bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The 1950 Excavations at Site 45BN6 McNary Reservoir, Washington
Authors: Shiner Joel L.
Published: April 2006

The river Basin Surveys' program, particularly in the Columbia River Basin, has had a peculiar role in American archaeology. Generally speaking, archaeological research programs should be oriented toward a specific problem such as the study of a certain culture sequence or an inquiry into a particular time horizon. In contrast River Basin Surveys' problem has been to examine in detail almost every phase of every culture that is represented over a vast area. True, the field of research has been limited to those portions of river basins that are scheduled to be inundated upon the completion of a number of dams, but because of the aridity of the Columbia Basin a vast majority of the aboriginal population was concentrated along the major streams. Thus the reservoirs planned for those streams will flood a large portion of the cultural material existing in the region.
The Frank Bay Site, Lake Nipissing, Ontario
Authors: Ridley Frank
Published: April 2006

Lake Nipissing is situated 230 miles north of Lake Ontario and roughly 140 miles within the igneous rock territory. Some 30 by 8 miles in size, it is drained westerly by the French River into Lake Huron. Frank Bay, enclosing an area of one half square mile, is situated on the south shore at the entrance to the French River.

Historically the area was occupied by an Algonkian group called “Nipisinieries” or “Nipissings” by the 17th century Jesuits; Galinee's map of 1665 depicts a bay on the south shore of Lake Nipissing at the head of the French River: “In a bay at this place the Nipissings usually locate their village” (Coyne, 1903).

The site described here, probably the one figured by Galinee, is a level tract of about one half acre constructed by wave deposition of coarse sand upon a low area at the bottom of the bay.
The Petroglyphs of Dinwoody, Wyoming
Authors: Gebhard David S. , Cahn Harold A.
Published: April 2006

In 1873 the party of Capt. William A. Jones reported that “throughout the Wind River country of Wyoming many pictographs have been found, and others reported by the Shoshoni Indians.” Thus the Dinwoody petroglyphs and those in the surrounding area have been known for three-quarters of a century, and yet were not even surveyed for archaeological purposes until 1938 and 1939. This, of course, is typical of the fate of petroglyphs over most of North America. Only during the last twenty years has any attention been given by competent archaeologists to the subject of “Indian Writing.” There is no need to draw attention to the “interpretation” of these rock drawings by amateur speculators, for Steward's chastisement of them would be difficult to equal.
Another Probable Case of Prehistoric Bear Ceremonialism in New York
Authors: Ritchie William A.
Published: April 2006

In a prior paper I have described, from central New York, an archaeological instance of probable bear ceremonialism in the Owasco culture. A recent find in western New York, although of somewhat dissimilar character, strengthens the probability of the existence prehistorically in New York of a special and reverential attitude toward the bear, this time apparently among an Iroquois people. Briefly, the nature and circumstances of the new discovery are as follows.
The Sickle in Aboriginal Western North America
Authors: Heizer Robert F.
Published: April 2006

It is generally accepted that the specialized agricultural implements and techniques, and domesticated plants (with a few possible exceptions) of the Old and New Worlds are unrelated and independently developed. Parallel developments in agricultural accessories have occurred; the hoe and irrigation are obvious exemplars. The hand sickle, used to harvest cereal crops in the Old World, and to cut wild grasses in the New World, may now be pointed out as occurring in both hemispheres. The forms, materials, and function of the Old World sickle distinguish it from that of the New World, and it would appear that there is no specific connection between the Afro-Asian sickle used in farming and its North American counterpart used predominantly by incipient or non-agricultural native groups.
Waterworn Artifacts from Late Pleistocene Lake Beaches in Northern Ohio
Authors: Smith Arthur George
Published: April 2006

” North of the watershed between the Ohio River and the St. Lawrence drainages, Ohio is a fiat plain. It is an old lake bed, rising in shallow steps from the present shore of Lake Erie. The north edge of each “step” is marked by a “Lake Ridge,” a fossil beach marking a stage in the recession of the post-glacial lake. In a few places wave, action has cut a slight terrace where the old shore line met steeper than average terrain, but along most of the extent the “ridges” mark barrier beaches between the lake and a lagoon. Here they are as distinct as a railroad embankment would be.

There are three main ridges continuous across the state; these mark the longest pauses in the recession. In prehistoric times these were the main east and west trails, and today are followed along much of their length by the main east and west highways.
A New Type of Ancient Peruvian Shirt
Authors: Gayton A. H.
Published: April 2006

The Shirt which is the subject of this article is of importance for several reasons: it exemplifies a revolutionary construction principle in old Peruvian dress, indicates that the new style was one still based on the weaver's art, and gives significance to textile fragments which heretofore have been anomalous.

