bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Examining the Schoolwide “Spread” of Research-Based Practices
Authors: Klingner Janette K. , Arguelles Maria Elena , Hughes Marie Tejero , Vaughn Sharon
Published: April 2006

We investigated what had transpired in two elementary schools four years after we first began supporting one of the schools' efforts to restructure its special education program and three years after we provided a year-long professional development program to eight elementary and special education teachers. We had continued providing ongoing informal support during the years since, and wished to determine the extent to which the practices had “spread” to other teachers in our original school and a second school. Furthermore, we wished to learn why teachers who had not been a part of the original professional development program chose to learn and sustain use of the practices. A secondary interest was to discern how and why teachers adapted the practices. We found that 93% of the 98 teachers in the two schools had tried at least one of the practices and more than half continued to use one or more of the practices on a regular basis.
LD Summit: Important Issues for the Field of Learning Disabilities
Authors: Elksnin Linda K. , Bryant Diane Pedrotty , Gartland Debi , King-Sears Margaret , Rosenberg Michael S. , Scanlon David , Strosnider Roberta , Wilson Rich
Published: April 2006

This article summarizes nine White Papers that were commissioned by the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) and presented at the Learning Disabilities Summit — Building a Foundation for the Future, August 2001. The purpose of the article is to inform the membership of the Council for Learning Disabilities (CLD) of the issues identified by authors of the White Papers that promise to influence research, policy, and practice.
Middle School Students' Perceptions, Persistence, and Performance in Mathematical Problem Solving
Authors: Montague Marjorie , Applegate Brooks
Published: April 2006

The purpose of this study was to explore middle school students' ( N = 54) perceptions of problem difficulty, persistence, and knowledge and use of problem-solving strategies in solving mathematical word problems. Students identified as learning disabled, average achieving, or gifted were tested individually as they solved six word problems classified as 1-, 2-, or 3-step problems. After the examiner read each problem, the student rated the problem's difficulty on a 1-to-6 scale ( very easy to very hard) and then solved the problem. Results indicated that students with learning disabilities rated problems as significantly more difficult and had a significantly lower total word problem score than both average and gifted students. In comparison, average students rated problems as significantly more difficult than gifted students but did not differ significantly on total word problem score. There was no significant difference between students with learning disabilities and average achievers in the length of time they spent solving problems, but both groups took significantly longer than the gifted students. Students with learning disabilities used significantly fewer problem-solving strategies on the two- and three-step problems than both the average and the gifted students, who did not differ. Findings suggest that although students with learning disabilities perceive problems as more difficult than do their more successful peers, they do not spend more time solving problems. Even with greater persistence, however, they would still be at a serious disadvantage compared with better problem solvers because they seem to lack important problem-solving strategies for effective and efficient mathematical problem solving.
Instructional Parameters Promoting Transfer of Learned Strategies in Students with Learning Disabilities
Authors: Wong Bernice Y.L.
Published: April 2006

This article addresses the problem of facilitating student transfer of learned strategies, presenting what may be two essential instructional parameters: (a) mediated mindfulness during strategy learning and at transfer (b) and transfer-promoting instruction. Mediated mindfulness integrates two concepts: Feuerstein's concept of mediated learning and Salomon and Globerson's concept of mindfulness. The notion of transfer-promoting instruction originates from Larkin. The author explicates how inculcating mediated mindfulness in students with learning disabilities and engineering transfer-promoting instruction is likely to enhance strategy transfer in these students.
Effects of Speech Synthesis on the Proofreading Efficiency of Postsecondary Students with Learning Disabilities
Authors: Raskind Marshall H. , Higgins Eleanor
Published: April 2006

This study investigated the effects of speech synthesis on the proofreading efficiency of postsecondary students with learning disabilities. Subjects proofread self-generated written language samples under three conditions: (a) using a speech synthesis system that simultaneously highlighted and “spoke” words on a computer monitor, (b) having the text read aloud to them by another person, and (c) receiving no assistance. Using the speech synthesis system enabled subjects to detect a significantly higher percentage of total errors than either of the other two proofreading conditions. In addition, subjects were able to locate a significantly higher percentage of capitalization, spelling, usage and typographical errors under the speech synthesis condition. However, having the text read aloud by another person significantly outperformed the other conditions in finding “grammar-mechanical” errors. Results are discussed with regard to underlying reasons for the overall superior performance of the speech synthesis system and the implications of using speech synthesis as a compensatory writing aid for postsecondary students with learning disabilities.
Improving Peers' Helping Behavior to Students with Learning Disabilities during Mathematics Peer Tutoring
Authors: Bentz Johnell L. , Fuchs Lynn S.
Published: April 2006

