bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
A Critique of Dates at Palenque
Authors: Berlin Heinrich
Published: April 2006

During three field seasons spent at Palenque under the auspices of the Institute Nacional de Antropología e Historia of Mexico in 1940, 1941, and 1942, I had an opportunity to compare some inscriptions at that great Maya city with interpretations of them published by various students. This convinced me that these interpretations are not always in harmony with the real and actual reading of the inscriptions.
Ancient Grooved Clubs and Modern Rabbit-Sticks
Authors: Heizer Robert F.
Published: April 2006

The problem of the functional identification of the distinctive grooved wooden clubs from the early archaeological horizons of the Southwest, and of their possible connection with the modern rabbitsticks of certain Southwestern and southern Californian tribes has never been set forth in proper form. Similarity in form does not necessarily signify identity in function. Nowhere should this caution be followed more closely than in the allocation of use by the archaeologist to archaeological specimens. Thus, a disagreement on the identification of a highly specialized form of implement suggests that we may perhaps profitably inquire into the problems presented by the difference in opinion.
Surface Collecting on Tabeguache Creek
Authors: Hurst C. T.
Published: April 2006

At the present time a considerable number of types of projectile points, recognized as having respectable antiquity, are well known to the archaeologist. Among these are the Folsom, Sandia, Yuma, Gypsum Cave, Silver Lake, Pinto Basin, Lake Mohave, the Texas types, and others. Only relative ages can be given for most of these. What dates are possible are possible only in round numbers, as geological rather than dendrochronological evidence must be relied upon.

The ideal archaeological site would be one where all the above-mentioned types, together with all later types, serially down to the most recent one of modern times, were found stratigraphically laid down in their normal relations to each other, awaiting only the trowel of the archaeologist to relate them properly. It is safe to say that a site of this kind does not exist.
The Orientation of Middle American Sites
Authors: Macoowan Kenneth
Published: April 2006

One of the first aspects of Middle American culture which strikes an amateur as interesting and possibly significant is the ordered arrangement of the buildings in almost all sites. Like those of Egypt—and unlike those of Greece and Rome —the sites seem to have been planned on a large pattern. The individual buildings are arranged according to a scheme which gives them space and which orients them on a common axis. They are not dropped in helter-skelter, crowded cheek-by-jowl, and set at odd angles to one another. Further, the city plans of Middle America seemollow fhe another and larger pattern. This is the pattern of the north and south axis of each site and each building. This orientation almost invariably follows one of three schemes. I t is sometimes true north, sometimes about 7 degrees east of north, sometimes about 17 degrees east of north, but practically never west of north. There are some sites which have no general pattern, and therefore no orientation.
Miocene Fossil Found in Oregon Kitchen-Midden
Authors: Simon Leo F. , Reed Charles A.
Published: April 2006

One does not usually think of the American Indian as a paleontologist, although it is known that occasionally he did use fossils (vertebrate, invertebrate, and plant) for their presumed medical and magical values. I t is possible, however, that a fossil might have been collected and carried home simply because of the curiosity aroused by its resemblance to more familiar objects in nature. In this particular instance, the mental processes of the collector are not to be dug out of his rubbish heap.

On August 5, 1944, a number of biology students from Reed College, and other interested persons were digging in a kitchen-midden which is exposed for some 50 yards along the south bank of Fogarty Creek, Lincoln County, Oregon, just above the entrance of the creek into the ocean. The midden consists of a layer of mixed ash and shells 10-12 inches thick, marking an old campsite, now covered with brush and forest.
“Hopewellian” Elements in Northern Georgia
Authors: Waring A. J.
Published: April 2006

At the present time there is much interest in the relationship of Ohio Hopewell to Southeastern archaeology in general. It seems important, therefore, that all evidence which can contribute towards the formulation and ultimate solution of this problem be duly recorded.

The evidence in question consists of a perforated copper breast-plate, two tapered celts, fragments of design-cut sheet copper, and a copper celt, all found with a micacovered, extended burial at the base of a stone mound near Cartersville, Bartow County, Georgia.
Comments on a Site in the St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge, Wakulla County, Florida
Authors: Griffin John W.
Published: April 2006

In a recent issue of American Antiquity John M. Goggin has described certain materials from a site in the St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge, Wakulla County, Florida. The present note is a continuation of Goggin's remarks, based on certain materials not available to him at the time of his writing, and on a more recent surface collection of sherds from the site.

Goggin mentions a copper plate ornamented by incision, having human and animal figures depicted on the surface, which he had not seen. When this object was originally found in 1938 by Bill Kary of Tallahassee, it was examined by J. Clarence Simpson of the Florida Geological Survey. Simpson made a cast of the object, as well as a detailed drawing. The drawing reproduced in this note (Fig. 41, b) was made from Simpson's sketch and a copy of the cast in the possession of Dr. Mark F. Boyd of Tallahassee. The writer is grateful to both of these gentlemen for the use of their material.
Archaeology in the Punta Peñasco Region, Sonora
Authors: Gifford E. W.
Published: April 2006