The specimen (Fig. 76) is the property of Edwin Ferdon of the Museum of New Mexico, Santa Fe, who has kindly given permission for a descriptive and analytical article concerning it. In the spring of 1953 the writer examined the specimen, then on loan to the Department of Anthropology, University of New Mexico. I wish to thank Frank Hibben, Curator of the Department's collections, for making this textile available for study, and Joseph Allen for photographing it. The shirt bears the loan number UNM F 15-93. My colleague, John Rowe, has kindly assisted with advice on the dating given herein.
A Burial Cave on Kanaga Island, Aleutian Islands
Authors: Nelson Willis H. , Barnett Frank
Published: April 2006

The Aleut burial cave described in this report was found by the authors during field work in July, 1952. As the site was left entirely undisturbed, the information may be useful to parties programming future work in the Aleutian Islands area. Further, it may be possible on the strength of this description alone to relate the burial occurrence to known cultural traits. At the very least it will point out the existence of an intensely interesting isolated feature. The cave is located at the base of a steep sea cliff on Kanaga Island at latitude 51° 43’ 44” N. and longitude 177° 31'10” W. (All locations are from the Army Map Service map of Kanaga Island, Sheet no. 3 of 5, scale 1:25,000.) A small kitchen midden was noted a short distance south of the cave.
Bibliography of Primary Sources for Radiocarbon Dates
Authors: McNutt Charles H. , Wheeler Richard P.
Published: April 2006

A chronology program was launched in December, 1957, by the Missouri Basin Project of the Smithsonian Institution for the purpose of testing culture sequences in the Central and Northern Plains and contiguous regions. The Missouri Basin Chronology Program envisages (a) assembling all relevant chronological data in hand and (b) selecting materials for analysis by the various dating methods. The Missouri Basin Project acts as coordinator of the program; it has received enthusiastic response and is now cooperating with a dozen institutions in the area engaged in archaeological research.
The Archaic of the Lower Mississippi Valley
Authors: Haag William G.
Published: April 2006

No archaeological remains which the majority of specialists will accept as Archaic have been found in the Mississippi Valley from the mouth of Ohio River to the Gulf of Mexico. Despite this, the literature reflects a general acceptance of the belief that the Archaic stage is well represented in the Lower Valley. The presence of concentrated Archaic populations in northern Alabama and western Tennessee and Kentucky has given comparative support to these expectations and has provided part of the source for some of the hypothetical statements in the literature of what the Lower Valley Archaic ought to be like. Although the failure of writers to agree on a definition of Archaic which will satisfy the evidence in all of the areas of Eastern United States has contributed to the problem of identifying Archaic materials in the Lower Valley, the lack of these remains can best be explained by the geology of the region. The cutting and filling of the Alluvial Valley during the Pleistocene changes in sea level have removed or buried all of the surfaces that might have been occupied by Archaic peoples. The surface of the Alluvial Valley is everywhere less than 5000 years old. Possible Late Archaic sites are located on old stable beach ridges or near enough to the Pleistocene terraces not to have been included in the general pattern of Recent coastal subsidence. It is concluded that Archaic or earlier materials are absent in the Lower Alluvial Valley of the Mississippi River. Neither Tchefuncte nor Copell are accepted as Archaic; Poverty Point is viewed as transitional from an Upper Archaic tradition to some phase of the Formative stage. Poverty Point materials may not be expected to be found in quantity along the Gulf Coast of the Mississippi Delta region.
The Bahia-Goa Route in the Dispersal of Brazilian Plants to Asia
Authors: Haggett Peter
Published: April 2006

Although the Portuguese route from Lisbon to Goa via Bahia and Cape of Good Hope was the first direct route from South America to Southeast Asia, it was so little used that it was unimportant in the introduction of American plants into Asia. It is more likely that American plants brought first to Portugal were carried directly from there to Asia.
Archaeology and the Public Image
Authors: Ascher Robert
Published: April 2006

The archaeological content of ten years of Life magazine is analyzed in an attempt to identify what may go into formulating the public's images of the archaeologist and his goals. The four themes which appear in the 34 Life articles are: chance nature of archaeological discovery, role of the archaeologist as an expert, emphasis on technical knowledge and skills, and heavy use of superlatives. Analysis of other mass media, including fiction and cartoons, might lead to the identification of other themes. The image of archaeology presented by mass communication is considered important in a science so dependent upon public cooperation.
Thorne Cave, Northeastern Utah: Archaeology
Authors: Day Kent C.
Published: April 2006

Thorne Cave is a site in Cliff Creek Canyon, north-eastern Utah. Between 5000 and 2000 B.C. alluvial fill in the canyon reached the level of Thorne Cave and formed its floor. At this time, and intermittently for perhaps the next 200 years, peoples with a Desert Archaic cultural tradition camped on a dune near the cave mouth while the canyon and the cave continued to fill. Stratified camp debris was washed into the cave, and alluvium accumulated well above the cave brow, leaving a dead space in the dome area of the cave roof. Dissection of canyon alluvium later re-exposed Thorne Cave and washed away much of the evidence of human occupation. Radiocarbon-dated charcoal indicates that the site was occupied as early as 4230±250 years B.P. Materials recovered from Thorne Cave include redeposited charcoal and food-bone scrap; projectile points, small choppers and scrapers, manos, and grinding slabs; bone awls, needles, a pendant, a flaking tool, and a scapula seed-header; and impressions of twined basketry.
The Concept of Trait Constellations as Illustrated in Eastern North American Ceramics
Authors: Kehoe Alice B.
Published: April 2006