This study investigated the effects of providing training and practice in helping behaviors to students during peer tutoring in mathematics. Participants were 20 general educators from grades two through four, whose entire classes participated in peer tutoring for 29 weeks. From each class, teachers identified one average-achieving student and one student with a learning disability to participate as a dyad in this videotape study. The 20 classrooms were assigned randomly to two treatments: peer-tutoring experience with additional training in how to help and peer-tutoring experience without training in how to help. Following training in how to help in 10 of the 20 classrooms, each dyad, one from each classroom, was videotaped completing a mathematics peer-tutoring task. Microlevel quantifications and more global descriptions of transcripts of representative pairs in each condition indicated that students who received the helping training engaged in an increased number of directly trained helping behaviors than the untrained students. The nature of students' explanations is also described.
Teaching Phonological Recoding to Young Children with Phonological Processing Deficits: The Effect on Sight-Vocabulary Acquisition
Authors: Uhry Joanna K. , Shepherd Margaret Jo
Published: April 2006

This training study combines within-subjects comparisons of several literacy tasks with individual case studies of children with dyslexia over a five-month reading intervention. It was hypothesized that 12 first- and second-grade children with deficits in phonological processing could be taught to use phonological recoding strategies through direct-instruction tutorials. Training included (a) phonological awareness in the form of instruction in segmenting and spelling, (b) letter-sound associations, and (c) guided reading using both phonics-controlled and narrative-controlled text. As a group, the children made significant gains in standard scores on sight-word reading, nonword reading, and spelling. After training, contrary to previous descriptions of children with dyslexia, nonword reading was at least as strong as sight-word reading for the group and for eight of the 12 individual children. There was a great deal of variation in individual response to treatment, with less progress for children with concomitant deficits in phonological awareness and phonological coding in lexical access as measured by rapid continuous, or serial, naming.
The Use of Brain Electrophysiology Techniques to Study Language: A Basic Guide for the Beginning Consumer of Electrophysiology Information
Authors: Molfese Dennis L. , Molfese Victoria J. , Kelly Spencer
Published: April 2006

This article provides a basic background for the professional who is interested in utilizing event-related potential (ERP) approaches to study language processes but has little background in or knowledge about the technique. First, a brief history of the emergence of this technology is presented, followed by definitions, a theoretical overview, and a practical guide to conducting ERP studies. The basis for choice of electrode positions, equipment characteristics (e.g., filter settings), and analyses are also discussed. Finally, examples of language studies that utilize this information in a research study are provided.
Mathematics Assessment for Students with Mild Disabilities: An Exploration of Content Validity
Authors: Parmar Rene S. , Frazita Richard , Cawley John F.
Published: April 2006

This article examines the content validity of selected standardized tests of mathematics achievement as it pertains to students with disabilities. Psychometricians have traditionally focused their analyses of standardized tests on technical aspects. The present paper focuses on content from the perspective of educators who are the primary consumers of test results. Therefore, our analyses are directed towards relating existing tests to curricula and instructional approaches. The Assessment Standards presented by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics are used as a framework with which to evaluate the appropriateness and adequacy of assessment instruments. Problems with content validity of the tests are identified, including inadequate representation of content domains, inappropriate sequencing and placement of items, inappropriate use of age and grade-equivalent scores, and incorrect descriptor assigned to items.
The Effects of an Interactive Multimedia Program on Teachers' Understanding and Implementation of an Inclusive Practice
Authors: Fisher Joseph B. , Deshler Donald D. , Schumaker Jean B.
Published: April 2006

The effects of an interactive multimedia program on teachers' understanding and implementation of an inclusive practice were examined. Fifty-eight preservice teachers and 10 inservice teachers were randomly assigned to one of two teacher development programs. The first, called the Virtual Workshop, was a computer-based, interactive multimedia program. The second, called the Actual Workshop, was a traditional, live, presenter-directed program. Results indicated that compared to their pretest scores, the posttest scores earned by participants on the tests of knowledge and understanding of the inclusive practice significantly improved after participation in both workshops. No statistically significant difference was found between the posttest scores earned by teachers in the two groups. Moreover, satisfaction ratings of both workshops were favorable. Also, inservice teachers who participated in the two workshops correctly performed a substantially greater number of the practice's targeted behaviors after training than before training. This study suggests that the Virtual Workshop may provide a new medium through which effective teacher development can be provided.
The Profession of Learning Disabilities: Progress and Promises
Authors: Polloway Edward A.
Published: April 2006

An earlier version of this paper was presented as the 14th Annual Distinguished Lecture at the 23rd International Conference on Learning Disabilities, October 21, 2001. It focuses on the status of the field of learning disabilities, including the accomplishments as well as elements of the unfinished agenda that are needed to move the field forward. Drawing on the contributions of the greatest generation of special educators, the paper discusses how these foundations provide a basis for future developments in the field.
Inclusion of Intrinsic Processing Difficulties in LD Diagnostic Models: A Critical Review
Authors: Dean Vincent J. , Burns Matthew K.
Published: April 2006

