The archaeological knowledge of practically every large area suffers from unevenness. The lure of the spectacular and the overemphasis on the higher aspects result in concentration of interests on a few regions, while other parts remain practically unknown scientifically. In few regions is this more true than in Middle America. To the average person without special interests all Mexican archaeological phenomena are Aztec, just as all South American ones are Inca. Even many sites in the United States have been popularly ascribed to the Aztecs, as for instance the site of Aztec in New Mexico and Aztalan in Wisconsin. Contritely we must confess that similarly some professional archaeologists seem to see little in Middle America but the Maya and their influences.

The cotton sample used in the following fiber study was found in the summer of 1932, in the Canyon Creek ruin, Fort Apache Indian Reservation, in east-central Arizona. During the excavations remnants of cotton fabrics were frequently found in the rubbish, indicating that the occupants of the pueblo evidently made considerable use of the fiber. A small quantity of raw cotton, in the process of being spun into yarn, was found with an adult female buried below the floor of a room.

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.

Following a brief reference, in Science to a paper presented by the writer at the Denver Meeting of the A. A. A. S., wherein the occurrence of Woodland-like vessel shapes in a Puebloan pottery complex was reported, a number of requests for further information have been received. In consequence of the apparent interest shown, the following preliminary report is offered.

During the progress of an archaeological survey of north central New Mexico in 1932, particularly in that section drained by the western tributaries of the upper Chama and southeasternmost affluents of the San Juan rivers, a large number of sites were recorded which, in architectural forms and pottery content, appeared to differ somewhat from more usual Pueblo patterns.

The skeletal remains described in this report were found by Pius Fischer on November 14, 1936, as gravel was being dug from a pit near the town of Bradwell, Saskatchewan, for highway purposes. The find was reported to the R. C. M. Police, and Detective Sergeant F. W. Davis kindly mentioned the matter to Dr. Vigfusson, who proceeded a week later to the site of the find with Professors Jackson, Edmunds and Spinks. Unfortunately, by that time the gravel had been excavated to a distance of about four feet beyond the original position of the bones, and thus all evidence of the condition of the burial had been obliterated.

Southwestern Pueblo pottery of the prehistoric periods has been studied, named with dozens of geographic appellations, and traced back from period to period with genealogic thoroughness. “And La Plata Black-on-White begat Red Mesa Black-on-White, and Red Mesa Black-on-White begat Escavada Black-on-White, and Escavada Black-on-White begat Gallup Black-on-White.” But the family tree of prehistoric Southwestern walls has not been cultivated with the ardor of the potsherd horticulturist; the relation of roots to branches has been largely conjectural.

Several articles have come to my attention which should have been included in the summary of recent archaeological work in South America. A brief notation of these articles and a bibliography will remedy in part their omission from the original text.

Wassén (1936) has published a report of his excavations at the Hacienda of El Dorado between the villages of Yotoco and Restrepo in the Cauca Valley region of the western cordillera of Colombia. He describes the excavating of deep tombs, some from four to six meters in depth, and illustrates their contents.