Selected key traits are discussed as illustrations of the ceramic constellations of the Woodland and Mississippi traditions. Surface texturing is shown to be the dominant Woodland ceramic trait and an interest in vessel form, the dominant Mississippi trait. It is pointed out that the constellations outlined as characteristic of the two North American traditions can be observed in the early ceramic complexes of the Mediterranean region as early as the sixth millennium B.C.
The Microlithic Character of Neolithic Cultures in Central Asia, Trans-Baikal, and Manchuria
Authors: Larichev V. E.
Published: April 2006

Comparative study of both pottery and stone implements indicates that Mongolia, Manchuria, and eastern Siberia constitute a Siberian-Mongolian culture area of great antiquity. During the Neolithic this area was characterized by a small-tool tradition distinct from the microlithic tradition of the west, and unlike the tool-making developments of the Yang-shao and Lung-shan farmers to the south. The so-called “microlithic” character of the Siberian Neolithic is not demonstrated by archaeological collections from the area, and is demonstrated to be the historic result of early terminological confusions that have been perpetuated in the literature. A. A. Formozov's claims for a Eurasian steppe culture characterized by a microlithic tradition distinct from both the southern farmers and the forest culture of the taiga are rejected.
Geology of the Ruby Site Area, Wyoming 48 CA 302
Authors: Albanese John
Published: April 2006

Quaternary sediments in the Ruby site area are of post-altithermal age. Two past alternating cycles of deposition and erosion are evident. The oldest depositional unit contains an archaeological site which yielded a radiocarbon date of A.D. 280 ± 135 years. This older formation was deposited in post-Kaycee-pre-Lightning time. A stratigraphic unit of this age has not been previously reported in the Powder River Basin and is herein named the South Butte formation. The youngest depositional unit in the area is the Lightning formation. Erosion and downcutting began about 1900 and has continued to the present.
A Sandia Type II Point from Geauga County, Ohio
Authors: Norick Frank A.
Published: April 2006

A chert point, found about 1910 on a farm near Parkman, Geauga County, Ohio, was discovered in an archaeological collection recently donated to the Robert H. Lowie Museum of Anthropology, University of California, Berkeley. The point exhibits all the features of the classic Sandias from New Mexico, including the single shoulder, stem and basal grinding, and basal thinning.
Use of a Magnetic Balance to Detect Pits and Postmolds
Authors: Gramly Richard M.
Published: April 2006

It is shown that a magnetic balance with a sensitivity of one gamma can detect storage pits and clusters of postmolds commonly found on Late Woodland aboriginal sites.
On the Improper Usage of Common Names When Giving Botanical Data
Authors: Mead George R.
Published: April 2006

It is pointed out and stressed that, when dealing with botanical material, the investigator should be wary of listing the plant's name only in the local language or by the English common name. It is also stressed that one should not attempt to "translate" plants listed only by their common name into their appropriate scientific name without being aware of the dire consequences which may be produced.
An Unfinished Metate from Panama
Authors: Mitchell Russell H.
Published: April 2006

A complete but unfinished four-legged metate from a shaft- and chamber-grave near Cienegal, Panama, is described. Unbroken metates in a halted stage of manufacture are rare in Panama.
A Field Test for Catlinite
Authors: Sigstad John S.
Published: April 2006

The problem of distinguishing between varieties of red pipestone from diverse sources is a complex one. The distinction between catlinite and non-catlinite can be made rather quickly, in the field, using only a streak plate and a standard color chart.
U-Shaped “Ornaments” Identified as Finger-Loops from Atlatls
Authors: Ekholm Gordon F.
Published: April 2006

U-shaped objects of shell or stone that occur commonly in northern and western Mexico have usually been identified as nose or ear ornaments. It has been found, however, that shell objects of this type appear as lashed-on finger-loops on two Mexican atlatls preserved in European museums, and this serves to identify the whole class of objects. A brief survey of the distribution of such finger-loops is given.
Use of Organic Temper for Carbon 14 Dating in Lowland South America
Authors: Evans Clifford , Meggers Betty J.
Published: April 2006

Experimental work has demonstrated the practicality of extracting sufficient organic carbon for Carbon 14 dating from sherds tempered with crushed charcoal sponge spicules (cauixi), and siliceous bark (cariapé). The sherds were from ceramic complexes on the Napo, Orinoco, and Amazon Rivers that had been stratigraphically excavated and could be cross-checked.
Columbia Plateau Prehistory: Cultural Development and Impinging Influences
Authors: Browman David L. , Munsell David A.
Published: April 2006

Excavations of the last decade have yielded much data which cannot be adequately handled by extant models of Plateau cultural development. The 15,000 years of pre-history revealed by these new data appear to break into seven distinct periods. For each cultural period we present a synthesis of elements, including varying trait-unit intrusions from both the Great Basin and the Canadian Plateau. Included in this examination are such important new factors as a pre-Old Cordilleran stemmed point tradition and a microblade tradition some 5,000 years in duration. Reanalysis also suggests that the "emergence" of Columbia Plateau culture (as ethnographically known) can be placed at about the time of Christ, instead of about A.D. 1200-1300 as previously hypothesized.
Revised Dating for Early Rock Art of the Glen Canyon Region
Authors: Turner Christy G.
Published: April 2006

