The site was contained in steadily aggrading alluvial deposits allowing close stratigraphic control. Features included most of a buffalo pound, part of the drive lane, and an associated ceremonial structure.

An attempt to explain the operation of this pound is based on historical accounts for various north-western Plains tribes and on problems of buffalo handling encountered with modern herds, allowing for changes brought about by the introduction of the horse. The ceremonial structure is explained in the context of shamanistic activity occurring with communal hunts in ethnographic and historical accounts. Archaeological data from the same area and time period suggest this pound is a variant of other communal buffalo procurement methods, including buffalo jumps, that occurred yearly to provide food for winter use and that required consolidation of the society into larger groups than could effectively exploit the environment during the remainder of the year.

A large segment of the meat processing area remains intact and will eventually be used in an attempt to test hypotheses concerning butchering methods, tool use, and nature of social groups involved.
Pleistocene Faunal Remains Associated with Carbonaceous Material
Authors: Riddell Francis A.
Published: April 2006

Features which have been interpreted as "fire hearths" and "charcoal" have been recorded in association with mammoth and other Pleistocene faunal remains. Some of these remains have been dated by the radiocarbon method as exceeding 10,000 years; a few are considerably in excess of this time. A review of some of these remains suggests the probability of noncultural origin for the carbonaceous material in question. Recent excavations in Merced and Orange counties, California, have revealed Pleistocene faunal remains in direct association with an abundance of carbonaceous material. It can be demonstrated that these remains are noncultural in origin.
An Archaeological Evaluation of the Codice Xolotl
Authors: Parsons Jeffrey R.
Published: April 2006

A recent settlement pattern survey in central Mexico offers a useful perspective from which to view the first part of an ethnohistoric document–the Codice Xolotl–which deals with the same area. Regional settlement patterns from the Early Postclassic period seem to correspond most reasonably with events depicted in the Codice. It is suggested that the first part of the Codice Xolotl is most useful to anthropologists when considered within a framework of relevant archaeological information.
Brazilian Archaeology in 1968: An Interim Report on the National Program of Archaeological Research
Authors:   Pronapa
Published: April 2006

Brazil can be divided into two geographical areas: the Coastal Strip and the Amazon Basin. Coordinated systematic survey and testing on the Coastal Strip between 1965-68 shows the Preceramic period to have lasted until about A.D. 500 except in an enclave on the Bahia Coast, where the Periperi ceramic tradition dates from the ninth century B.C. Although a variety of preceramic complexes has been recognized, particularly in the south, primary attention has been placed on the ceramic period. Seven regional ceramic traditions have been identified, and these appear to be generally contemporary with the area-wide Tupiguarani tradition. The latter is divisible into three subtraditions: the earliest emphasizes painted decoration; the second, corrugation; and the most recent, brushing. Subsequent to European contact, a Neo-Brazilian ceramic tradition developed, in which aboriginal and European traits are amalgamated.

Although the archaeology of the Amazon Basin is more poorly known, none of the existing data shows any evidence of contact with the occupants of the Coastal Strip, or vice versa. The strength of the ecological barrier between the two areas is reflected in the affiliation of complexes on the upper Rio Xingú, on the ecological border, with the Amazonian Incised and Punctate tradition, and in the total lack of any features suggesting contact with cultures of the Coastal Strip.
Walnut Creek Village: A Ninth-Century Hohokam-Anasazi Settlement in the Mountains of Central Arizona
Authors: Morris Donald H.
Published: April 2006

Student members of the Arizona State University Walnut Creek Archaeological Field Camp excavated six pit houses and located several more at Walnut Creek Village, located 10 mi. southeast of Young, Arizona, during the summer of 1967. Three of the pit houses were Hohokam and three were Anasazi; one of the latter was a subcircular kiva with sipapu-resonator complex of distinctive western Pueblo style. The occurrence, during the ninth century, of these two archaeological groups, side-by-side, in an ecological setting which is unusual for the Hohokam contributes to our knowledge of them and permits inferences concerning the Hohokam community at Roosevelt:9:6, 30 mi. away. Additionally, hypotheses concerning Hohokam ceremonial and communal houses at other sites can be evaluated.
The Use of a Simple Water Level as an Intrasite Leveling Device
Authors: Irwin-Williams Cynthia
Published: April 2006

A simple flexible tube-type carpenter's water level is applied to problems of intrasite leveling in archaeology. The construction and use of the level are discussed.
From Sacred to Profane: Style Drift in the Decoration of Jesuit Finger Rings
Authors: Cleland Charles E.
Published: April 2006