The incentive for an archaeological reconnaissance of this region (see map, Fig. 29) by Mrs. Gifford and myself in the fall of 1944, and again for a single day in November, 1945, came from reading references to kitchen middens in the report of the conchologist H. N. Lowe: “The numerous large kitchen middens at Punta Peñasco and Punta La Cholla contained thousands of these Glycimeris maculata with rarely a valve of the much larger G. gigantea. With these were quantities of the huge Cardita affinis, Chione, Ostrea, Paphia, Cardium, and large Murex. No stone artifacts or black earth were noted in any of these shell heaps. Perhaps the early inhabitants preferred their shell-fish raw.” At Punta Peñasco these “middens” proved to be uplifted marine deposits which Dr. Leo G. Hertlein of the California Academy of Sciences identified as Late Pleistocene, basing his opinion on specimens and photographs.
Pollen Analysis and Its Bearing upon American Prehistory: A Critique
Authors: Eiseley Loren C.
Published: April 2006

Extending over a wide area in northern and central Europe great beds of peat cover stretches of moor and occupy valleys and depressions where sluggish drainage has favored the growth of marsh vegetation. More than any other soil type they are entirely dependent in substance on the vegetation which they support. Thus they are peculiarly reflective of changes of a climatic nature, and this, combined with the preservative effects of bog acid, both upon pollens and artifacts, has made them a peculiarly effective medium for investigation. While most thoroughly studied in Europe, peats occur in both the northern and southern hemisphere wherever conditions permit. Typically and most extensively however, they are a circumpolar phenomenon closely attendant upon glaciation.
Archaeological Needs for Florida
Authors: Sleight Frederick W.
Published: April 2006

Consistent and concentrated efforts for archaeological research within the region of Florida have long been a needed factor in the development of North America's pre-history.

Here lies one of the key spots for cultural contact between the northern continent and the chain of islands that extends southward. The geographical significance of such a location can not be too highly emphasized. What work has been undertaken in the state unfortunately has not been followed by careful laboratory consideration and, as a result, prehistory in this area has suffered from mere spontaneous spurts of effort.
A Probable Association of Mammoth and Artifacts in the Willamette Valley, Oregon
Authors: Cressman L. S. , Laughlin W. S.
Published: April 2006

Some eleven years ago, about three miles outside of Lebanon, Oregon, on the north side of an extension of the foothillsof the Cascade Range, a rancher, in cleaning out his spring, discovered a fossilized bone of a large mammal. In response to his communication, Dr. S. B. Laughlin of the Department of Sociology at Willamette University, in Salem, went to the site with Professor Monk and Professor Clark, and carried out an excavation. Part of a mammoth tooth was found, a portion of a tusk, and a small bone chisel made from the rib of a mammal perhaps the size of a deer.

This locality was called to the attention of the Department of Anthropology at the University of Oregon by Professor Laughlin's son within the past year; and in May, he and Cressman, with a number of assistants, went to the site to carry out further excavations.
Photographic Surveying
Authors: Merrill Robert H.
Published: April 2006

At Sitio Conte, province of Code, Panama, the 1940 Pennsylvania University expedition led by Dr. J. Alden Mason resumed, after seven years interruption, the field excavation begun by the Peabody Museum of Harvard University and described in the monumental memoir by Dr. S. K. Lothrop.

The use of every time and labor saving device (even a transit) was justified by trench temperatures at times exceeding 120 degrees. However, this description will assume that no transit was available: limiting working tools to a level, an opera glass, plumb lines, lantern, and measuring tape. A compass might have sufficed for laying out the north-south reference line but stars are more accurate.

Forty centuries before telescopes made possible a greater precision, the ancients were able to orient a pyramid true north within 3 minutes 23 seconds of arc, the error being about one part in a thousand. Ordinary engineer's transits are accurate to the nearest minute.
Contributions to Oregon Coast Prehistory
Authors: Leatherman Kenneth E. , Krieger Alex D.
Published: April 2006

Native civilization in western Oregon disintegrated so rapidly under white influence and white men's diseases that only a few traces of it are left. By 1850 most of the native materials had been given up by surviving Indians and replaced by trade implements brought by the whites. It was, therefore, with considerable interest that Mr. Leatherman began excavations in December, 1938, at a small Indian village site at the mouth of Coquille River, Coos County, Oregon.
Archaeological Remains, Supposedly Navaho, from Chaco Canyon, New Mexico
Authors: Malcolm Roy L.
Published: April 2006

Until recently there has been little attempt to trace the early history of the Navaho in the Southwest through their archaeological remains. While some investigators were studying Pueblo archaeology, they did record certain discoveries which tend to throw some light here and there on the earlier history of the Navaho. In the summer of 1937 a reconnaisance of archaeological sites, putatively Navaho, was made in Chaco Canyon, New Mexico. The sites were mainly on, or at the base of western Chacra Mesa, some eight miles east of Pueblo Bonito. Interesting information was gathered, particularly in regard to house types, pottery, burials, textiles, and certain other items of material culture which may be correlated with ethnological data on the Navaho.
A Brief Metallographic Study of Primitive Copper Work
Authors: Wilson Curtis L. , Sayre Melville
Published: April 2006