The earliest style of petrographs known for the Glen Canyon region, Arizona and Utah, is believed to be much older than previously held. Between 4000 to 8000 yr ago is the suggested new beginning date.
Electronic Data Processing for Radiocarbon Dates
Authors: Taylor R. E. , Berger Rainer , Dimsdale B.
Published: April 2006

The need for a more flexible index for radiocarbon dates with shorter retrieval times has led to a suggestion for the development of an electronic or punch-card data retrieval system. A suggested format for coding radiocarbon data on punch cards and two techniques for the rapid retrieval of desired information are discussed.
Ceramic Phases for Chiriqui, Panama, and Their Relationship to Neighboring Sequences
Authors: de Sapir Olga Linares
Published: April 2006

Excavations in four sites on the central part of the Gulf of Chiriqui, in Panama, have yielded a series of ceramic types and ceramic modes which serve to establish a sequence of phases covering the period between A.D. 300 and the “Classic” Chiriqui culture. An attempt is made in this article to relate this sequence to previous occupations in Chiriqui and to other sequences in the Central Panamanian provinces and in Costa Rica.
The Provenience, Reinterpretation, and Persistence of an American Archaeological Derogation
Authors: Nickerson Gifford S.
Published: April 2006

The designation pot-hunter, as used by American archaeologists, is examined with respect to both its provenience in England and its relatively recent reinterpretation in the New World. Rather than being coined in American archaeology to designate “a hunter of pots,” this appellation, with its explicit derogatory connotation, clearly has its roots in various sporting events of 16th-century England. The essence of its meaning, then, does not relate to pots or vessels, per se, but to non-scientific attitudes and behavior toward antiquities. Pot-hunter has been reinterpreted in North America to signify the archaeological vandal or spoiler and, although specific definitions of the term often lack precision, there is a remarkable consensus among North American archaeologists as to its import. The functional utility of pot-hunter, in categorizing a segment of individuals interested in antiquities, is clearly demonstrated by its tenacious persistence in North American archaeology.
County Antiquities Legislation, New Hope for Archaeological Preservation
Authors: King Thomas F.
Published: April 2006

An ordinance to protect archaeological sites, adopted by Marin County, California, is described, and its potential significance on a broader level is discussed.
School of Thought in Archaeology: A Comment on Two Recent Papers
Authors: Ascher Robert
Published: April 2006

Two recent articles in this journal misidentify a theoretical orientation and then contrast this misidentification with another orientation. Archaeology does not gain in this way.
Estimates of Maya Population: Deranging Factors
Authors: Thompson J. Eric S.
Published: April 2006

The Maya habit of abandoning a hut after the occupant's death and the readiness with which they moved communal sites may seriously affect archaeological estimates of population.
A Revised Interpretation of the Lagow Discovery, Texas
Authors: Crook Wilson W.
Published: April 2006

The results of the F-U-N tests by Oakley and Howells, which show that the Lagow skeleton is not of the same antiquity as the Pleistocene fauna at the site, make possible a reinterpretation of the depositional sequence recorded by Shuler, who reported the apparent association of human remains with Pleistocene fauna. The Lagow human skeleton is now seen as an intrusive into the Upper Shuler yellow sand after the Pemberton Hill-Lewisville (T-2) terrace had been built up and eroded down to near the level of occurrence. Since the age of the overlying red clays is estimated to be about 9500 years, the Lagow skeleton may possibly be early Archaic.
Occurrence of Southwestern Pottery in Los Angeles County, California
Authors: Ruby Jay , Blackburn Thomas
Published: April 2006

The occurrence of sherds of Southwestern pottery in several localities is noted. These sherds are briefly described and are discussed in terms of probable trade routes between the Southwest and southern California.
On the Remains of Fish Scales from Archaeological Sites
Authors: Casteel Richard W.
Published: April 2006

A detailed discussion is presented of the archaeological value of the scale remains of fish. The various forms of scales are presented along with a discussion of the morphological characteristics of these elements. A brief summary of the past uses to which fish scales have been put within archaeology is presented and the use of fish scales to estimate the size of the fish and the minimum number of individuals represented, as well as their use as seasonal dating devices is also discussed in detail. In addition, the limitations of scale remains in each of the above areas of interpretation are also presented.
Explanatory Models for the Evolution of Coastal Adaptation in Prehistoric Eastern New England
Authors: Braun David P.
Published: April 2006

Archaeological records of the fourth and third millennia B.P. in eastern New England, from Massachusetts to Maine, evidence the initiation and spread of intensive shellfish exploitation from a Late Archaic forest and riverine-oriented economic base. Changes in the degree of exploitation of several shellfish species follow the economic shift during Early and Middle Woodland times. Ritchie and Snow have recently explained these changes as the result of a single process of purely internally initiated cultural evolution involving a systematic expansion of exploitative techniques and the subsistence base. Evidence from the Boston Harbor area, Massachusetts, and from paleoclimatic, ecological, and paleoecological literature are presented in arguing that such an explanation is unwarranted. An alternative framework, emphasizing the primacy of ecological factors, is presented.
Ultrasonic Disaggregation of Potsherds for Mineral Separation and Analysis
Authors: Gaines Alan M. , Handy Julia C.
Published: April 2006

