bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Therapeutic efficacy and consensus among the Aluund of south-western Zaire
Authors: De Boeck Filip
Published: April 2006

This article reconsiders John Janzen's notions of social consensus and therapeutic efficacy within a pluralistic medical framework, and combines a semantic and praxeological approach to an extended case of affliction: that of a group and its leaders being confronted with sickness and death and reacting through health-seeking strategies. First, it is argued that an understanding of representations of aetiology and their management necessitates an expansion of a narrow sociological and restorative view of the therapy management group into a broader multidimensional knowledge of the dynamics out of which the conflict or problem originated, as well as of the mode of action upon the sufferer. The possible lack of social consensus among the members of the kin diagnostic group does not imply that the therapy should be ineffective. Rather, therapeutic ritual is viewed as performative event or processual action, which realises itself through its temporal unfolding, in a creative process of meaning production which pragmatically achieves the ritual's aim.
The house-property complex and African social organisation
Authors: Oboler Regina Smith
Published: April 2006

A feature of the ethnography of eastern and southern African cattle-keeping peoples is a high level of contradiction in the assessment of the status of women. Better understanding of the house-property complex, the property and inheritance system characteristic of these peoples, can resolve some seeming contradictions. In this system, all property (especially livestock) held by a polygynous family is divided and held separately by the nuclear family of each wife. Sons inherit from the property of their own mother's house rather than from a general pool of their father's property.

The article analyses variations in the norms of the house-property complex from one society to another. The institution is said to be ‘highly developed’ if more cattle are allocated as house property than are retained in men's residual herds, if women's rights in their house property are thought of as inalienable, if wives have some recourse should their husbands appropriate their house property, and if rules preventing redistribution of property or bridewealth between houses are rarely violated.

A frequently overlooked aspect of this property system is that it gives women well denned rights in property, despite public ideologies (often overstated, especially by male informants) that cattle belong to men. There are actually, in at least some societies, several named categories of cattle. In each category, different individuals have predominant rights. Women actively defend their interests in cattle in which their rights predominate, and manipulate those rights to gain their ends in social interaction. These points are illustrated with case material from Nandi District, Kenya.

The degree to which women have some control over property is obscured both by culturally endorsed simplifications and by the ethnographic situation in which male ethnographers historically interviewed male informants about property holding. Nevertheless, clues to women's participation in property management may be found in many classic ethnographies, and are cited in the article.
Blood brotherhood revisited: kinship, relationship, and the body in East and Central Africa
Authors: White Luise
Published: April 2006

This article is a reinterpretation of blood brotherhood in three East African societies based on a reading of three ethnographic accounts, Evans-Pritchard on the Azande, Roscoe on the Baganda and Beidelman on the Kaguru. It argues against a construction of blood brotherhood as a single institution with one meaning, suggesting instead that the blood pact should be seen as a mechanism by which men formed ties of filiation with other men, in part on the basis of the kinds of relationships they idealised. In this way, blood was sometimes a magical substance and sometimes a fluid of reproductive power. This article suggests that scholars should look not only at the fluid of the blood pact but also at the part of the body from which blood is taken, in order to see the kinds of relationships men sought to establish with one another. Thus when the blood of blood brotherhood was taken from near the navel, or the chest, it suggested the intimacy of uterine ties, or the closeness of infant and nursing mother. When blood was mediated by cooked meat, it suggested a dilution of the power of blood and its association with the fluids of biological relationship.
Sierra Leonais, Créoles, Krio: la dialectique de l'identité
Authors: Goerg Odile
Published: April 2006

The study of phenomena relating to identity has prompted new approaches to the subject on the part of historians as well as anthropologists. They include the study of ethnicity, a dynamic combination of socio-economic, religious, cultural and political factors. In this regard the population of Freetown is particularly interesting, for it stems from several discrete migrations from the end of the eighteenth century onwards. Some of the immigrants came direct from the African continent, ‘Liberated Africans’ disembarked on the Sierra Leone peninsula, while others, formerly slaves, came from the UK, North America or the West Indies. The result of this diversity of origin was the formation of a very rich and specific society, with a mixture of European, African and West Indian characteristics. Among the town dwellers are those called successively Sierra Leoneans, Creoles and Krio.

Since the 1950s several studies have focused on these people. After a polemical article published in 1977, new research was undertaken. Krio identity, which is at the same time a historical theme and politically contested territory, remains at the heart of the debate. In this article, emphasis is placed on terminology, to address the question of ‘ethnicity’ as applied to those known as Creoles. What were they called by administrators or historians (past and present)? What did they call themselves? How did they react to the various attempts at categorisation? How did the names, which are the visible aspect of ethnicity, evolve? What did the terms really mean and how can one move from a given name to the object it represents? These questions take into account several points of view, from within Krio/Creole society and from outside it.
Violence and the war of words: ethnicityv.nationalism in the Casamance
Authors: Lambert Michael C.
Published: April 2006