Engraved designs on French Jesuit finger rings from 14 historic sites of the Great Lakes area and the Mississippi Valley were examined. The wide variety of decorative motifs appearing on these rings is attributed to a stylistic drift occurring over a period of 60 yr. An estimated 95% of Jesuit ring designs from this area are traced to 3 prototypes. This paper demonstrates that rings with cast designs on round or oval bezels date between 1624 and 1700, while those with designs engraved on octagonal or heart-shaped bezels were current between 1700 and 1780. The process of stylistic drift and some of the variables conditioning the rate of style drift are considered.
Oconastota
Authors: King Duane H. , Olinger Danny E.
Published: April 2006

In the spring of 1783, Oconastota, the Great Warrior and principal chief of the Overhill Cherokees, died and was buried at his beloved town of Chota on the Little Tennessee River in present day Monroe County, Tennessee. In the fall of 1969, the Department of Anthropology of the University of Tennessee, while conducting archaeological investigations at this site, disinterred a burial which exhibits striking correlations with the historic accounts of Oconastota and his inhumation.
Extended Burials in the Prehistoric Southwest
Authors: Stanislawski Michael B.
Published: April 2006

The burial of the dead is a conservative trait in all cultures, and thus the diffusion and spread of the rare extended burial pattern in the American Southwest provides excellent evidence of cultural contacts and cultural change. Prior to A.D. 1000, the common Southwestern burial pattern is seen to be that of flexure of the dead, with a few rare extended burials known. Concentrations of extended burials first appear at Chaco Canyon sites dating about A.D. 1050, and the pattern seems to spread from there first to the Sinagua region and to nearby Mogollon groups, then to the Hopi and Zuni regions, and finally, with the Sinagua and Salado migrations, into the Gila-Salt River Valley. The complex may ultimately be of Mesoamerican origin. Some data on grave types and burial covering are also discussed.
Identification of the Sources of Hopewellian Obsidian in the Middle West
Authors: Griffin James B. , Gordus A. A. , Wright G. A.
Published: April 2006

One hundred and twenty years ago, the first obsidian implements were reported from Hopewellian mounds by Squier and Davis (1848). Since that time, a number of regions have been suggested as the source area: Alaska, the Pacific Coast, Yellowstone National Park, New Mexico, and central Mexico. Neutron activation analysis of the elemental composition of Hopewellian obsidian indicates two separate element groups. One of these, the 150 Group, has its source at Obsidian Cliff in Yellowstone. The second, the 90 Group, is also located in Yellowstone, but the exact flow has not yet been discovered.
“Hit-And-Run” Archaeology: A Reply to Euler
Authors: Jett Stephen C.
Published: April 2006

Euler's (1968) criticisms of Jett’s "criticisms" are based largely on misinterpretation of Jett (1968). No political cause is espoused in Jett nor is criticism of colleagues the motive for the article. Enumeration of sites overlooked by various surveys was to show how “… the number of known sites has increased with each survey, how continuing revision of interpretation has been necessary, and how survey work is by no means complete…” (Jett 1968), suggesting that long-term work in an area adds more to knowledge than does work limited in time by reservoir construction. Jett does not criticize popular publication per se; however, caution in revealing locations of incompletely excavated sites is recommended.
Abandonment and Post-Abandonment Behavior at a Rural Central American House-Site
Authors: Lange Frederick W. , Rydberg Charles R.
Published: April 2006

Examination of a recently abandoned modern rural house-site in northern Costa Rica was undertaken in an attempt to gain insights into the absence of comparable sites from the Precolumbian archaeological record. The site was thoroughly described, a number of hypotheses based on artifactual evidence were advanced, and the former occupants were then interviewed. Abandonment and post-abandonment behavior by the occupants and others stongly influenced the material culture remains and potential archaeological data. The site had been subjected to a number of alterations and artifacts found were of the lowest retentive priority. A number of problems relevant to archaeological investigation at such sites were elucidated.
Some Remarks on the Study of Prehistoric Structures
Authors: Vencl Slavomil
Published: April 2006

The present article responds to questions raised by Marshall (1969). Based on European material, the author concludes that engineering principles cannot be universally applied, despite some obviously positive results. Before reconstructing an object, the completeness of its preserved remains should be taken into account and the preserved floor plan should be supplemented with those elements that have vanished. To use only what actually remains of a house floor in making a reconstruction presupposes that the layout is fully preserved, and this is of course not always the case. The English version of this paper was translated from the original Czech manuscript by H. Martin Wobst, University of Michigan.
Differential Bone Destruction: Some Comments
Authors: Casteel Richard W.
Published: April 2006

The role of scavengers, especially dogs, with reference to archaeological faunal remains is not always clear. While distortion admittedly results from the activities of these animals, total destruction of all such evidence is questioned. Emphasis is placed upon fish remains in the examples and both ethnographic and archaeological data are used. It is argued that a more thorough knowledge of the nature of the food items themselves will greatly aid in assessing both their potential archaeological visibility and the information they may yield.