Weakly bound composite materials such as low-fired pottery, bricks, mortar, and indurated soils can be disaggregated by ultrasound with no significant chemical or physical alteration of individual component grains. The components may then be separated by size, shape, density, magnetic properties, etc. This allows mineralogical, bulk chemical, trace-element, thermoluminescence, or other analyses of individual separates as well as determination of their relative proportions in the composite.
An Efficient, Inexpensive Arid Lands Flotation System
Authors: Minnis Paul , LeBlanc Steven
Published: April 2006

A basic, effective, water-conserving flotation system is described. Reference to this procedure's adaptability to various research goals and suggestions concerning the presentation of the material to the analyst are discussed.
The Historical Validity of the Codex Xolotl
Authors: Calnek Edward E.
Published: April 2006

Parsons (1970) has attempted to prove that the first part of the Codex Xolotl (Dibble 1951, Planchas I-IV) is based on “folk tradition” rather than actual history. He notes that the codice's claim that the northern and eastern sectors of the Valley of Mexico were depopulated in the early thirteenth century A.D. is contradicted by the archaeological evidence. He believes that this fact, in itself, is sufficient to invalidate the entire text of this important pictographic manuscript. This paper summarizes historical evidence which confirms the general validity of the Codice’s references to persons, places, dates, and events; illustrates the kinds of errors and misrepresentations which characterize early Mesoamerican historical sources of this type; and suggests that the contradiction between historical and archaeological evidence, which is a central issue in Parsons’ “folk tradition” hypothesis, is more easily explained in terms of the political and ideological objectives of prehispanic historians, and by the conventions and standards of historical relevance which they employed in the composition of their narratives.
Sectioning of Charcoals and Dry Ancient Woods
Authors: Smith Frank H. , Gannon Brian L.
Published: April 2006

Techniques are described for obtaining thin sections of charcoal and ancient woods for identification. Materials are embedded in epoxy resins and sectioned either with a sliding microtome or by grinding and polishing on silicon carbide or papers.
New Information on the European Discovery of Yucatan and the Correlation of the Maya and Christian Calendars
Authors: Closs Michael P.
Published: April 2006

It has been known since 1972 that Ponce de Leon discovered Yucatan in 1513. New information confirming this is found in the books of Chilam Balam where the Maya record that the Spanish first arrived in their land at that time. The sundry data indicate that 8 July 1513 (N.S.) falls in Tun 13 of Katun 2 Ahau. This relation provides a new test for correlations of the Maya and Christian calendars. The Goodman-Martinez-Thompson correlation passes the test and the Morley-Spinden correlation fails it.
Vegetational Reconstruction and Climatic Episodes
Authors: Raymond Wood W.
Published: April 2006

Data from United States General Land Office Surveys are commonly used to create vegetation models for the American Pioneer period. These models are then used as baselines for understanding past biotic change. It should be realized that many of these surveys were made near the end of a climatic episode (the Neo-Boreal or "Little Ice Age") when world temperatures were much lower than at the present time. These baselines therefore do not represent vegetational responses to a climatic regime like that of the present, and the vegetation models must be interpreted accordingly.
On the Methodological Validity of Frequency Seriation
Authors: McNutt Charles H.
Published: April 2006

Frequency seriation has often led to valid ordering of archaeological data, yet critiques of the technique, and in particular of the construction of unimodal popularity (battleship) curves, have appeared periodically for almost 20 yr. Problems of type definition, collection manipulation, and chronological inference have been emphasized. It is here suggested that, above and beyond these difficulties of execution and interpretation, frequency seriation is methodologically unsound: that the battleship curve concept is self-contradictory; that a type/collection frequency has descriptive value only within a collection but has no comparative value between collections; that the most commonplace kinds of ceramic variation can negate the type/collection unimodal curve; that seriation of collections to conform to the self-contradictory battleship curve provides a mechanical method by which significant changes in ceramic complexes may be obfuscated. If this basic form of frequency seriation is methodologically invalid, then more complex schemes for manipulating type/collection frequencies using the same or equivalent assumptions (for example, the Brainerd-Robinson technique and others) are also methodologically suspect.
A Reassessment of Northeastern Great Basin Prehistory
Authors: Madsen David B. , Berry Michael S.
Published: April 2006

A re-examination of data from eastern Great Basin sites (in particular Hogup Cave) indicates that subsistence patterns did not, as suggested by Jennings (1957) and Aikens (1970), remain essentially unchanged throughout the period of Archaic occupation. The evidence points to a major adaptive shift from semi-permanent settlement on lake peripheries to primary dependence on upland resources during the mid-Holocene. This adaptive modification was related to increased effective moisture, concomitant lake level increases and flooding of lake periphery resources rather than the purported Altithermal dessication as suggested by Baumhoff and Heizer (1965). There was a lengthy hiatus between Archaic and Fremont occupations of ca. 2000 years at lake periphery sites and ca. 1000 years for the northeastern Great Basin in general. This fact militates against the commonly held assumption that the Fremont culture developed from an Archaic substratum in this area.
Tattooing Found on a 1600 Year Old Frozen, Mummified Body from St. Lawrence Island, Alaska
Authors: Smith George S. , Zimmerman Michael R.
Published: April 2006