Since 1982 the Mouvement des forces démocratique casamançais has been fighting for the independence of the Casamance region of Senegal. In 1989, when the Mouvement initiated a sustained military campaign, Senegal's official and independent press began to provide intensive coverage of its activities and objectives. This article documents the arguments for and against Casamançais independence as documented by Senegal's press in the year following the resurgence of this conflict. The Mouvement's leadership has consistently maintained that its efforts to win independence for the Casamance are legitimate because France created the Casamance. The French, it argues, never intended the Casamance to be administratively incorporated into Senegal. Conversely, those opposed to the Mouvement have attempted to delegitimise its activities by claiming that it represents the interests of the Jola, just one of the Casamance's many ethnic groups. It is argued that the Senegalese government and other opponents of the Mouvement have attempted to label the independence movement an ethnic movement because of a distinction in African political ideology between nationalism and ethnicity. According to this ideology, nationalism, and other legitimate forms of political mobilisation, should represent a plural constituency. Those that represent the narrow interests of a single ethnic group are not considered legitimate.
‘Delivered from the powers of darkness’: confessions of satanic riches in Christian Ghana
Authors: Meyer Birgit
Published: April 2006

In Ghana, as well as in other parts of Africa, pentecostal Churches have recently become extremely popular. Within these Churches reference is made frequently to the devil, who is associated with the non-Christian gods and ghosts as well as Western luxury goods. Present Ghanaian popular culture reveals a striking obsession with images of the devil and of evil. By analysing stories told and published in Ghanaian ‘born again’ circles about money received through a contract with the devil or one of his agents, the author attempts to understand (1) what evil is denounced in these movements by means of the devil, and (2) how, with the help of the notion of the devil, ‘born again’ Christians think about poverty and wealth. It is argued that collective fantasies around the devil have to be understood against the background of difficult socio-economic conditions. These stories entail both a critique of the capitalist economy in the name of the pre-capitalist ideal of mutual family assistance (although a much more limited critique than Taussig suggested in his The Devil and Commodity Fetishism) and an opportunity to fantasise about things people cannot afford but nevertheless desire.
‘With a little bit of luck…’ Coping with adjustment in urban Ghana, 1975–90
Authors: Brydon Lynne
Published: April 2006

Using largely anecdotal evidence from field notes, the article traces Ghana's formal economic decline through the 1970s. Perceptions of striving for survival and success are sketched out during this overwhelmingly pessimistic period. There follows a description of people's views about survival and ‘the state of play’ in Ghana's economic progress in the late 1980s and early 1990s. These discursive comments are followed by some simple quantitative material about work, the availability of jobs and the structure of the labour market at the time. What becomes obvious, given that Ghanaians are actually continuing their lives much as they have in the past, is that the IMF's and World Bank's policy prescriptions and strategies for the development of manufacturing industry, for attracting the ‘world market factories’ of the multinationals, are not being achieved. Instead, Ghanaians have focused (as they always have) on strategies for networking and getting a break: striking it ‘lucky’, in fact. The relatively newly discovered volatile element in the World Bank's calculations has long been a (if not the) core factor in the plans of many small enterprises. Meanwhile Ghanaians are trying, hoping for some ‘luck’, to survive and even prosper into the next millennium.
Slavery, possession and history: the construction of the self among slave descendants in the Sudan
Authors: Makris G. P.
Published: April 2006

The aim of this article is to study theṭumburaspirit possession cult of the Sudan as a historical phenomenon directly associated with the social and political changes of the last hundred years.Ṭumburacan be found in the poor neighbourhoods and surrounding shanty towns of the big urban centres of northern Sudan. The majority of the cult's devotees are descendants of nineteenth-century African slaves who had been brought as slaves to the north from the southern and western Sudan by Arab Muslim northerners. Their conversion to Islam notwithstanding, the slaves and their descendants have always been regarded by the Arab northerners as subhumans with no religion, descent or history. Inṭumburathese claims are contested. Initiation into the cult enables the devotees to construct a positive self-identity and assert that they too are Muslims, descendants of Adam and Eve, and a social category with a specific sense of history—in other words, human beings. During the colonial and post-colonial periods the position of the slave descendants within the social formation changed considerably as new groups of people made an appearance. These were the refugees from the south who had fled famine and civil war and today populate the shanty towns that surround the capital, Khartoum, and other cities in the north. The refugees enabled the slave descendants to move away from the margins of the society and closer to their erstwhile Arab masters. This movement has triggered a process of identity transformation which has reflected on the popularity ofṭumbura, which has started to decline rapidly. At the same time the remaining groups are in a process of structural reorganisation which follows the lines ofzār borè, another, more popular, female cult practised mainly by people of Arab descent.
The Nigerian elections of 1983
Authors: Hart Christopher
Published: April 2006