The inclusion of processing components in definitions and assessment procedures for learning disabilities (LD) has waxed and waned since the 1960s, but interest has grown recently as dissatisfaction with the discrepancy model has increased. This article discusses the use of the processing component for LD definitions by examining its theoretical basis, large-scale consistent implementation, and researched classroom effectiveness. Results suggest that not unlike the discrepancy model, the processing definition of LD does not differentiate students with LD from low achievers, is inconsistently implemented, and does not offer enough research to conclusively support its instructional validity. The potential impact of these findings on assessment and suggestions for future directions are also discussed.
The Effectiveness of Remedial Programs for Reading Disabled Children of Different Ages: Does the Benefit Decrease for Older Children?
Authors: Lovett Maureen W. , Steinbach Karen A.
Published: April 2006

One hundred and twenty-two severely reading disabled children were randomly assigned to one of two word identification training programs or a study skills control program. One program remediated deficient phonological analysis and blending skills and provided direct instruction of letter-sound mappings. The other program taught children how to acquire, use, and monitor four metacognitive decoding strategies. The effectiveness of the remedial programs was evaluated for children in grades 2/3, 4, and 5/6 to determine whether programs were differentially effective at different grade levels. Both training approaches were associated with significant improvement in word identification and word attack skills and sizeable transfer-of-training effects. The phonological program resulted in greater transfer across the phonological processing domain, whereas the strategy training program produced broader transfer for real words of both regular and irregular orthography. Children at each grade level made equivalent gains with remediation. These results suggest that the phonological deficits associated with reading disability are amenable to focused and intensive remediation and that this effort is well directed across the elementary school years. From grades 2 through 6, there is no evidence of a developmental window beyond which phonological deficits cannot be effectively remediated with intensive phonological training.
Phonological Awareness with and without Articulation: A Preliminary Study
Authors: Wise Barbara W. , Ring Jerry , Sessions Luann , Olson Richard K.
Published: April 2006

Phonological training with an articulatory component ( n=25) was compared to phonological awareness training without a specific speech-motor component ( n=20) for second- to fifth-grade children with reading disabilities. No significant differences were found between the two kinds of training on the various outcome measures, except that the nonarticulatory group was slightly superior on phoneme deletion and spelling production, suggesting some small-scale overall advantages for the training with more manipulation of sounds. An interaction on nonsense word reading may suggest that the lowest children on phonological awareness benefited more from the articulatory training, whereas reading disabled children with relatively higher initial skills in phonological awareness may have benefited more from the nonarticulatory training. However, further research with a larger sample is needed before firm conclusions can be drawn.
Component Spelling Skills of College Students with Childhood Diagnoses of Dyslexia
Authors: Bruck Maggie
Published: April 2006

This article examines the component spelling skills of adults with childhood diagnoses of dyslexia in an effort to identify some of the basic impairments associated with their spelling problems and to determine if these adults ever attain age- or level-appropriate competence. College students with childhood diagnoses of dyslexia were given a dictation task, a spelling-recognition task, and a nonword spelling task to assess their use and knowledge of sound-spelling, orthographic, morphologic, and visual information. Their performance on these tasks was compared to that of control groups of normal college students and of normal grade 6 (matched with the dyslexics on the basis of their standardized spelling and reading test scores). Dyslexics' spelling problems were primarily associated with their failure to acquire knowledge of the mappings between spelling and sounds of English. Their use and knowledge of morphological (higher level linguistic) information and of visual information for spelling, however, is predictable from their reading and spelling levels. This last set of results reflects the fact that the dyslexics in this study engaged in much reading and that exposure to written words plays an important role in the development of these specific component spelling skills.
Learning Disabilities Referrals, Eligibility Outcomes, and Services in Community Colleges: A Four-Year Summary
Authors: Mellard Daryl F. , Byrne Mark
Published: April 2006

This study examined access to LD services in California's 103 community colleges. The data describe the pattern of referrals for LD, eligibility decisions, and students served according to age, ethnic, and gender groupings. Referrals in these settings are self-initiated and decisions on who receives state-supported classes and services are based on a statewide eligibility model.