Beach erosion at Cape Kialegak, St. Lawrence Island, Alaska, revealed the frozen, naturally mummified body of a 1600 year old Eskimo woman. The body has extensive tattooing on the dorsal aspects of both the right and left forearms, hands and fingers. The tattooing pattern corresponds with known design patterns for the Old Bering Sea phase.
Comments on the Pleistocene Age Assignment and Associations of a Human Burial from the Yuha Desert, California
Authors: Payen Louis A. , Rector Carol H. , Ritter Eric , Taylor R. E. , Ericson J. E.
Published: April 2006

Questions are raised concerning the Pleistocene age assignment of a human burial from the Yuha Desert, California. Evidence is presented demonstrating that the C-14 dates of around 22,000 years B.P. should be viewed with extreme caution, especially because of the inherent problem in soil carbonate dating. Both the degree of soil development and the landform associated with the burial appear inconsistent with the reported age. In addition the presence of late-appearing cultural material at the locality conflicts with the purported antiquity of the site.
On Whallon's Use of Dimensional Analysis of Variance at Guila Naquitz
Authors: Schiffer Michael B.
Published: April 2006

Whallon claims to have made a rigorous application of dimensional analysis of variance to the delineation of spatial artifact patterning at the site of Guila Naquitz. Questions are raised here pertaining to replicability and to the cultural formation processes of the archaeological record. These unresolved questions suggest that Whallon's optimistic claims for the utility of dimensional analysis of variance cannot be adequately evaluated at present.
The Provenience and Contents of the Porfirio Diaz and Fernandez Leal Codices: Some New Data and Analysis
Authors: Hunt Eva
Published: April 2006

The Codices Porfirio Diaz and Fernandez Leal have not been satisfactorily analyzed as to content, nor have their origins been explained. New data relevant to their history are presented, establishing a definite Cuicatec origin and content. They were utilized in a court case (ca. 1562) concerning nobility succession rights. Historical sections contain dates of founding and conquest of Cuicatec towns. Toponymics written in hieroglyphics, in Spanish, and in Cuicatec using the Latin alphabet mark Cuicatec district landscape features still called by the same names. The codices cover approximately 260 years and correlate with a written document. Where, how, and why the codices were created and multilated is discussed, and evidence is presented which corrects previous analyses.
Some Comments on Contracting with the Federal Government: Types of Contracts
Authors: Butler William B.
Published: April 2006

Two types of government contracts, the firm fixed price and the cost reimbursement, are discussed in the context of archaeological research. The major features of these types of contracts are presented so that the archaeologist may more fully understand some basic contracting procedures and requirements that may directly affect archaeological work.
On “Two Ethnographic Functions of Bird-Form Pottery in Oaxaca”
Authors: Beals Ralph L. , Varner Dudley M.
Published: April 2006

In the October 1974, issue of American Antiquity (39:616–17) Dudley M. Varner contributes a note on “Two Ethnographic Functions of Bird-Form Pottery from Oaxaca, Mexico.” He notes, without citing evidence, the archaeological occurrence of similar forms from the southern half of North America. The example illustrated was purchased in Yalalag, Oaxaca, and he cites two Zapotec informants from the same village about the functions of this form among the neighboring Mixe who made it. One function is that the handle remains cool when the toe of the vessel is pushed into the coals of a fire. The second he cites is that three such vessels provide a support for the comal or ceramic cooking griddle and says that knobs or ridges on the toe-end of many Oaxaca shoe forms were specifically designed for this purpose.
Paleoecology and Diet at Clydes Cavern
Authors: Winter Joseph C. , Wylie Henry G.
Published: April 2006

Dietary and paleoecological data from the Clydes Cavern site has provided information concerning man's adaptations in a desert environment. Moreover, this information reveals certain of the processes involved in the Archaic-Fremont transition in Utah, especially as this transition relates to the utilization of wild grass seeds and the introduction and development of maize horticulture. Although horticulture and wild plant collecting were practiced during the Archaic inhabitation of the site, the coprolite sequence and the alluvial chronology suggest that a greater dependence upon these subsystems developed in a Fremont context, possibly in association with a period of improving alluvial conditions. During the Fremont occupation, the site seems to have functioned as a farming and collecting station within a larger system of regional adaptation.
A Few Remarks on Whallon's “A New Approach to Pottery Typology”
Authors: Borillo M.
Published: April 2006

Some implicit assumptions in Whallon's mathematically rigorous method for reproducing Ritchie's traditional Owasco pottery typology are pointed out, and some of the “validity limits” of his conclusions are discussed.
Clay Figurines from the Lower Pecos Region, Texas
Authors: Shafer Harry J.
Published: April 2006

All reported findings of anthropomorphic clay figurines from the lower Pecos region of Texas are synthesized. Considerations are given to figurine chronology, technology, morphology, and function. The finds made with adequate chronological control occur in the Middle Archaic period, from about 2000 B.C. to 200 B.C. A brief description of the Lower Pecos Archaic cultural system is presented in order to place the figurines in a context for functional analysis.