A wide and interesting field for coöperation by metallurgists and archaeologists is the metallographic study of primitive metal work. The present paper is an elementary exposition of techniques which are familiar to every metallurgist but which may be simply applied by archaeologists in any metallurgical laboratory. The typical copper artifacts examined (Plate 11) were kindly given by H. C. Shetrone of the Ohio State Museum, W. C. McKern of the Milwaukee Public Museum, and C. E. Brown of the Wisconsin Archaeological Society. All the specimens are Lake Superior native copper, but they show different kinds of working. Several unworked copper nuggets from the Wisconsin mounds were treated in the laboratory for comparison with the native artifacts.
An Anthropological Reconnaissance of Bimini, Bahamas
Authors: Granberry Julian
Published: April 2006

Under the auspices of the University of Florida Anthropology Laboratory the writer devoted the second and third weeks of June, 1955, to a survey of the Bimini Islands, Bahamas, the primary objective being an archaeological site reconnaissance of the group. Although archaeological findings were few, there were significant features meriting the observations presented in this report.
A Copper Plummet from Poverty Point, Louisiana
Authors: Bell Robert E.
Published: April 2006

Upon examination of a series of artifacts found at the Poverty Point site, West Carroll Parish, Louisiana, in the collection of James Durham of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, I noted one plummet made of native copper (Fig. 1). As copper objects are unreported for the Poverty Point site (Haag and Webb 1953), it is worthwhile to note the existence of this specimen.

The plummet is made of native copper, probably hammered into shape from a copper nugget. It measures 48 mm. in length, 20 mm. in diameter and is perforated for suspension. The plummet was picked up on the surface at the Poverty Point site by James Durham's brother, F. M. Durham, in 1944. According to F. M. Durham the specimen was found south of the large mound, in the area between the mound and the river.
Discovery of a Pre-Columbian Gold Figurine in Cuba
Authors: Alonso Orencio Miguel
Published: April 2006

The hills of the barrio of Yaguajay in the municipality of Banes, Cuba have yielded a number of rich finds of archaeological material. To these was added in 1948 a gold figurine, which is of importance as the first such specimen to be reported from the Antilles.

The figurine measures 48 mm. in height, weighs 14.1 grams, and has been cast from 10-carat gold (Fig.111 , left.) It portrays a naked woman, standing and holding a small vessel at the height of the stomach. The head is adorned with three stylized tufts of feathers, and two disks project from the ears in the form of shell helices. The face, nose, eyes, and mouth are very similar to those of the clay, shell, bone, and stone figures of the Banes region (e.g., Fig.111 ,right). The two breasts stand out from the body and the legs are in the form of nodules; although provided with feet, they lack toes.
Incised Slate Figurines from Kodiak Island, Alaska
Authors: Heizer Robert F.
Published: April 2006

In a brief article on the Cape Alitak petroglyphs of Kodiak Island (Heizer, 1947), two incised slate tablets were shown and analyzed with the intent to suggest a relationship in the treatment of the face on the slate pieces and the pecked petroglyphs. The two flat incised slate pieces referred to above came from the Uyak Bay site excavated by A. Hrdlicka in 1931-1938. No similar specimens had been published, and so far as could be determined, they were unique examples of incised art.

Recently Mr. Donald Clark of Kodiak City kindly sent to me for inspection a series of 25 closely similar slate pieces, of which 17 are shown in Fig. 90. They range in thickness from 2 to 6 mm., and are variable in outline. Some are incised on both surfaces, but the majority have the lightly incised lines only on one face. They are made of natural flat slate beach pebbles which can be found all over the island. The pieces shown here are from the vicinity of Kodiak City.
Artifacts with Mammoth Remains, Naco, Arizona
Authors: Haury Emil W. , Antevs Ernest , Lance John F.
Published: April 2006

On September 22, 1951, Marc Navarrete brought word to the Arizona State Museum of the discovery of two large projectile points in association with mammoth bones exposed in an arroyo eroded by Greenbush Creek one mile northwest of Naco, Arizona (Fig. 1). Marc Navarrete and his father, Fred, for some fifteen years have been watching the arroyo for fossils as erosion widened and deepened it.

A bone concentration, though known for some time, was freshly exposed by floods resulting from heavy summer rains in August, 1951. This encouraged Fred Navarrete to dig in an attempt to salvage what appeared to be a part of a skull with teeth and tusk of a large animal. In the course of this work he found near the skull a projectile point in what appeared to be undisturbed matrix. Additional excavations by Marc Navarrete soon revealed the left foreleg, scapula, humerus, and ulna and, near the superior margin of the scapula, again in the undisturbed clay, a second projectile point came to light.
Modern and Ancient Soils at Some Archaeological Sites in the Valley of Mexico
Authors: Sokoloff V. P. , Luis Lorenzo J.
Published: April 2006

Impressions of past climates on 1 soils and soil materials are not easily obliterated by time. Morphological and chemical features of the weathering record may be of considerable aid in reconstructing the past environments as well as in understanding the present ones. It should be possible not merely to recognize the qualitative aspects of the past climates, by the morphological-geochemical analysis, but also to attempt establishment of semi-quantitative time scales, of indices of the duration of this or that component of the climatic sequence. This analytical approach to the study of ancient soils, palaeopedology, is now at its beginning. The large but disorganized body of observations and data in this field is still lacking in perspectives and interpretations. The tentative conclusions developed herein are subject to revision and change, and it is our hope to verify and to enlarge this study in the near future, time and opportunity permitting.
The Ash Coulee Site
Authors: Mulloy William
Published: April 2006