In 1979 Nigeria's military government held the first general elections for fifteen years. The politicians then resumed power under a republican constitution. The National Party of Nigeria, a conservative coalition, narrowly won the elections from four other parties and virtually controlled the next elections in 1983. There were five election rounds: for the President, for nine-teen state governers, for the Senate, for the House of Representatives and for the state assemblies. Increases over the 1979 vote in the presidential round indicated some rigging. Results in the following rounds were incredible. The root cause was northern reluctance within the National Party to honour an agreement to a southern presidential candidate at the next elections in 1987 and southern competition for the 1987 nomination. After the elections the courts failed to redress the rigging and the President to purge corrupt Ministers. The military then overthrew the government and resumed control.
What, Really, Were Gorgets?
Authors: Peets Orville H.
Published: April 2006

The most unsatisfactory artifact names are those which imply some definite but essentially imaginary function. Those who use such names may confess that they have no proof of this function, but they often defend their position by citing the belief-excusable even when unfounded - that a name of such importance would not have been accepted without sufficient investigation. It is suggested that the term gorget was ultimately derived from the name applied to a metal military ornament used in the 18th century.
Kiln Firing Groups: Inter-Household Economic Collaboration and Social Organization in the Northern American Southwest
Authors: Bernardini Wesley
Published: April 2006

Recent research on trench kilns from the Mesa Verde region of the northern American Southwest (Blinman and Swink 1997) suggests that trench kilns represent collaborative firings by groups of potters. This study presents a method for estimating the sizes of these proposed kiln firing groups. A comparative analysis between firing group sizes and the size of other contemporaneous social units provides insights into socioeconomic relationships between Mesa Verde households in both dispersed and aggregated settlement contexts. This study demonstrates that different stages of a production process may involve different production groups and highlights the utility of examining each production stage individually. It further suggests the importance of searching for archaeological evidence of production beyond residential areas to other production contexts, such as firing features, if the organization of all stages of production is to be understood.
Land-Use Dynamics and Socioeconomic Change: An Example from the Polop Alto Valley
Authors: Barton C. Michael , Bernabeu Joan , Aura J. Emili , García Oreto
Published: April 2006

The Polop Alto valley, in eastern Spain, serves as the focus of a study of long-term temporal and spatial dynamics in human land use. The data discussed here derive from intensive, pedestrian, non-site survey. We employ the concept of artifact taphonomy to assess the various natural and cultural processes responsible for accumulation and distribution patterns of artifacts. Our results suggest that the most significant land-use changes in the Polop Alto took place at the end of the Pleistocene and accompanying the late Neolithic, while much less notable changes in land-use patterns are associated with the Middle-Upper Paleolithic transition and the initial use of domestic plants and animals in the valley.
Raven Skeletons from Paleoindian Contexts, Charlie Lake Cave, British Columbia
Authors: Driver Jonathan C.
Published: April 2006

Two raven skeletons were excavated from Charlie Lake Cave, British Columbia, in association with Paleoindian occupations dated at about 10,500 and 9500 B.P. The distribution and condition of the bones, the association with artifacts, the configuration and location of the site, and data from ethnographic and historic sources contribute to the argument that the two ravens were deposited deliberately by people.
A Painted Kiva Near Winslow, Arizona
Authors: Pond Gordon G.
Published: April 2006

In Ruin No. 2 of the Homolobi group near Winslow, Arizona, a square kiva was excavated in 1962. Paintings of two kachinas and a symbol were found on the west wall. White stripes were painted on the bench at one end of the room. The rest of the kiva exhibited characteristics typical of the region. Twenty bowls, two ladles, two ollas, and an arrow straightener were found inside the kiva. Some of the vessels were stacked with care in inverted positions, while others showed signs of blackening by fire after breakage. Most of the pottery is Jeddito Black-on-yellow of the Pueblo IV period.
A Cache of Stone Artifacts Having “Musical” Properties from Marin County, California
Authors: King Thomas F.
Published: April 2006

Three artifacts found in a cache in Marin County, California, are suggested as having functioned in a "musical" capacity. Information on the distribution of such artifacts is solicited.
A Pipemaker's Mark from Gouda,
The Netherlands —Then
and Now
Authors: Walker Iain C.
Published: April 2006

The marks of Dutch pipemakers, unlike those of their English counterparts, could be passed from maker to maker in a variety of ways and thus occur or recur over a considerable length of time. Here the author describes a mark at present being used by a Dutch firm of pipemakers which has recently also been found in a mideighteenth century context in a colonial French site in Nova Scotia, Canada.
An Integrative Approach to Mortuary Analysis: Social and Symbolic Dimensions of Chumash Burial Practices
Authors: Gamble Lynn H. , Walker Phillip L. , Russell Glenn S.
Published: April 2006