The figurines are hand-shaped, usually unfired, and represent both males and females. Painted or incised decorations are restricted to female forms; socio-cultural explanations for this pattern are explored. The specific uses of the figurines remain indefinite.
Epistemology of the Significance Concept
Authors: Tainter Joseph A. , John Lucas G.
Published: April 2006

Although the concept of significance has been widely discussed in cultural resource management, the origin of the idea and the epistemology underlying it have remained unexamined. This paper outlines the history of the significance concept in historic preservation and traces the current view of significance to the empiricist-positivist school of Western philosophical thought. Flaws in the arguments of this school, and in the logic of the significance concept, are raised and discussed. Potential approaches for dealing with aspects of the significance dilemma are proposed.
Comment on Perlman's Review of “The Archaeology of New England”
Authors: Snow Dean R.
Published: April 2006

Some incorrect assertions by Perlman are corrected, and the goals of both the book and the series of which it is a part are restated.
The Art of Art History: A Reply to Trubowitz and Rosenthal
Authors: Mathews Zena Pearlstone
Published: April 2006

The critiques of Trubowitz and Rosenthal are based on erroneous assumptions of equivalence between anthropological and art historical methods. Art history is a distinct, basically humanistic discipline with its own rigorous rules of evidence and analysis.
Costume Analysis and the Provenience of the Borgia Group Codices
Authors: Anawalt Patricia
Published: April 2006

There are indications that future archaeological investigations of the Late Postclassic horizon of the central and eastern Gulf Coast will reveal the existence of several regional artistic subtraditions of the prevailing Mixteca-Puebla horizon style. This would discourage the current pan-"Mixtec" approach to the interpretation of Postclassic Mesoamerican culture. A consequence of this presently confusing practice is the provenience debate concerning the religious Borgia Group codices. An abstract method of costume analysis indicates that these pictorial manuscripts did not originate in the Mixteca because they do not display Mixtec ritual clothing patterns. Data from the costume analysis, together with internal clues from the codices and archaeological and ethnohistorical evidence, demonstrate that the Borgia Group codices had diverse origins. The general Puebla-Tlaxcala region is suggested as the probable homeland for codices Borgia, Cospi, and Vaticanus B. The stylistic twins, Fejervary-Mayer and Laud, are assigned to the eastern Gulf Coast.
Deer Densities and Population Dynamics: A Cautionary Note
Authors: Starna William A. , Relethford John H.
Published: April 2006

In this paper we argue that although investigators often address themselves generally to human interaction with deer and the results of such interaction, they often fail to consider a number of related nonhuman factors that bear directly upon deer populations. Thus, such populations are seen and described as static, unchanging, and a given rather than as entities capable of considerable fluctuation and change that affect the human adaptive system. In addition, the related issue of the use and abuse of deer density figures is examined. We conclude that in most instances published density figures used by archaeologists are unrealistically high and in need of reassessment.
The Preceramic Las Vegas Culture of Coastal Ecuador
Authors: Stothert Karen E.
Published: April 2006

This article begins with a description of excavations in the Las Vegas type site on the Santa Elena Peninsula, Ecuador. A pre-Las Vegas phase (11,000 to 10,000 B.P.) is defined provisionally, and the Early Las Vegas (10,000 to 8000 B.P.) and Late Las Vegas (8000 to 6600 B.P.) phases are described from artifacts, burials, settlement data, faunal remains, pollen, and phytoliths. The Las Vegas people were unspecialized hunters, fishermen, and gatherers living in a littoral zone who added plant cultivation to their subsistence system before 8,000 years ago. Evidence for bottle gourd (Lagenaria siceraria) and primitive maize (Zea mays L.) was found in the Las Vegas type site. The differences between the modern, semiarid environment and the environment of the preceramic period are accounted for without hypothesizing climatic change. Las Vegas is interpreted as a local manifestation of an early tropical forest cultural tradition out of which developed the ceramic-stage cultures of the Ecuadorian coast.
Rise and Fall of Axum, Ethiopia: A Geo-Archaeological Interpretation
Authors: Butzer Karl W.
Published: April 2006

Civilizations represent human ecosystems amenable to systematic geo-archaeological analysis. The civilization of Axum, spanning the first millennium A.D., had its settlement core on the now-denuded, subhumid plateau of northern Ethiopia. Axum, a new city, began A.D. 100 as a ceremonial center, growing to over 10,000 people, as a prosperous emporium for international trade. Intensified land use led to mass movements in slope soils before A.D. 300, but a range of clayey stream deposits also implicates strong periodic floods and seasonally abundant moisture. The paleoclimatic ensemble suggests that stronger and more reliable spring rains allowed two crops yearly without irrigation, compared to only one with modern summer rains. Trade declined after 600 and Axum was essentially landlocked by 715. Intense land pressure and more erratic rainfall favored soil destruction and ecological degradation during the seventh and eighth centuries. Largely abandoned by 800 and pillaged by border tribes. Axum retained only symbolic significance as power shifted to the more fertile lands of humid central Ethiopia. Axum shows how the spatial and temporal variability of resources, and the interactions between a society and its resource base, can be fundamental in the analysis of historical process.
Nearest Neighbors, Boundary Effect, and the Old Flag Trick: A General Solution
Authors: McNutt Charles H.
Published: April 2006