During the summer of 1936 the Montana Archaeological Survey, then under the direction of the late H. Melville Sayre, investigated a campsite on the ranch of John Trask about nine miles above the mouth of Ash Coulee, a partly subterranean tributary which enters the Yellowstone River about three miles above Terry, Montana. The excavation was under the immediate supervision of Raymond Thompson. Due to unexplained circumstances field notes of this investigation were not preserved. Description of the manner of excavation was obtained from Thompson who excavated the site in a thoroughly scientific manner and who is not responsible for lacks in documentation. The writer was not present during the investigation and has seen only the artifacts in the Survey's collections. Though documentation is meagre, the recovered material is significant enough to the problem of westward movements of prehistoric ceramic cultures into the northwestern Plains to warrant description.
On Noel Morss' “Cradled Infant Figurines“
Authors: Lehmann Henri
Published: April 2006

Recently Noel Morss published several recumbent figurines (American Antiquity, Vol. 18, No. 2, 1952) and pointed out the area of distribution of this type giving examples of Mexican as well as North American origin. His interpretation was that they represent children strapped to their cradles.

As early as 1949 I published, in the first volume of “Selected Papers of XXIX International Congress of Americanists” in New York, a paper on the same subject, which, apparently, Noel Morss had not seen. I had assembled several similar specimens originating from a vast area extending from Ecuador to the Valley of Mexico and to Colima. The new point which Morss (who has never heard of kindred subjects in South America) makes in his paper, is the inclusion of North America in the same complex. The Nashville specimen (Morss, 1952, Fig. 74) differs only in size (it is 9 inches long). All the other figurines quoted by both of us are less than half that length.
“Surface Printing” as a Means of Recording Petroglyphs
Authors: Hedden Mark
Published: April 2006

In 1956, as part of a larger archaeological salvage project for The Dalles Reservoir sponsored by the National Park Service and under the general direction of Douglas Osborne of the University of Washington, a complete record by prints was made of some 400 petroglyphs along a 15 mile stretch of the Columbia River. The original idea for the method and its application to petroglyph recording belongs to Sari Dienes, who has used it in her own art. With the assistance of the writer, Mrs. Dienes did the actual printing of the designs. The project was successfully completed with the aid of a supplementary grant from the Seattle Art Museum.
Archaeology and the Ainu
Authors: MacCord Howard A.
Published: April 2006

At the present time little is known in the Western world about the archaeology of Hokkaido, Japan. Groot (1951) is of limited value for most of his explorations were in the Tokyo area. This dearth of evidence is extremely regrettable in view of the so-called "Ainu problem" about which so many speculations have been published during the past century. During 1953-54 while stationed in Hokkaido with the United States Army, I explored and visited a number of prehistoric sites and made several collections which are now in the U. S. National Museum. Of the many sites visited, three in the southwestern part of Hokkaido in the Sapporo area were chosen for partial excavation. Radiocarbon dates for these sites were determined by the U. S. Geological Survey Radiocarbon Laboratory through the courtesy of Meyer Rubin.
The Composite or “Assemble-it-Yourself” Censer: A New Lowland Maya Variety of the Three-Pronged Incense Burner
Authors: Borhegyi Stephan F.
Published: April 2006

A slit-sided, tubular “incense burner” with three holes in the top, three solid, curved and tapering cylinders called “chili-mashers,” and a flat, striated dish called a “griddle” or “comal”from sealed Cache B3 at San Jose, British Honduras are presented as separate units of a composite Lowland Maya variety of the three-pronged incense burner known from Highland Maya sites. Only the “comal”shows signs of burning. The cylinders are removable prongs which fit the holes in the top of the tubular “censer,” and the “comal” rests on the prongs as the cover on which the incense was burned. Thus, many so-called censers are probably stands or supports rather than receptacles for burning incense. A classification is offered for the several forms of the composite three-pronged censer which is distributed throughout the Maya Lowlands primarily during the Classic period. Since the San Jose “griddles” shown here to be censer covers are the only “comales”claimed for the Maya Lowlands, this identification establishes the pre-16th century absence of thecomaland the tortilla in the lowland area. Doubt is also expressed that thecomalforms of Highland Guatemala were used for making tortillas.
The Smelting of Sulfide Ores of Copper in Preconquest Peru
Authors: Caley Earle R. , Easby Dudley T.
Published: April 2006

Doubts that the Peruvian Indians could smelt copper ores in pre-Columbian times are unjustified, although archaeological evidence for the very effective wind furnaces described by early chroniclers is scanty. Oxide and carbonate ores from shallow deposits are more simply smelted than the sulfide ores, which required roasting of the crushed ore prior to reduction at a higher temperature. New evidence for the smelting of sulfide ore comes from chemical analysis of an ingot from the Province of lea, and suggests the need for restudy of older analyses and a search for new prehistoric metallurgical evidence.
New Light on the Midland Discovery
Authors: Wendorf Fred , Krieger Alex D.
Published: April 2006