While the nature of students judged eligible and served as LD was similar to the referral patterns, the initial referrals themselves did not reflect the proportional groupings of the colleges' age, gender, and ethnic groups; besides, year-to-year fluctuations were noted. Fewer referrals were observed from some age and ethnic groups; the most notable differences included lower percentages of older students and Asian and Filipino students. These differences may be associated with such factors as the students' goals, self-attributions, and social influences. Of particular interest in future research is examination of influences on students' decisions to seek assistance in the community college setting.
Creating New Conversations about Literacy: Working with Special Needs Students in a Middle-School Classroom
Authors: Cousin Patricia Tefft , Aragon Ellen , Rojas Rich
Published: April 2006

This study examined the literacy use of one young adolescent male, identified as learning disabled in a middle-school classroom. The case study focused on the strategies he used, his knowledge about his own language abilities and disabilities, and the social contexts for literacy learning that seemed to best support his language use. Throughout this year-long qualitative study, data sources included field notes, interviews, work samples, and audio and videotapes. Results indicated that the student's literacy use was strongly affected by the context in which he was asked to read and write. Unsophisticated literacy behaviors were produced in traditional academic contexts, while more sophisticated uses were exhibited in contexts that bridged the student's personal and cultural knowledge to literacy use in the classroom. Results point to the complex nature of changing schooling for older students who have been identified as unsuccessful.
Teaching Spelling to Children with Specific Learning Disabilities: The Mind's Ear and Eye Beat the Computer or Pencil
Authors: Berninger Virginia , Abbott Robert , Rogan Laura , Reed Elizabeth , Abbott Sylvia , Brooks Allison , Vaughan Katherine , Graham Steve
Published: April 2006

Children with only spelling ( n=24) or handwriting and spelling disabilities ( n=24) were randomly assigned to a pencil or computer response mode. They were taught 48 words of varying orders of sound-spelling predictability using a method that emphasized hearing the word in the mind's ear and seeing the word in the mind's eye and making connections between the phonological and orthographic representations at the whole word and subword levels. Although no main effects were found for response mode, at posttest the pencil was superior to the computer for easy orders (single-letter spelling units with high sound-spelling predictability), but the computer was superior to the pencil for moderate and difficult orders (multiletter spelling units with intermediate or low sound-spelling predictability). Prior to and in response to treatment, children with handwriting and spelling problems spelled less well than children with only spelling problems. Multiletter spelling units of moderate or difficult orders of sound-spelling predictability explained unique increments of variance in spelling achievement, whereas single-letter spelling units of easy order of sound-spelling predictability did not. Based on these findings, instructional recommendations are to provide explicit instruction in the correspondence between sound and multiletter spelling units.
Lessons from Research on Dyslexia: Implications for a Classification System for Learning Disabilities
Authors: Padget S. Yancey
Published: April 2006

Specific reading disability/dyslexia is examined as the one type of learning disability for which research results are complete and consistent enough to suggest a model. The implications of this model are then considered for all achievement domains and a total of three types of learning disabilities (LD) emerge—specific language impairment, specific reading disability/dyslexia, and specific math disability. When the core symptoms and the secondary symptoms for these types of learning disabilities are considered separately, it becomes evident that these three types of learning disabilities can account for discrepancies in all of the academic domains included in federal and state definitions of LD. This resulting classification system links the findings from recent LD research, syndromes from neuropsychology, and the criteria that school districts are mandated to operationalize. The implications of the proposed classification system are discussed in relation to prevalence, diagnosis, and intervention.
Auditory and Visual Perception Processes and Reading Ability: A Quantitative Reanalysis and Historical Reinterpretation
Authors: Kavale Kenneth A. , Forness Steven R.
Published: April 2006

Meta-analysis was used to integrate statistically the literature assessing the relationship between auditory and visual perception and reading achievement. From 267 studies conducted between 1950–1980, 2,294 correlation coefficients were collected and aggregated into homogeneous groupings across five auditory perceptual skills, eight visual perceptual skills, four reading skills, and two subject groups. Findings were interpreted through the binomial effect size display, which indicates the increase in predictive accuracy rather than the percent of variance explained ( r2). Stepwise multiple-regression analyses were used to order perceptual skills in terms of their usefulness for predicting reading skills and to examine the role of intelligence in prediction. The findings indicated that auditory and visual perceptual skills can successfully increase the accuracy of predicting reading achievement, but the magnitude of the increases in predictive accuracy was contingent upon the combination of variables studied and was significantly reduced if an IQ score was known. It was concluded that, while there was some justification for early conceptualizations of learning disability emphasizing perception, the limitations surrounding the magnitude and nature of the relationship between perceptual skills and reading as well as recent advances showing other processes holding greater promise for explaining reading disability, perceptual processes no longer need to be considered primary factors in predicting reading ability.
Taking Charge: Adolescents with Learning Disabilities Assume Responsibility for Their Own Writing
Authors: Hallenbeck Mark J.
Published: April 2006