Although most archaeologists recognize that valuable information about the social lives of ancient people can be obtained through the study of burial practices, it is clear that the symbolic nature of burial rituals makes interpreting their social significance a hazardous enterprise. These analytical difficulties can be greatly reduced using a research strategy that draws upon the strengths of a broad range of conceptually and methodologically independent data sources. We illustrate this approach by using archaeological data from cemeteries at Malibu, California, to explore an issue over which researchers are sharply divided: when did the simple chiefdoms of the Chumash Indians first appear in the Santa Barbara Channel area? First we establish the social correlates of Chumash burial practices through the comparison of historic-period cemetery data, ethnohistoric records, and ethnographic accounts. The resulting understanding of mortuary symbolism is then used to generate hypotheses about the social significance of prehistoric-period Malibu burial patterns. Finally, bioarchaeological data on genetic relationships, health status, and activity are used to independently test artifact-based hypotheses about prehistoric Chumash social organization. Together, these independent data sources constitute strong evidence for the existence of a ranked society with a hereditary elite during the late Middle period in the Santa Barbara Channel area.
Painted Pottery Figurines from Illinois
Authors: McKern W. C. , Titterington P. F. , Griffin James B.
Published: April 2006

A recent discovery in west-central Illinois seems sufficiently interesting and important to warrant this initial descriptive report. Six small pottery figurines were found with a compound burial in Mound 8 of the Knight Mound Group. Five of these human effigies, apparently fashioned to represent the prehistoric people culturally responsible for these mounds, not only display the remarkably smooth, stylistic skill of the culture and artisan producing them, but are modeled and painted to show costumes and styles in personal ornamentation wjth sufficient detail to make an important contribution to our knowledge of the producers’ material culture. The sixth figurine is extremely simple and devoid of detail, and is not painted.
Nose Plugs from Northern Arizona
Authors: McGregor John C.
Published: April 2006

In the summer of 1935 it was realized that a large group of sites just to the east of Flagstaff, between the San Francisco Peaks and the Little Colorado River in northcentral Arizona, were in several respects unique. The presence in this northern area of ball court structures similar to those recognized in southern Arizona by Haury and others was the most outstanding single feature. Subsequently, more detailed research revealed additional southern, or Hohokam-like characters in these sites, and a program of several years of extensive excavation and research was undertaken.
Urn-Burial in Central Alabama
Authors: Brannon Peter A.
Published: April 2006

The custom of burying the dead in earthenware vessels, or more briefly, urn-burial, was widely distributed throughout the world. Before the coming of the Europeans the Indians living in what is now the state of Alabama practiced this custom extensively, for records of urn-burial exist from a number of archaeological sites in central Alabama along the Alabama and Tombigbee rivers and their tributaries. For many years there have been reports of the finding of human bones in pots by farmers during plowing or while examining recently eroded banks of streams. In 1884 Dr. Edward Palmer made a report upon such finds to the Smithsonian Institution.
Two Historical Archaeological Periods in Florida
Authors: Smith Hale G.
Published: April 2006

In the past year through excavations of sites and examination of various collections, there have appeared elements in a late context that do not follow or conform to the archaeological traditions known for Florida up to this time. On the east coast the collections of material excavated by W. J. Winter gave us new data on the late period around St. Augustine and its cultural affiliations to the Georgia coast. This has been named the St. Augustine Period. In the excavation of a Spanish mission site3 in Jefferson County by the Archaeological Survey of the Florida Park Service there appeared elements sufficiently different in time and content to name a new period the Leon-Jefferson.

Here follows a discussion and summary of the characteristics of the two periods.
A Pre-Spanish Rubber Ball from Arizona
Authors: Haury Emil W.
Published: April 2006

In the winter of 1934–35, a ball-court, analogous in many details with those of Central America, was discovered at Snaketown on the Gila River Indian Reservation in south-central Arizona, during excavations conducted by Gila Pueblo. The announcement of a ball-court 1500 miles from its supposed origin, and in a region where it was entirely unexpected, met with skepticism until the discovery was verified by men qualified to judge from first hand knowledge acquired in the Middle American field. A new angle to the problem of relationships of Southwestern, Mexican, and Central American cultures was thus brought to the fore. Now, to add to this discovery, comes another find in the form of a rubber ball. It, too, was found in south-central Arizona and may, indeed, have been used in the game for which the courts were built.
The Sadiron Lamp of Kamchatka as a Clue to the Chronology of the Aleut
Authors: Quimby George I.
Published: April 2006

Recent studies of trait distributions by Collins, de Laguna, and Heizer, have, in my opinion, demonstrated a cultural connection between southern Alaska, the Aleutian Islands, Kamchatka, and Kurile Islands. These circum- North Pacific cultural connections seem to have been established after settlement of all the areas mentioned and therefore are not properly a part of the problem of man's first entry into America.

Southern Alaska, the Aleutian Islands, Kamchatka, and the Kurile Islands form a zone or rim around the North Pacific shores of Asia and America. Along this rim of the North Pacific there seems to have been a drifting of traits and trait complexes, both from America to Asia and from Asia to America. And for the most part, the cultural connections of the circum-North Pacific zone seem to have been rather independent of the diffusions and cultural development of the Bering Strait region.
Comment on an Oklahoma Pictograph
Authors: Antle H. R.
Published: April 2006

Mr. A. T. Jackson, in his extensive report on picture-writing of Texas Indians, calls attention to twenty-three square-shouldered human figures found in the course of his survey. According to the report, thirteen Texas counties and one New Mexico county possessed this type of figure. It is mentioned that several hundred miles separate the Texas sites from the typical Southwestern culture with which they appear to be linked. The farthest east that pictographs have been found is Concho County, Texas.