Additional excavation in 1955 confirmed the previously reported stratigraphic sequence at Midland, Texas. Within the gray sand, which had yielded a fragmentary human calvarium, there were found additional flint flakes, burned rocks, and animal bones. Besides several small mammals, a four-horned antelope (probably Capromeryx) was present in the gray sand; horse bones occurred in the gray sand and overlying red sand. These finds make the two radiocarbon dates published in the 1955 Midland report, giving an age of about 7000 years to the gray sand, even less acceptable than previously thought. Experimental dating by the uranium daughter products technique suggests an age of about 20,000 years for the gray sand, somewhat excessive in terms of cultural correlations although supported by a single radiocarbon date and not unreasonable for the faunal assemblage. Ten radiocarbon dates from the Midland, Blackwater Draw, Lubbock Lake, and Plainview sites are discussed in terms of three possible correlations of the geological, climatic, faunal, and cultural events in the Southern High Plains.
The James Allen Site, Near Laramie, Wyoming
Authors: Mulloy William
Published: April 2006

A bison-kill site in Wyoming with a radiocarbon age of about 8000 years has yielded numerous points of a type formerly termed “Oblique Yuman.” It is proposed that they now be named Allen points, after this site.
The Lamellar Flake Manufacturing Site on Anangula Island in the Aleutians
Authors: Laughlin William S. , Marsh Gordon H.
Published: April 2006

Anangula is an island 1.6 miles long and .5 mile wide, lying on the north side of Nikolski Bay about 4.5 miles northwest of Nikolski village, Umnak Island, in the eastern Aleutians. The designation of this island on United States Coast and Geodetic Survey charts is Ananiuliak, a transliteration of the Russianized form “Ananyulyakh” of the original Aleut name “Anangulagh” (from which we have subtracted the ending -gh to give “Anangula”). In current Umnak usage this island is called in Aleut “Anagulagh,” and in English “Rabbit Island” from the numerous rabbits there, descendants of two pairs of domestic Belgian hares introduced onto the island in 1936 by one of the Aleuts as food for foxes which have since been removed, when the island became a bird sanctuary. The change in the Aleut form of the name for this island from “Anangulagh” to “Anagulagh” undoubtedly accompanied the shift in the dialect spoken on Umnak subsequent to the first arrival of Russians in the Fox Islands in the early 1750's.
An Analysis and Interpretation of the Ceramic Remains from a Number of Sites in Horry County, South Carolina
Authors: Miller Carl F.
Published: April 2006

In 1946 and 1947 Dr. C.L. Glenn of Vanderbilt University gathered a collection of sherds from nine sites in the vicinity of Myrtle Beach, Horry County, South Carolina. These sherds were presented to the Smithsonian Institution. Some of the sherds were obtained to the north of Myrtle Beach, others in the immediate vicinity, and still others to the south of the city. The sites consist of small sandy ridges, 20 to 30 feet above mean sea level and overlooking Long Bay.

Dr. Glenn reports that the sites contained ashes, sherds, and a few scattered oyster shells of the “racoon” type, which is the common type found in this vicinity. No bone, antler, or stone material was found in the debris deposit. He states that no local stones are present from which to fashion implements and that the very few which are found are crude and made from imported stones. In the entire collection, only two stone artifacts are included—one projectile point and one scraper.
Changing Living Patterns of the Yucatan Maya
Authors: Brainerd George W.
Published: April 2006

The purpose of this paper is to review the archaeological data on the settlement patterns of the Yucatan Maya with a view to reconstructing the history of their changing way of life.

There is little evidence that the population density of the lowland Maya during their cultural heyday was substantially greater than that of the modern State of Yucatan, about 30 persons per square mile.
Patination and Age Relationship in South Georgia Flint
Authors: Kelly A. R. , Hurst Vernon J.
Published: April 2006

Previous publications have called attention to the problem of flint decomposition or alteration in artifact and workshop materials from Archaic horizons in coastal Georgia. On the Macon Plateau, Georgia, there are stratigraphic indications of a prepottery horizon characterized by an old artifact assemblage of stemmed and concave-based projectiles, a wide range of cutting tools, both scraper and knife categories, all exhibiting partial or complete chemical alteration of the material (Kelly 1938). Related sites showing similar phenomena of altered flint, in contexts implying Archaic quarries or workshops, have been found in archaeological surveys at Lane Springs in northern Decatur County, Georgia, and in Kinchafoonee, in a Highway 19 road profile on the outskirts of Albany, Georgia (Kelly 1950). Recently, Kelly summarized these and other occurrences indicative of the widespread distribution of such materials over the entire coastal plain of Georgia (Kelly 1954). The difficulties of utilizing decomposed flint for chronometric studies were also summarized (Kelly 1953).
An Implement of Elephant Bone from Manitoba
Authors: Leechman Douglas
Published: April 2006

On the 11th of September, 1948, a farmer was ploughing on his farm near Lac du Bonnet, roughly fifty miles northeast of Winnipeg, Manitoba. His ploughshare turned up a stone hammer and at the same time laid bare an object which, at first, he took for a piece of wood or a potato, because of its size, shape, and colour. A moment later he realized that no potato could be there, and, investigating further, discovered that the object was the end of a large bone which had been artificially shaped.
Notched Stones in Southwestern Sites
Authors: Schrokder Albert H.
Published: April 2006

Tabular stones, either with parallel sides or sides that taper to a blunt point at one end and bearing a wide notch on the other end, have been found in situ in or resting on floors of structures over a considerable area of the Southwest. Sites which have yielded these stones and data pertaining to them are listed in the accompanying figure. Sources for these data are contained in the bibliography.