Adolescents with learning disabilities (LD) often find expository writing among the most difficult academic skills to master. These students typically experience a great deal of failure with writing and become dependent upon others — mainly the teacher — for ideas and “quality control.” Such dependence on external sources hinders the development of higher-level cognitive skills required of effective writers. This study examined how a powerful writing strategy, Cognitive Strategy Instruction in Writing (CSIW), helped enable a group of seventh-graders with LD to take over responsibility for their own writing performance and to scaffold one another's writing development. Extensive teacher modeling and scaffolding, collaboration throughout the writing process, and a set of structuring think-sheets enabled these students to move beyond the “learned helplessness” so common among adolescents with learning disabilities; they came to see themselves as genuine writers and to employ the writing process as a tool for effective written expression.
Impact on Psychologists of State Guidelines for Evaluating Underachievement
Authors: Ross Roslyn P.
Published: April 2006

Despite continuing controversy about the validity of distinguishing between subgroups of low achievers, evaluating discrepancies between ability and achievement remains central to current practice in identifying students as learning disabled (LD) for special education services. State education department (SED) efforts to operationalize the discrepancy criterion and to specify “best practice” take on particular importance given the nature of practitioner difficulties reported in the literature and the need to increase the reliability of identification. Information from 290 nationally certified school psychologists (64.4% of the original random sample) was compared with data collected by Frankenberger and Fronzaglio (1991) on SED recommendations to evaluate how effectively recommendations were being communicated and followed. The trend toward more appropriate methods of quantifying a discrepancy noted in reviews of SED guidelines was reflected in the practices reported by those working in such states. Evidence also suggested considerable questionable practice stemming from inadequate clarity of guidelines and absence of guidelines. Findings indicate that one immediately available avenue for improving LD identification is to clarify a number of SED guidelines and provide such guidelines in states where they do not currently exist.
Justice Stephen Field and “Free Soil, Free Labor Constitutionalism”: Reconsidering Revisionism
Authors: Cachán Manuel
Published: April 2006

Progressive legal scholars from the 1930s through the 1960s sought to explain why the Supreme Court had set itself in such bald opposition to the concurrent branches of the federal government. The Court seemed profoundly committed, even to the point of risking its very existence, to an ideology that, in Justice Holmes's famously understated phrase, “a large part of the country d[id] not entertain.” What had led to the union between jurisprudence and conservative reaction?
Secondary Students' Perceptions of School Life with Regard to Alienation: The Effects of Disability, Gender and Race
Authors: Brown Monica R. , Higgins Kyle , Pierce Tom , Hong Eunsook , Thoma Colleen
Published: April 2006

Student alienation is a major cause of dropping out of school, gang activity and poor peer, school-student, and teacher-student relationships. A considerable amount of research has focused on factors that distinguish between students who are engaged in the learning process and those who are not. This study examined the relationship between students and their perceptions of school life. A survey was distributed to over 200 students at two high schools in a large, urban school district in the southern United States. Results suggest that gender, race/ethnicity, and placement in special education are all strong factors in influencing whether students perceive school and/or life in general as alienating. The limitations of the study as well as future research directions and implications for practice are discussed.
Integration of Letter-Sound Correspondences and Phonological Awareness Skills of Blending and Segmenting: A Pilot Study Examining the Effects of Instructional Sequence on Word Reading for Kindergarten Children with Low Phonological Awareness
Authors: Oudeans Mary Karen
Published: April 2006

Research evidence indicates that integration of letter sounds with phonological blending and segmenting is critical for acquisition of beginning word reading skills. Yet, a review of kindergarten intervention studies revealed that the optimal sequence for integrating these two component skills has not been investigated empirically. In this pilot study, two sequences for integrating and teaching letter-sound correspondences and phonological blending and segmenting were compared to determine which sequence resulted in higher word reading and phonological awareness performance and higher rates of growth for kindergarten children with low phonemic segmentation skills. Fifty-five children, 36 with phonemic segmentation deficits, were randomly assigned to two instructional conditions: (a) parallel, integrated (PI), or (b) parallel, non-integrated (PN-I) sequence. At posttest, initial segmentation skills explained only 7% of the variance for the PI group and 36% of the variance for the PN-I group on segmentation fluency measures. The PI sequence “closed the gap” in phonemic segmentation between children with low segmentation skills and children with adequate skills by posttest. Children in the PI sequence also performed reliably higher on word reading generalization at posttest and maintenance, and the rate of change in the growth trajectory for letter-sound fluency was greater for the PI sequence.
Writing Issues in College Students with Learning Disabilities: A Synthesis of the Literature from 1990 to 2000
Authors: Li Huijun , Hamel Christine M.
Published: April 2006

This article provides a synthesis of the literature published from 1990 to 2000 on college students with learning disabilities and writing difficulties (LD/WD). Thirty-eight articles met the criteria for describing writing difficulties in this cohort of students. Upon reviewing the articles, four major topics emerged: (a) assistive technology for college students with LD/WD; (b) effectiveness of assistive technology for college students with LD/WD; (c) characteristics and error patterns in the writings of college students with LD/WD; and (d) instructional support and methods. The review of the literature shows that there is an urgent need for empirical studies, especially on instructional methods and strategies. Recommendations for future research are presented.
The Analysis of Cutmarks on Archaeofauna: A Review and Critique of Quantification Procedures, and a New Image-Analysis GIS Approach
Authors: Abe Yoshiko , Marean Curtis W. , Nilssen Peter J. , Assefa Zelalem , Stone Elizabeth C.
Published: April 2006