This paper presents a method for quantifying "boundary effect" in square, rectangular, triangular, and circular study areas. It is based upon a very different, theoretically oriented modification of the classic computation methods, is applicable to the variously shaped study areas described, and produces results which approximate simulation data quite closely.
Perception and Interpretation in Contemporary Southwestern Archaeology: Comments on Cordell, Upham, and Brock
Authors: Reid J. Jefferson , Schiffer Michael B. , Whittlesey Stephanie M. , Hinkes Madeleine J. , Sullivan Alan P. , Downum Christian E. , Longacre William A. , Tuggle H. David
Published: April 2006

A recent effort in archaeological critique by Cordell et al. (1987) is undermined by confusion, misunderstanding, and misrepresentation. This comment on their paper illustrates how confusion may arise when the literature of the American Southwest is not read carefully and the causes of variability in the archaeological record are understood incompletely.
The Nondestructive Identification of Worn Coins from the Marquette Mission Site, St. Ignace, Michigan
Authors: Skowronek Russell K. , Houck Max M.
Published: April 2006

During the past 20 years a growing number of archaeologists have focused their investigations on contact and early historic-era sites in the New World. Frequently the most difficult aspect of these studies is the accurate identification of a site's age, function, and cultural affiliation from recovered material remains. Concurrent with this research has been an increasing concern for the conservation and preservation of the fragile objects recovered from these sites. One of the most important classes of artifacts for the dating and cultural identification of sites are coins. In this study we review a variety of nondestructive surface-enhancement techniques that were undertaken for the detailed examination of worn coins recovered from the seventeenth-century Marquette Mission site in Michigan's Upper Peninsula.
A Wider View of the Relationship between Settlement Size and Population in the Peruvian Andes
Authors: Kvamme Kenneth L.
Published: April 2006

Although the relationship between settled area and population size has been well studied in archaeology, anthropology, and geography, with numerous empirical data sets, an established methodological approach, and a body of theory, Schreiber and Kintigh's (1996) analysis of archaeological and historical data from the Peruvian Andes found “only a weak correlation” between these variables. By employing double logarithmic data, the relationship is shown to be much better than the “surprisingly poor” one the raw data suggests. Regression analysis of these Peruvian data in logarithmic form yields power functions that conform closely with expectations derived from a body of settlement size theory based on the allometric principle.
Mimbres Pottery, Births, and Gender: A Reconsideration
Authors: Espenshade Christopher T.
Published: April 2006

In their 1996 article, Hegmon and Trevathan argue that the nature of birth scenes depicted on Mimbres pottery bowls provides insight into the gender of the pottery painters. Specifically, they argue that the birth position illustrated is extremely uncommon, suggesting that the potter(s) had not had exposure to birth episodes. Hegmon and Trevathan conclude that the potters were male. Their arguments are flawed by faulty premises and a severe misunderstanding of the nature of Mimbres art. A review of the evidence regarding birth-depiction bowls indicates that the images do not imply either male or female potters.
An Alternative Explanation of Subsistence Change during the Early Historic Period at Pecos Pueblo
Authors: Reff Daniel T.
Published: April 2006

In a recent article, Spielmann et al. (1990) cited Spanish abuse of Indian labor and food stores as a major cause of dietary change at Pecos Pueblo. Of equal or greater significance were Old World diseases, which reduced the population of Pecos and other Pueblos and which necessarily impacted subsistence strategies.
Reply to Dincauze
Authors: Chrisman Donald , MacNeish Richard S. , Cunnar Geoffrey
Published: April 2006

This paper corrects a number of false assumptions made by Dincauze, among them the following: (1) her work area was in the southern half of the unit, not the undisturbed northeast quadrant below which imprints were found; (2) possible rodent activity was reported on profile drawings (19) and in excavators' notes and floor plots (121 instances); (3) no endorsement from Dincauze was expected or desired; (4) the Paleoindian claims are valid by Griffin's criteria; (5) MacNeish has followed high standards of reporting for decades and will continue to do so.
How Many Epidermal Ridges per Linear Centimeter? Comments on Possible Pre-Clovis Human Friction Skin Prints from Pendejo Cave
Authors: Shaffer Brian S. , Baker Barry W.
Published: April 2006

The identification of human friction prints by Chrisman et al. (1996) from Pendejo Cave, New Mexico, some dating more than 36,000 years B.P., is tenuous given the incongruence between data presented in the text and data illustrated in the figures. The identification of these structures as human friction prints hinged largely on the frequency of epidermal ridges per linear centimeter. As such, the validity of this evidence to justify the presence of humans at Pendejo Cave at this early date is questioned.