In 1932, Haury suggested and demonstrated that the notched stones at Roosevelt 9:6 in the Tonto Basin, Arizona, held logs which supported an elevated floor. Since that date these stones periodically have been recovered from sites distributed over a wide area in association with structures dating from before 500 A.D. to 1100 A.D. and possibly later. However, in no case have they been found in such quantities on or in house floors as at Roosevelt 9:6. When the circumstances of these finds are considered it seems quite likely that the notched slabs of all other sites excavated since 1932 were put to a different use.
A Pit House Site near Santa Ana Pueblo, New Mexico
Authors: Allen J. W. , McNutt C. H.
Published: April 2006

One of the greatest problems confronting southwestern archaeology in its aim of interpretive reconstruction of the cultures of prehistoric peoples lies in filling the gaps where little or no information exists concerning significant periods of development in particular areas. One such interval, of considerable duration, exists in the middle Rio Grande Valley. We have known for some time that this region was inhabited by some of the early hunting groups (Hibben 1941, 1951) as well as the later Pueblo peoples. But who the people were, if any, that lived here during the interim between these extremes has been, until recently, largely a matter for conjecture. No ecologic reason has been presented to show why this river valley could not have supported its share of inhabitants, whether hunters, gatherers, or agriculturalists, during these thousands of years.
A Dog Burial from the Sacramento Valley
Authors: Haag William G. , Heizer Robert F.
Published: April 2006

The partial dog skeleton comes from site SJo-68 (formerly C68) near Thornton, California. The remains consist of the cranium and mandible, the atlas and several cervicals, pelves, tail vertebrae, and two femora. These parts lay in anatomical articulation so that we may assume that the partly dismembered skeleton, still bound by integument, was buried. The archaeology of the site as known in 1948 has been published. (Heizer, 1949, p. 7.) The dog remains lay at a depth of thirtyfour inches from the surface, solidly imbedded in calcareous hardpan, and in proximity to human burials. Indeed, the whole deposit was heavily charged with human skeletons, and it is reasonable to assume that the dog had been intentionally buried. Animal burials are not uncommon in later culture horizons in the same area (Heizer and Hewes, 1940).
Observations on the Butchering Technique of some Aboriginal Peoples Nos. 3, 4, 5, and 6
Authors: White Theodore E.
Published: April 2006

This study is based on the bison, deer, and antelope bone from a fortified earth lodge village (32ME15) in the Garrison Reservoir Area. The site was excavated by River Basin Survey parties in 1950 and 1951, under the supervision of G. Ellis Burcaw and Donald D. Hartle respectively. The animal bone from this site is of particular interest because it permits a comparison to be made between the methods used on the smaller food animals and those used on the bison. In a previous study an attempt was made to compare the methods used on antelope and on bison, but the methods were those of very different peoples who were widely separated both geographically and temporally and the differences could as easily have been due to culture as well as the size of the game. Since this material is from a single component site, any difference in technique can safely be attributed to the size of the game.
A Comment on “Fluted Point Relationships“ by John Witthoft
Authors: Krieger Alex D.
Published: April 2006

A typescript of Witthoft's article (see p. 271) was sent to me in March, 1953, with a request for criticisms. These were freely offered, and, although quite strong in some respects, accepted by him with good humor. Witthoft had himself suggested (and I agreed) that his article might be premature and should not be published until other studies of fluted points, comparable to his excellent technological study of the Shoop artifacts (see Witthoft, 1952, in Bibliography above) had been made for related complexes. He eventually decided, however, not to change his article, but to publish it with my main comments following. He believed that our disagreements would prove more stimulating to further research than no article at all.

The wording of some of Witthoft's passages is quite puzzling, and perhaps I have misunderstood his meaning. It appears to the writer that he is advancing three principal exploratory generalizations on the meaning of Shoop site fluted points and associated artifacts: (1) that the Enterline Chert industry (which includes the fluted points) is a “blade industry without microliths,“ and as such is unique for early man in the New World, but may have important connections with the Old World; (2) that Shoop points resemble the Clovis fluted type in some ways but constitute a new type; (3) that the Shoop points may represent the oldest fluted points in America.
Contributions to the Archaeology of Northern Honshu. Part III, Sites in Miyagi and Chiba Prefectures
Authors: MacCord Howard A.
Published: April 2006

This, the third article of the series, describes sites visited, or on which test excavations were made, during the fall of 1949 and spring of 1950. No extensive excavations were undertaken due to the press of other duties. The sites at Satohama and Daigi (Miyagi Prefecture) have been partially excavated by Japanese archaeologists, but no English language data are available. The remainder of the sites reported herein have not previously been reported.
The Oklahoma Archaeological Salvage Project
Authors: Shaeffer James B.
Published: April 2006