Zooarchaeologists utilize a diverse set of approaches for quantifying cutmark frequencies. The least quantitative method for cutmark analysis relies on composite diagrams of cutmarks overlain on drawings of skeletal elements (diagramatic methods). To date, interpretations of these data have generally relied on qualitative and subjective assessments of cutmark frequency and placement. Many analysts count the number of fragments that have a cutmark, regardless of the number of cutmarks on the fragments (fragment-count data). Others count the number of cutmarks (cutmark-count data). Both can be expressed as simple counts (NISP data), or as a count of some more-derived measure of skeletal element abundance (MNE data). All of these approaches provide different types of data and are not intercomparable. Several researchers have shown that fragmentation of specimens impacts the frequency of cuts, and we show here that fragmentation impacts all these current approaches in ways that compromise comparative analysis when fragmentation differs between assemblages. We argue that cutmark frequencies from assemblages with differing levels of fragmentation are most effectively made comparable by correcting the frequency of cutmarks by the observed surface area. We present a new method that allows this surface area correction by using the image analysis abilities of GIS. This approach overcomes the fragmentation problem. We illustrate the power of this technique by comparing a highly fragmented archaeological assemblage to an unfragmented experimental collection.
Archaeological Systematics and the Study of Culture Process
Authors: Binford Lewis R.
Published: April 2006

It is argued that the normative theory of culture, widely held among archaeologists, is inadequate for the generation of fruitful explanatory hypotheses of cultural process. One obvious shortcoming of this theoretical position has been the development of archaeological systematics that have obviated any possibility of measuring multivariate phenomena and permit only the measurement of unspecified “cultural differences and similarities,” as if these were univariate phenomena. As an alternative to this approach, it is proposed that culture be viewed as a system composed of subsystems, and it is suggested that differences and similarities between different classes of archaeological remains reflect different subsystems and hence may be expected to vary independently of each other in the normal operation of the system or during change in the system. A general discussion of ceramic classification and the classification of differences and similarities between assemblages is presented as an example of the multivariate approach to the study of cultural variability. It is suggested that a multivariate approach in systematics will encourage the study of cultural variability and its causes and thereby enhance the study of culture process.
Archaeological Chronology of Grenada
Authors: Bullen Ripley P.
Published: April 2006

Survey and tests in Grenada indicate three major ceramic periods. The first, A.D. 0-700, is a typical Caribbean extension of the Saladoid-Barrancoid tradition of Venezuela. The second is represented by burnished, red-painted pottery with rim points and horns associated with black-and-red-painted cazuelas. A thick, crude ware which frequently exhibits deeply scratched surfaces characterizes the third. A late phase with finger-indented rims is associated with historic materials. These ceramic traditions are correlated with the pre-Arawak, Arawak, and Carib Indians.
Lithic Technology Conference, Les Eyzies, France
Authors: Jelinek Arthur J.
Published: April 2006

In 1964, a conference of American and French prehistorians explored the techniques of manufacture of chipped-stone artifacts. The conference was held at Les Eyzies, France, and included sessions in which implements were manufactured and discussion sessions in which artifact collections were evaluated in terms of observable evidences of manufacturing technique.
On the Meaning of Historic Sites Archaeology
Authors: Fontana Bernard L.
Published: April 2006

A definition of historic sites archaeology as it applies in the New World is offered, and a five-fold classification of historic sites is proposed (protohistoric, contact, postcontact, frontier, and nonaboriginal). The usefulness of the concept of historic sites archaeology is discussed.
Magnetic Prospecting in Southern California
Authors: Ezell Paul , Moriarty James R. , Mudie John D. , Rees Anthony I.
Published: April 2006

A proton magnetometer was used in a magnetic survey of a site near San Diego, California. Two hearths and a fire pit were located which otherwise would not have been discovered without extensive excavation. Magnetic surveying of a site in southern California has proved successful and further use of the method in North America is warranted.
Quantifying Shell: Comments on Mason, Peterson, and Tiffany
Authors: Claassen Cheryl
Published: April 2006

Mason et al. recently revived a debate as to the suitability of shell weights or shell MNI, with several interesting points. Among the points they raised are two with which I take exception: that MNI is always better than weight, and that relative percentages are the analytical tool of choice.
Reflections on the Founding of the Society for American Archaeology
Authors: Guthe Carl E.
Published: April 2006