In March, 1939, the writer published a report on a prehistoric rock-shelter site in Pontotoc County, Oklahoma. The most outstanding feature at this site was a squareshouldered figure in one of twenty pictographs which adorn the shelter walls. It is likewise the best preserved of the group. It was suggested in the report that a Southwestern influence was responsible for the figure. Five hundred miles separate the Pontotoc County site from Concho County.
The Problem of the Study of the Maya Hieroglyphic Writing
Authors: Knorozov Y. V.
Published: April 2006

Up to the present time, some specialists have held to the view that on the American continent before the European colonization, there was no writing in the true sense of that word. The various systems of writing used by the Indians were regarded as pictographic or ideographic. However, it is now known with certainty that the civilized peoples of ancient America — the Maya, Zapotec, Olmec, and also the Quechua and Aymara — had hieroglyphic writing of the same type as that of the Old World, of China, Egypt, Sumeria, and so forth.
Additional Note on Chinese Soapstone Carvings From Meso-America
Authors: Heizer Robert F.
Published: April 2006

S. V. R. Cammann's interesting analysis of the Chinese stone carving found by Gann in a Maya site in Quintana Roo has indeed thrown some explanatory light on this, and other pieces of the same general type. Zelia Nuttall (1910) mentioned a “soap-stone teapot“ from the island of Sacrificios, and says that “it gave rise to much speculation, especially as similar ones were found by respectable authorities at Tepaca (on the ancient high road to Puebla) and in the Huaxteca.“ Nuttall says further, “The well vouched for fact that the teapot was actually found on the island of Sacrificios can doubtless be explained by the employment of the island by the Spaniards, during centuries, as a lading place for merchandise from the Philippines and China, after it had been brought overland by mule-back from Acapulco to Vera Cruz, to be shipped from thence to Spain.“
Southern Cult Manifestations on the Georgia Coast
Authors: Larson Lewis H.
Published: April 2006

It has been 15 years since Phillips (1940) first segregated certain late exotic elements from the Southeastern United States and attempted an analysis of them with respect to their cultural position and origin. Waring and Holder (1945) studied these materials a few years later with the result that the entire assemblage was defined in terms of a ceremonial complex. Both of these papers and a subsequent one by Krieger (1945) treated the Southeastern Ceremonial Complex in terms of the whole of this area. Since then there have been few attempts to discuss the Cult with respect to its localized manifestations and in terms of the localized relationships to the broader ceremonial assemblage. An exception to this statement is to be found in a paper by Goggin (1947: 275–6).
Systems of Hieroglyphic Writing in Middle America and Methods of Deciphering Them
Authors: Thompson J. Eric S.
Published: April 2006

Recent disagreement on the nature of Maya hieroglyphic writing calls for a reappraisal of the historical sources, and an examination of alternative methods of decipherment. Unfortunately, no one has both a thorough grasp of the subject and an unbiased attitude.
Ancient Mesoamerican Mortars, Plasters, and Stuccos: The Use of Bark Extracts in Lime Plasters
Authors: Littmann Edwin R.
Published: April 2006

Mesoamerican masons have used an extract from the bark of such trees as the chucum, chacte, chacah, and jabin in the preparation of lime plaster since prehistoric times, reportedly to increase the workability or strength of the lime and to reduce cracking in the plaster. Experiments involving the use of plasters prepared with these high tannin-content extracts show that the extracts have an effect on the properties of lime plater probably by stabilizing the system during drying.
Notes on the Archaic of the Appalachian Region
Authors: Witthoft John
Published: April 2006

The long stratigraphic sequence of separate archaeological horizons at the mouth of the gorge of the Pee Dee River in North Carolina necessitates changing earlier reconstructions of Piedmont archaeology. The stratigraphically documented series of projectile points from this site makes it possible to separate in time the varied forms of points originally assigned to the Baden and Guilford foci. Moreover, this evidence contradicts the typological arrangements of points in terms of logical evolutionary development and suggests that Archaic sequences in other parts of the Appalachian region may have to be radically changed when stratigraphic data become available. Stratigraphy at the Duncan's Island site in Pennsylvania, though less precise than that at the Pee Dee site, indicates that the local typological reconstructions for parts of Pennsylvania are in need of revision. Basal levels at Duncan's Island produce quartzite tools of types scattered throughout central Pennsylvania and often considered to represent an extremely early Archaic industry. The concentration of quartzite tools at the DeTurk site, though not dated stratigraphically, provides typological justification for the idea that the quartzite industry may be a survival of an earlier forest-based proto-Archaic tradition.
The Chalchihuites Culture of Northwestern Mexico
Authors: Lister Robert H. , Howard Agnes M.
Published: April 2006

For many years a Chalchihuites type of culture has been designated for a number of archaeological sites in the western parts of the states of Durango and Zacatecas, Mexico (Hrdlička 1903; Gamio 1910; Noguera 1930; Mason 1937; Brand 1939). The culture takes its name from the early-studied and partiallytested site of the same name located in northwestern Zacatecas.