The stimulus for the development of the Oklahoma Archaeological Salvage Project came from 3 sources: The U.S. Bureau of Public Roads Policy and Procedure Memorandum, No. 20–7; the New Mexico Highway Salvage Program; and the Society for American Archaeology's Committee on Highway Salvage Archaeology. Like all programs it was the result of several stages of growth in which a number of individuals participated.
Prehistoric Wells in Eastern New Mexico
Authors: Evans Glen L.
Published: April 2006

Prehistoric shaft-like excavations which may have been aboriginal water wells were discovered in the fall of 1949 and the summer of 1950 at the well-known early man site 12 miles southwest of Clovis and 7 miles north of Portales, New Mexico. Work at this site is part of an extended program of geologic studies of Quaternary deposits on the High Plains of western Texas and eastern New Mexico being carried on by the Texas Memorial Museum. A report dealing with the geology and ancient archaeological horizons at the Clovis site will be ready for publication in the near future, but a separate description of the shafts or wells seems desirable at this time.
Fluted Points in Paris
Authors: Smith Philip E. L.
Published: April 2006

The Vesignié collection of North American stone artifacts, at the Institut de Paléontologie Humaine in Paris, contains a number of fluted points from Illinois, Kentucky, Missouri, Arkansas, Tennessee, Ohio, and Indiana. Most of these points seem to fit in the Clovis category, with a few Cumberland and Enterline-like examples.
Ecological Interpretations and Plant Domestication
Authors: Conklin Harold C.
Published: April 2006

Ecologically oriented studies in anthropology can be improved by greater familiarity with standard botanical and agricultural sources (many of which are listed in this paper) on the enumeration, classification, domestication, and use of culturally significant plants.
Comment on the Supposed Evidence for Goiter in Pre-Columbian Guatemala
Authors: Greenwald Isidor
Published: April 2006

Borhegyi and Scrimshaw's identification of goiter on two prehistoric pottery figurines from Guatemala is questioned and their discussion of iodine deficiency as the cause of endemic goiter is challenged.
Ancient Mesoamerican Mortars, Plasters, and Stuccos: The Puuc Area
Authors: Littmann Edwin R.
Published: April 2006

Chemical and microscopic examination of building materials from Uxmal, Kabah, Sayil, and Labná demonstrate the presence of all the building elements previously identified at Comalcalco, Las Flores, and Palenque: mortar, plaster, stucco, wash coat, and lime-aggregate. The building elements at these Puuc sites differ from those at Comalcalco and Las Flores in the use of non-marine sources of lime, greater strength, and generally smoother composition. They differ from the Palenque building elements in the lack of multi-laminate structure and the absence of very smooth and highly worked outer surfaces. It is possible that some form of lime other than that obtained by burning limestone was used. An inclusion of gypsum found at Uxmal is the only such component identified at any of the Mesoamerican sites studied so far.
Rates of Culture Change in Archaeology
Authors: Quimby George I.
Published: April 2006

Both the rate and the amount of culture change through time may be determined by comparing traits of one temporal segment of a continuum with other segments in progression from the oldest to the youngest segment. Additive and subtractive changes, or innovations and losses, must be evaluated against the time scale rather than balanced against one another, because of the time lag which may occur even if an innovation does produce a corresponding loss.
The Old Copper Assemblage and Extinct Animals
Authors: Quimby George I.
Published: April 2006

There seems to be some possibility that artifacts representative of the Old Copper culture were associated with fossil animals. The evidence is inconclusive but worth noting as a stimulus for future investigations.

In his report on the geology of the Thunder Bay, Ontario, district, Tanton (1931: 83-4) mentions some interesting archaeological remains, information about which was preserved in the files of the Geological Survey of Canada. This information is as follows: in 1918, during industrial excavations, a copper spear point and about 12 mammal bones were found about 40 feet below the surface of the ground in the Kaministikwa Valley at Westfort on the edge of Fort William, Ontario.

The geological section here, according to Tanton (1931: 82) consists of bedrock and conglomerate above which is a “deposit of stratified blue clay between 60 and 90 feet thick, the surface of which has been eroded in channels, and on this uneven surface there are crossbedded sands varying from 4 to 40 feet in thickness filling up the inequalities on the clay surface and forming the plain at the present surface — 638 feet above sea level.”
Cultural Stratigraphy in Panama: A Preliminary Report on the Girón Site
Authors: Willey Gordon R. , Stoddard Theodore L.
Published: April 2006

The archaeology of Panama, like that of most of lower Central America and the north Andes, has but recently emerged from a purely descriptive stage. The formulation of cultural-geographical divisions in ceramic and sculptural styles — “Cultures” as these are sometimes called — has been the most important attempt at synthesis. Lothrop (1948) envisaged four such “culture areas”: (1) Darien (Panama below the Canal Zone); (2) Coclé (the Pacific watershed in Coclé, Herrera, and Las Tablas Provinces); (3) Veraguas (Pacific highland Panama in the Province of the same name); and (4) Chiriqui (the upland country of Chiriqui Province and adjacent Costa Rica). To these Stirling and Rands (personal communication) have recently added what is probably a fifth, the Atlantic coastal strip above the Canal Zone. The internal coherence or unity of these “culture areas” is of a most general sort.
The Hinckley Figurines as Indicators of the Position of Utah Valley in the Sevier Culture
Authors: Green Dee F.
Published: April 2006