When Jimmy Griffin asked me to reflect upon the founding of the Society, I compared the assignment to beating a dead horse. Then it occurred to me that most of you here tonight were high school students or younger, when Vol. 1, No. 1 of American Antiquity was in press 32 years ago this month. Throughout your professional lives you have accepted the Society as the natural focus for archaeological contacts and interests. Yet there was a time when it was only a dream; when a number of us worked hard to make it become a reality.
The Age of Common Beans (Phaseolus vulgaris) in the Northeastern United States
Authors: Hart John P. , Scarry C. Margaret
Published: April 2006

A radiocarbon date of A.D. 1070 ± 60 was linked to the remains of maize (Zea mays), beans (Phaseolus vulgaris), and squash (Cucñrbita pepo) at the Roundtop site in the Susquehanna River valley of New York by William Ritchie in 1969 and 1973 publications. This date established the presence of beans in the Northeast at an earlier time than in most other areas of the eastern United States, where they are generally rare before A.D. 1300. Subsequently beans have been reported in pre-A.D.1300 contexts from at least eight other sites in the Northeast. Recent calibrated AMS dates on beans from Roundtop are no earlier than A.D. 1300 (Hart 1999a). Given that the original Roundtop date was responsible for the acceptance of early beans in the Northeast, the AMS dates suggested that beans may not become archaeologically visible there until ca. A.D. 1300. AMS dates on beans from four other sites, reported here, substantiate the Roundtop results. Beans and by extension maize-beans-squash intercropping are not evident in the Northeast before ca. A.D. 1300.
Tuna Tagging and the Extra-Oceanic Distribution of Curved, Single-Piece Shell Fishhooks in the Pacific
Authors: Landberg Leif C. W.
Published: April 2006

Curved, single-piece shell fishhooks are found archaeologically in Oceania, Ecuador, southern Peru and northern Chile, and the Santa Barbara region of southern California. The hypothesis that fish were possible transpacific carriers of these shell fishhooks is examined in the light of recent tuna-tagging research. Tag release and recovery data show that three species of tuna are capable of undertaking long-range migrations. Skipjack tunas are known to migrate from Baja California to Hawaii. Some bluefin tunas have migrated from Baja California to Japan. Albacore, which is believed to consist of a single population in the northern Pacific Ocean, probably circumnavigates the Pacific. A migration model of the northern Pacific albacore population suggests at least one possible transportation route of shell fishhooks between Hawaii and the Santa Barbara region. Heyerdahl has postulated that the association at historic contact in the Santa Barbara region of the curved, single-piece shell fishhook, the frameless plank canoe, and the Polynesian-type cosmogony of the Chungichnish cult is evidence for pre-Columbian transpacific contact. Contrary to his theory, reasons are advanced here to suggest that these traits may instead be fortuitously associated rather than diffused as a complex.
Chronology of Sites at Killarney, Canada
Authors: Greenman E. F.
Published: April 2006

Near Killarney, Canada, three raised beaches of former Great Lakes stages have cultural material in circumstances indicating contemporaneity with the construction of the beaches 7000 B.C. and A.D. 1. The physical conditions demonstrating this contemporaneity are set forth in detail, with illustrations of artifacts in situ in gravels. The several components of two sites are distinguished, and a workshop with most of the artifacts in unfinished condition is described and illustrated. The geology, which involves Postglacial uplift of the Lake Huron basin along with rising and lowering levels, is fully outlined.
Diffusionism and Archaeology
Authors: Rowe John Howland
Published: April 2006

Doctrinaire diffusionism is a menace to the development of sound archaeological theory based on comparative studies; it distracts archaeologists from such studies and seeks to destroy the basis of comparison. Diffusionist arguments are defective in principle, however. The bias in the selection of data for these arguments can be illustrated by listing cultural similarities between ancient Peru and the ancient Mediterranean.
Soil-Survey Reports and Archaeological Investigations
Authors: Saucier Roger T.
Published: April 2006

Most soil-survey reports published since about 1957 by the Soil Conservation Service portray the soils data on a series of photomap base sheets generally at a scale of 1:20,000. Since all or portions of many of the 203 counties for which the reports are available lack detailed topographic maps, the soil-survey reports help alleviate this deficiency and also provide an economical source of aerial photos for use in archaeological surveys. Moreover, the soil-survey data presented in the photomaps often provide valuable clues to the locations of sites and should not be overlooked in survey work.
A Feldspar-Inlaid Ceramic Type from Spanish Colonial Sites
Authors: Fairbanks Charles H.
Published: April 2006

A type of Mexican folk pottery first collected in 1920 at Cuernavaca is demonstrated to be of Iberian derivation and to date back as early as the 17th century. It has been found at Ft. Jesus in Mombasa, Kenya, and at the kiln site in the Old City of Panama. The pottery is decorated with inlays of small tesserae of feldspar and occasionally other minerals. Incision, stamping, low relief, and red paint are often associated decorative features.
Origins of an Anasazi Scarlet Macaw Feather Artifact
Authors: Borson Nancy , Berdan Frances , Stark Edward , States Jack , Wettstein Peter J.
Published: April 2006

