The “South Appalachian Province,” an area defined by the occurrence of the complicated stamp as a major mode of pottery decoration, was outlined by Holmes (1903). Almost nothing can be added to the area definition propounded by Holmes. Actually the area varied in size as it expanded and contracted through time (the temporal factor was necessarily omitted in 1898). Although the province varied in size, it should perhaps be reduced in size to include only the core area–the present state of Georgia with the addition of northern Florida. Areas outside this used complicated stamping only at certain time periods, and in all cases these usages appear to be stylistic imports from Georgia, not local developments.

The Gordon site has been mentioned previously by Ford (1935, 1936) as site 61, the type site for the Coles Creek ceramic complex originally identified by a surface collection of 175 sherds. In his initial survey of the site, Ford placed it uppermost in the Coles Creek horizon, although the exact relationship of that horizon to other Southeastern cultures was at that time uncertain. Ford states:

The MacHaffie site, in the foothills a few miles south of Helena, Montana, is an unusual open site in that it has three occupation levels. Folsom Fluted points occur in the bottom; Scottsbluff points in the middle; later types of points comparable to Signal Butte II come from the top level. In 1938 A. J. Harstad, an amateur mineralogist from Helena, discovered the site. He saw flint and bones projecting from a cut bank; he later pointed these out to E. D. MacHaffie, also of Helena. In a surface survey, MacHaffie discovered artifacts of a late type, and Mrs. MacHaffie also found a Clovis Fluted point in the small creek near the site and possibly from the site itself (Fig. 62, 12). On a later visit MacHaffie found a point of Scottsbluff type on the surface. At this time he dug into the cut bank and found bones, chips, and some flaked knives.

Hawver cave, located about two miles from Cool, El Dorado County, California, is well known to paleontologists for its abundant and diversified Pleistocene fauna. The fossil animal remains have been described in several monographs (Furlong, 1907; Stock, 1918; Miller, 1912; Kellogg, 1912). The occurrence of human skeletal material has also been noted (Merriam, 1909; Stock, 1918, pp. 466-8), but an interesting series of artifacts recovered from the cave has received only brief mention in a newspaper article (Hamilton, 1910). These man-made objects are, on the whole, distinct from those manufactured by the historic Indians of the region and seem worthy of detailed analysis. Before describing the artifacts, however, it is necessary to review some of the facts pertaining to the cave and its contents.

In the collection from Lovelock cave, gathered by Loud in 1912, there recently came to light a piece of finger-woven textile which, at first glance, appeared similar to the Apocynum fabric from Humboldt cave described by O'Neale (1947). Loud did not describe or mention the textile, though he illustrates it (Loud and Harrington, 1929, Pl. 53a), and one suspects that, being reluctant to disturb the bead strands to which it was affixed, he did not recognize the specimen for what it was.

The sling (Fig. 67, a), made probably of Apocynum, was wrapped with a compound necklace of Olivella shell bead strands and was found about the neck of a partially mummified child about 6 years old. The description of the necklace, the burial, and a photograph of the necklace itself with the sling clearly apparent, occur in Loud and Harrington's report on Lovelock cave (1929, p. 105, Pls. 10, 53a).

From mantles cave, in Dinosaur National Monument, in the northwestern corner of Colorado, Burgh and Scoggin (1948) report a buckskin pouch which contained a remarkably well preserved flicker-quill headband turned up with miniver. The similarity of this ancient ceremonial headdress, apart from its fur trimming, to the ethnographic flicker-quill headbands of California, raises a challenging culture-historical problem. The evidence suggests that the similarity may rest on cultural connections and that the flicker-quill headband may be an important key for the understanding of Californian-Great Basin relationships during the first millennium of this era.

As a means of celebrating the four hundredth anniversary of the great Spanish expedition through our southern states led by Hernando de Soto and Luis de Moscoso in the years 1539-1543 a Commission was created in 1935 by act of Congress. The members of that Commission were appointed by President Roosevelt and included the writer who was made chairman by vote of the others. This Commission was authorized “to make a thorough study of the subject of De Soto's expedition” and report back to Congress “its recommendations for a suitable and appropriate celebration of the four hundredth anniversary of said expedition.” The latter part of the instructions being entirely outside of my experience or training, I devoted myself, along with certain of my fellow members, to a study of the career of De Soto, and particularly of the route pursued by his army, so as to determine what communities would be interested in the proposed celebration. This study was carried on for several years and its results incorporated into a “Final Report of the United States De Soto Expedition Commission” which was printed in 1939 by the Government Printing Office, as House Document Number 7.

In his systematic analysis and delineation of a Lalonde focus in southern Ontario, Ridley (1952) has made an important contribution to our knowledge of the prehistoric Iroquoian occupations of a region as yet ill-represented in the archaeological literature. However, the writers do not find themselves in agreement with Ridley's inclination to consider the Lalonde diagnostic high collar ware “to be the ancestor of the late Mohawk, Onondaga and Susquehannock collared vessel” (p. 205). Evidently considerable antiquity would have to be assigned to Lalonde if it were to be the prototype for such a profound metamorphosis. On the other hand, it is felt that the possibility of a late prehistoric status for this focus and a cultural position as a stage of “developmental Huron” should not be rejected despite the clear cut differences between Lalonde and contact Huron which Ridley has shown in his trait analysis. The remarks which follow are offered to substantiate this point of view. Some of the data presented have not yet been published and were largely unknown to Ridley (Emerson, 1952).

A remarkable resemblance exists between a pottery figurine from Tennessee, representing an infant strapped to a cradle board, and two figurines from Mexico.

Figure 74 is taken from Thruston's “Antiquities of Tennessee.” He says of it:

For some time I have been trying to find a meaning to certain rock-cut basins on Saint Lucia in the British West Indies. One series, numbering 35 small basins, is situated at Micoud on the southeast coast (Fig. 76). This series is in a straight line at the edge of a bay; in fact, it ends right in the sea. An attempt to photograph it failed. There is a second series about a mile to the south, not far from the sea, on the top of a rocky elevation above a stream, (Fig. 76). Here again, I have not yet been able to get photographs. The third series is also on the east, or windward, coast at a place called Dauphin. The following is a brief account of my findings at this place.

In a recently published book, “The North American Buffalo. A Critical Study of the Species in its Wild State,” the author, Frank G. Roe, has undertaken an extensive study of the buffalo of North America–including its habitat and historical chronology. Mr. Roe must be complimented on the infinite amount of labor he has put into this very useful treatment of the American buffalo, and for the service he has rendered the numerous archaeologists who will find his study of prime importance when undertaking work in areas within the recent range of these large animals.

Archaeological specimens from the United States, now in European museums, are generally unavailable to American scholars. The writer, while resident in England during 1950 and 1951, made a consistent attempt to view and describe American archaeological material which was unique in his experience. A few of the notes collected at the British Museum are presented below.

The specific specimens discussed here are from the region of Avila, San Luis Obispo County, California, a coastal area lying about 140 miles north-west of Los Angeles, 180 miles south-east of San Francisco, and 18 miles north of the Point Sal area described by Carter (1941).