Chalchihuites culture has been noted by Mason to extend as far south as the great site of La Quemada, or Chicomostoc as it is also called, some 35 miles southwest of Zacatecas, Zacatecas (Mason 1937). It is prevalent in southern Durango in the vicinity of the city of Durango, and Mason and Brand believe that at Zape, Durango, 150 miles to the north, it had reached its northern limit. At Zape it had become peripheral and attenuated, having lost much of its fine quality. As more information is obtained, it is possible that the culture may be extended to a group of sites in northern Jalisco.
Suicide, Sacrifice and Mutilations in Burials at Venado Beach, Panama
Authors: Lothrop S. K.
Published: April 2006

Venado Beach comprises a shore line facing the Pacific Ocean in the southwestern corner of the Panama Canal zone. The burials here discussed were found 100 to 200 yards from the high water mark in a band of refuse which extended across the mouth of the Mangopobre Valley. A total of 369 bodies have been recorded. Of these, 202 were excavated by the Peabody Museum of Harvard University in 1951, and 167 were unearthed by Neville A. Harte, who most generously has placed at my disposal his carefully kept field notes.

The skeletal material from Venado Beach, owing to unusual soil conditions, is better preserved than any other collection yet found in the wet tropics of the New World. When studied, it should prove of general interest. We are now concerned, however, with burial techniques rather than with the bones themselves or the funeral paraphernalia which accompanied them.
A Note on Fluted Point Relationships
Authors: Witthoft John
Published: April 2006

Hurt (1953, p. 211-2) quotes me as believing that the triple channel-flake pattern of the Enterline Fluted point is prototypic to the flaking from a basal nipple as noted on the Folsom Fluted, thus placing Enterline in a place typologically between Clovis Fluted and Folsom Fluted. This probably is what I should have said, and Hurt's interpretation is probably caused by my hedging on this question in correspondence, but it is not what I meant. I have made some statements on this problem elsewhere, probably with too great reservations (Witthoft, 1952, pp. 481-3, 492-4). Therefore I propose to make a more precise statement here, even though I am dealing in very conjectural matters. I have tried out these suggestions on a number of my colleagues in conversation and correspondence, and have found few of them willing to follow me far into the dimly-lighted areas of typological conjecture which follow.
Carved Atlatl from Northwest Coast
Authors: Taylor Herbert C. , Caldwell Warren
Published: April 2006

On June 7, 1952, the writers were shown the artifact, seen in Figure 70, by Mr. and Mrs. Edwin Johnson of La Conner, Washington. According to the informants, the artifact was dredged from the mouth of the Northwest distributary of the Skagit River near its confluence with the Straits of Georgia (about forty-five miles north of Seattle).

The artifact is about forty centimeters long and approximately eleven centimeters in maximal height. It is carved from wood of an unknown origin. The raised grain and deep checks suggest long continued immersion subsequent to the execution of the carving.
A Preliminary Report on Petroglyphs in Puerto Rico
Authors: Frassetto Monica Flaherty
Published: April 2006

Antillean petroglyphic art reached its highest development in the technical excellence and lively artistic expression of the many petroglyphs in Puerto Rico. This report is the beginning of a systematic study of Puerto Rican and Antillean petroglyphs which is intended to trace stylistic developments through the Antilles to South American points of origin. Sixty surface prints were made at 13 sites in three regions of Puerto Rico, but only those from Salto Arriba, Icacos, and Caonillas are discussed in detail. The simple and accurate, though time-consuming method of surface printing is fully explained. There are two distinct local types or styles of petroglyphs in addition to the simple curvilinear and abstract designs. The swaddled infant type appears at least as early as Rouse's Period III and represents the beginning of a local petroglyph style. The later Capá type reaches its final stage during Period IV. This study confirms Rouse's placement of the Puerto Rican petroglyphs in his Periods III and IV (A.D. 350-1584), and demonstrates the development of local petroglyph styles parallel to the development and spread of Taino culture.
“Disharmony between Asiatic Flower-Birds and American Bird-Flowers”
Authors: Carter George F.
Published: April 2006

L. van der Pijl published an article with the above title in the Annates du Jardin Botanitjue de Buitenzorg (Vol. 68, Part 1, 1937, pp. 17-26, 6 plates). He has written to me to call my attention to it because of the striking way in which it corroborates O. F. Cook's idea that some useful American plants, among them the Hibiscus, were carried to Asia in pre-Columbian times. I have recently reviewed some of Cook's ideas (Carter 1950, 1953) on this subject and found them to have more merit than it has been customary to allow them. It is curious that Pijl seems not to have known of Cook's work, nor did I know of Pijl's. Yet these pieces of work are distintcly complementary and, of course, must be considered in relation to recent work by Ekholm, Heine-Geldern, Heyerdahl, Sauer, Burkhill, and others.
A Pueblo I Site at Grand Canyon
Authors: Ben Joe , Wheat Pat
Published: April 2006