An artifact ascribed to the Anasazi culture (dated here to 920 ± 35 B.P.) is unique in its integrity, construction technique, style, and materials, including multiple yucca ropes with attached adult scarlet macaw feathers joined to a Sciurus aberti (tassel-eared squirrel) pelt and hide straps. We applied methods from anthropology and molecular biology to ascertain the origins of materials and manufacturing technique. The cytochrome b gene from the ancient DNA of the pelt was sequenced in its entirety. This gene was unique as defined by new nucleotide substitutions that distinguished it from the other S. aberti alleles. Phylogenetic trees constructed by both neighbor-joining and maximum parsimony methods are consistent with this unique allele being most closely related to genes from two extant American Southwest S. aberti subspecies and more distantly related to Mexican S. aberti genes. Our observations support the conclusion that the entire artifact was constructed in the American Southwest using native materials, including the squirrel pelt and scarlet macaw feathers. This contradicts a prior hypothesis that the feather rope component was assembled before being traded north from Mexico.
Archaeological Research in Mexico
Authors: Vaillant George C.
Published: April 2006

The accompanying map (Plate 10), prepared by Mr. Ignacio Marquina, Chief of the Direction of Prehispanic Monuments, Ministry of Public Education, Mexico, gives a graphic idea of the coordinated research carried on by government and foreign agencies in Mexico. Formal excavation and reconnaissance are being combined to study the origin, development, and diffusion of Mexican cultures, and the burden of the work is being borne by the government archaeologists.
Aboriginal Camp Sites on Isle Royale, Michigan
Authors: Quimby George I.
Published: April 2006

In a recent article in american antiquity, Dr. Vladimir J. Fewkes described some Woodland pottery from the valley of the lower Red River, north of Winnipeg, Manitoba. Similar sherds from the region of Mille Lacs, Minnesota, are illustrated by Winchell. As pointed out by McKern and Fewkes, pottery resembling the Woodland ware was collected from sites in Kamchatka, Siberia, by Jochelson. There is some possibility that these northern Kamchatka sites date after the tenth or eleventh centuries A.D.
Bone “Gorget” from a Caddoan Mound Burial
Authors: Webb C. H. , Dodd Monroe
Published: April 2006

The theory has been advanced that the pierced-tablet type of “gorget” may have served the prehistoric Indian as an arm guard to protect against the lash of the bowstring, in contradistinction to the ornamental pendant type. Most frequently surface finds, these artifacts are at times reported from burials, where their position in relation to the body may give some inkling as to their use. In only two such instances can we find records of their being in such association with the arm bones as to lend support to the arm-guard theory. Moorehead, in : Stone Ornaments of the American Indian (1), describes the skeleton of an adult in the Storey Mound, Ohio, with slate gorgets on each wrist. Lemley (2) found a double-perforated stone tablet beside the arm of a skeleton in a Ouachita River mound near Malvern, Arkansas. It may therefore be of interest to record our finding of a bone gorget (Plate 12, Figure 1) attached to the arm bones of an adult male in a mound burial, apparently Caddoan.
Fired Clay Human Figurines in Central and Northern California
Authors: Heizer Robert F. , Beardsley Richard K.
Published: April 2006

A new and significant element was added to the archaeological inventory of California by the discovery, in 1940, of two unique objects of baked clay. These seemed to be fragmentary female figurines but several considerations at the time of discovery called for reserve in this interpretation. Although a well developed baked clay complex is known archaeologically in the Central Valley of California, it had not been evidenced before this time to the west of this stoneless region. Moreover, none of the figurines occurring in this Valley complex represents any part of the human figure; it has been noted, in fact, that aboriginal California in general lacked a tradition of human representation. In addition, these two pieces were fragmentary.
Flint Stations in Central Alaska
Authors: Skarland Ivar , Giddings J . L.
Published: April 2006

Our knowledge of the prehistory of interior Alaska is still very limited. Nearly all archaeological work in the territory has been in the Eskimo and Aleut regions. In the interior planned, systematic surveys have been conducted by Froelich Rainey, Frederica de Laguna, and Frederick Johnson, but most of these deal with relatively recent Athapascan sites. The only definitely pre-Athapascan site is the “Campus site” on the University of Alaska campus.

From time to time random specimens are found in connection with road work, farming, and mining. Artifacts discovered in the Tanana Valley muck deposits, often at great depths, suggest, but do not prove, that man was contemporaneous with mammoth and other now extinct animals of the Pleistocene. One specimen found in association with a mastodon jaw, but not actually embedded in the bone, adds to the circumstantial evidence that man was here in the late Pleistocene, if not earlier.