Between 1956 and 1960, 20 ceramic figurines were discovered in Mound 42Ut111 at the Hinckley site west of Utah Lake in northern Utah. Circumstances of the discovery are discussed, as well as two other finds previously made in Utah Valley. Comparisons are made with figurines from the Fremont and Sevier areas, particularly from sites just north and south of Utah Valley. On the basis of these comparisons and a consideration of other items, such as ceramics, house type, and ecological setting, it is hypothecated that Utah Valley was a cultural center for northwestern Utah. It is proposed that this area be called the Provo culture area.
Metal Artifacts in Prehispanic Mesoamerica
Authors: Pendergast David M.
Published: April 2006

Metal artifacts are discussed as possible indicators of relationships within Mesoamerica and between Mesoamerica and the American Southwest. All known forms of Mesoamerican metal artifacts for which age and provenience data are available are included in a typological classification, presented as a basis for comparisons and distribution studies. Data on spatial and temporal distribution, with indications of centers of manufacture or use of some types, and with suggested maximum temporal range for each type, are included with the typological classification. Based on these data, a series of suggestions is presented regarding time of initial appearance of metals in various subareas of Mesoamerica, the importance of certain subareas as centers from which metals diffused, and patterns and rates of diffusion within Mesoamerica and between Mesoamerica and the American Southwest.
Great Basin Hunting Patterns: A Quantitative Method for Treating Faunal Remains
Authors: Thomas David H.
Published: April 2006

Recent excavation and subsequent analysis have been undertaken for the express purpose of deriving quantitative techniques for the analysis of faunal remains from archaeological sites. Experiments were conducted which indicate that significant amounts of bones are lost through the various meshes of screen used by archaeologists. Factors were then calculated to alleviate this problem and to yield results amenable to rigorous quantitative treatment. Results obtained in this manner can add accuracy to most salvage operations and credibility to the more ideal excavation conditions. The proposed method was applied to data from Smoky Creek Cave, a Medithermal site approximately 40 mi. north of Gerlach, Washoe County, Nevada; results indicate a pattern of cottontail rabbit and mountain sheep hunting similar to the model which Flannery has proposed for the Tehuacán Valley, Mexico.
A New Population Estimate for Tikal, Guatemala
Authors: Haviland William A.
Published: April 2006

In 1965, the author of this paper published a preliminary population estimate of 10,000-11,000 persons for Tikal as then known. Since 1965, mapping and excavation on four radial strips which run up to 12 km. in the four cardinal directions from the center of Tikal have broadened our knowledge of settlement at this site. We now have a good idea of the actual size of Late Classic Tikal, as well as its demographic makeup. This permits a new estimate of its Late Classic population as, conservatively, 49,000 persons. It is suggested that Late Classic Tikal qualifies as an urban center, but of a different sort than the urban centers of Mexico.
Age of the Shasta Ground Sloth from Aden Crater, New Mexico
Authors: Simons Elwyn L. , Alexander H. L.
Published: April 2006

Late survival of the Shasta ground sloth, Nothrotherium shastense, an assumption partially based on excellent preservation of a specimen from the Aden Crater, New Mexico, can no longer be supported, at least on the basis of this specimen. Two radiocarbon dates, one derived from desiccated tissues and the other from an associated coprolite (9840 ± 160 and 11,080 ± 200 B.P.), place the specimen within the temporal span of other dated ground-sloth finds. The discrepancy of over 1000 years in these two dates can be explained by alcohol contamination of the tissue sample.
Prehistory of the Pacific Northwest Plateau as Seen from the Interior of British Columbia
Authors: Sanger David
Published: April 2006

Recent excavations in south-central British Columbia have revealed a 7,500 year sequence which indicates cultural relationships with the subarctic and the Canadian Prairie Provinces, but few similarities with Columbia River sites until after A.D. 1000. South-central British Columbia and the Columbia Plateau are considered to have participated in different cultural traditions until the damming of the Columbia River about A.D. 1250 allowed the upriver passage of salmon. The similarities noted between British Columbia and Columbia River sites in late prehistoric times may be attributable to the sudden increase in the resource potential of the Columbia River.
Plains Relationships of the Fremont Culture: A Hypothesis
Authors: Aikens C. Melvin
Published: April 2006

Data from recent excavations in central, northern, and northeastern Utah, and in the southwestern Wyoming Basin, have prompted a reevaluation of current concepts of the ethnic and cultural origins of the Fremont culture centered in Utah, of its relationships to the Promontory culture of northern Utah, and of the relationship of both these cultures to protohistoric Central Plains culture.

The long-standing interpretation of the Fremont as a northern “peripheral” variant of the Southwestern Anasazi culture is discarded, and a hypothesis of a Northwestern Plains (probably Athabaskan) population partially acculturated to the Anasazi Pueblo pattern is proposed. Additionally, identity of the so-called Promontory culture with the northern Utah variant of the Fremont culture is postulated on evidence from sites in northern Utah. It is suggested that the Fremont culture drifted back onto the Central Plains around approximately A.D. 1400-1600, under pressure from the Shoshonean expansion out of the Great Basin, to become the forerunner of the Dismal River culture, which has been attributed to the Athabaskan Plains Apache.