Archaeologists usually recognize four culture patterns in the Southwest: the Hohokam, Mogollon, Anasazi, and Patayan. Two of these groups, the Cohonina Branch, usually regarded as Patayan, and the Kayenta Branch of the Anasazi, were in contact along the southern side of the Grand Canyon. While the Cohonina specifically, and the Patayan culture pattern generally, are not yet clearly defined, certain differences between them and the neighboring Kayenta Branch Anasazi are apparent. The Cohonina finished their pottery by use of the paddle and anvil, instead of scraping and polishing it as the Anasazi did; both groups, however, used a reducing atmosphere for firing, which produced a gray ware. In architecture, the Anasazi were generally more advanced. Cohonina sites usually consist of scattered surface houses, often with ramadas nearby. The Anasazi lived mostly in permanent villages of pithouses and later surface structures of true masonry, and in distinction to their western neighbors, they built ceremonial rooms. In the making of stone and bone tools, as in architecture, the Anasazi were more advanced and produced a greater variety of tool types.
A Ceremonial Cave on Bonita Creek, Arizona
Authors: Wasley William W.
Published: April 2006

A prehistoric ceremonial cache in the Arizona State Museum was found in 1957 by S. R. Claridge of Safford, Arizona. In 1958 additional objects were collected on a subsequent visit to the cave. The ceremonial objects include wooden flowers and cones, strings of miniature baskets, terraced wooden objects, a wooden pendant, cotton cloth, and bows and arrows. Apparently most of these objects had been stored in a Maverick Mountain Polychrome jar which had been covered with a smudged brownware bowl. The cache dates from the closing years of the 13th century or the early years of the 14th century. It probably belonged to the group of migrants from the Kayenta area who moved into Point of Pines about A.D. 1280 only to be driven from there about 20 or 30 years later.
Two “South American” Metal Techniques Found Recently in Western Mexico
Authors: Easby Dudley T.
Published: April 2006

A recent find at Uruapan, Michoacán, disclosed two metalworking techniques commonly associated with South America but not with Mexico or the intervening area: hammering or pressing a series of identical sheet-gold ornaments over a pattern or model carved in high relief and making decorative spirals of worked (as opposed to cast) gold wire. The objects and the probable methods of manufacture are considered.
Paleo-Indian Tool Types in the Great Plains
Authors: Irwin Henry T. , Wormington H. M.
Published: April 2006

Information concerning tool types and other artifacts of seven major early complexes is presented. Thirty-four principal types are defined. These are then used to contrast and compare the assemblages and to show major changes in the period of approximately 9000 through 6000 B.C. Quantitative data are presented by means of percentages of major groups and cumulative graphs of all of the types.
Rising Sea Level and Prehistoric Cultural Ecology in Northern New England
Authors: Snow Dean R.
Published: April 2006

Sea level has been rising over the past 4 millennia along the coast of northern New England, but the rate of rise has been faster in the direction of the Bay of Fundy. In any given locality, the rate of rise has been steadily slowing during that time. These and other concurrent changes have complicated the study of shifts in prehistoric cultural ecology. This paper utilizes archaeological data from 2 important localities to unravel the complex interaction of evolving technology, changing sea level, shifts in marine resources, and probable changes in terrestrial flora and fauna over time. Locally specific natural limitations on cultural options are discussed.
Ridged Fields in the Rio Guayas Valley, Ecuador
Authors: Parsons James J.
Published: April 2006

Aerial reconnaissance and photography have established the existence of extensive tracts of ridged fields and planting platforms (bancos), apparently of pre-Columbian origin, in the overflow lands behind the natural levees of the Rio Guayas immediately north and east of Guayaquil, Ecuador. These vestiges of an ancient, labor-intensive agricultural system are similar in character to others that have been described in Bolivia, Colombia, and Surinam.
Some Archaeological Uses of Fish Remains
Authors: Casteel Richard W.
Published: April 2006

The remains of fishes are a commonly encountered item in many archaeological sites, yet a thorough utilization of all the relevant information inherent in this material is rarely made by the archaeologist. Certain salient characteristics of the growth and ecology of fishes are presented. Examples are included using archaeological fish remains to indicate or substantiate such things as seasonal dating, absolute dating, estimates of prehistoric food resource locations, and environmental change. Examples will be presented from western North America and southern France.
The Utilization of Flakes for Cleaning Fish
Authors: Donnan Christopher B. , Moseley M. Edward
Published: April 2006

Loma Lasca, a coastal site near the mouth of the Santa Valley, Peru, produced an abundance of large primary flakes. Investigation of the midden suggested that these were used for the scaling and cleaning of fish.
An Addition to Naroll's Suggested Floor Area and Settlement Population Relationship
Authors: LeBlanc Steven
Published: April 2006

Floor area and population data from three geographical areas are given. The value of recording the use of each floor area is demonstrated. Because of the large variances among floor areas it is suggested that caution be used in applying this relationship.
Archaeological Applications of Factor, Cluster, and Proximity Analysis
Authors: Cowgill George L.
Published: April 2006

An effort is made to give readers a good idea of what the techniques of factor, cluster, and proximity analyses are; of what are their good features and their limitations; and where one should look for further information. Archaeological uses of these techniques which are discussed include those of Hodson on La Tene brooches and on Mousterian assemblages, L. and S. Binford on Mousterian assemblages, Freeman and Brown on the Carter Ranch Pueblo, and the author on data from Teotihuacan, Mexico. The dangers of using correlations based on inadequate samples are stressed, and one necessary (though not sufficient) condition for sample adequacy is suggested. It is argued that proximity analysis, among other applications, is probably better than the Brainerd-Robinson approach for seriation.
The Use of Historic Analogs in Archaeology
Authors: Schuyler Robert L.
Published: April 2006

Historical sources are a potentially rich and as yet almost untouched source of specific and general analogies for use in archaeological interpretation. In particular, certain unique sources, such as Diderot’s Encyclopédie, offer many specific examples, but more generally history offers the archaeologist the chance to formulate broad analogies dealing with basic questions of cultural evolution.
A Mochica Painting at Pañamarca, Peru
Authors: Bonavía Duccio
Published: April 2006

A polychrome mural in the upper portion of the temple pyramid at Panamarca in the Nepena valley depicts a religious procession before a sacrifice. The main figures are a priest followed by two assistants, three prisoners, and a guard. The mural contains several motifs new to Mochica painting. It is assigned to Larco's fourth phase of Mochica culture, but some elements suggest the possibility of a somewhat later placement.
Joris van Speilbergen's Journal and a Site in the Huarmey Valley, Peru
Authors: Thompson Donald E.
Published: April 2006

An illustration of the Huarmey Valley in Joris van Speilbergen's journal from the year 1615 shows a “ruined castle, occupied by our men.” In an archaeological survey conducted by the author, a site was located which is very likely to be the one occupied by van Speilbergen. The site appears to be Chimu or Inca in date on the basis of the plan, the construction of tapia adobe, and the high percentage of reduced-fired ceramics. Despite the small size and relative unimportance of the Huarmey Valley, the site, to judge by the illustration and the existing ruins, was a large and impressive structure of some importance to the Chimu and/or the Inca Empire.
Laboratory-scale Instrumental Neutron Activation for Archaeological Analysis
Authors: Johnson Ralph A. , Stross F. H.
Published: April 2006

Neutron activation analysis has been used to determine manganese in a series of potsherd chips from sites in the Valley of Mexico. The application of this technique and the use of laboratory-scale commercial equipment is described. Such equipment can give results in this application that are comparable to those obtained with the much higher fluxes characteristic of large reactors.
Dating Lake Mohave Artifacts and Beaches
Authors: Warren Claude N. , Costa John de
Published: April 2006

It is generally accepted that Lake Mohave artifacts date from the closing phase of the last deglaciation when the lake stood at its highest level. A re-evaluation of published data shows that Lake Mohave artifacts date from the overflow period, but only after the lake had abandoned the highest or 946-foot beach. A radiocarbon date of 9640 ± 240 years has been obtained from Anodonta shells at levels between 925 and 930 feet. These shells have been interpreted as remains of animals stranded en masse during the final recession of the Pluvial lake. No evidence for such a catastrophic event has been presented, and there is some evidence which suggests the opposite. The Anodonta shells appear to represent remains of dead animals deposited when the lake stood somewhat higher than 930 feet. It is apparent that an interdisciplinary approach, involving geology, paleolimnology, and palynology, as well as archaeology, is needed if man's place in the history of Lake Mohave is to be understood.
A New Approach to Pottery Typology
Authors: Whallon Robert
Published: April 2006

The standard typology of Owasco pottery from New York State is examined. This typology is ostensibly based on Krieger's definition of a type as a consistently recurring combination of attributes. The application of statistical techniques suggested by Spaulding, Sackett, and others as appropriate to the discovery of such types revealed that the standard Owasco typology does not exist in Krieger's terms. This typology, however, has been a reliable spatial and temporal indicator for many years. The real, underlying logic and foundations for this typology were therefore sought through a careful inspection of the actual type definitions. This made it clear that the definition and recognition of these pottery types depend on 2 important but unstated principles, the existence of a hierarchy of importance among attributes and the shifting of defining criteria from type to type. Krieger's definition of a type is thus seen to be inappropriate here and a type is recognized to be defined by proceeding through a hierarchical, "tree-type" series of decisions. Statistical procedures appropriate to discovering types according to this definition are developed, and their application to the Owasco material is seen to come close to duplicating the original typology. Such a tree-type structure based on the 2 principles just outlined closely resembles cultural classifications elicited by ethnologists. It is suggested therefore that the attribute association or "Spaulding" approach and the currently popular techniques of numerical taxonomy will not work for establishing space-time reflective types, not because the techniques are not well developed, but because the basic concept or definition of such a type on which they are based is inappropriate.