One of the minor mysteries of American archaeology concerns the use made by the Indians of certain stone disks found in the Mississippi Valley and the Southeast. According to Charles C. Jones, Jr., the first of these disks was “ploughed up in 1859, on the lower terrace of the large temple-mound on the Etowah River … near Cartersville,” Georgia. Other discoveries followed, and several scores of the disks are now in archaeological collections.

In recent years a considerable amount of archaeological research has contributed to our knowledge of the Antilles. Especially valuable in this field are the numerous works of Osgood, Rouse, and Rainey, all of the Peabody Museum of Yale University, whose valuable investigations and excellent monographs have brought new life to the archaeology of the Antilles.

Nevertheless, much remains to be done, and important discoveries relating to Antillean problems will probably yet be made. Cultural relationships between the Antilles and the two adjacent continents constitute one of the primary historical problems of great importance. The affiliations of the Antillean cultures cannot be established until the archaeology of such points of possible contact as Venezuela, Yucatan, and Florida is more fully known.

When the Spaniards conquered the central portion of the Mexican state of Chiapas in 1524 they found it occupied by the so called Chiapanecs, a brave tribe which the Aztecs never permanently subdued, but who on the contrary, succeeded in seriously disturbing commerce between the Aztec metropolis and their most southern provinces.

Both the origin and the history of the Chiapanecs are still unknown. There is no codex of the time prior to Cortés, nor a history written by a Chiapanec after the conquest either in Chiapanec or in Spanish. We do not even know the name of a ruler prior to the coming of the Spaniards.

The aboriginal agriculturists discussed here lived in a somewhat secluded environment, the Connecticut River Valley from Bellows Falls to the Connecticut line. In this long-occupied territory, surrounded by high ridges of volcanic origin, heavily wooded, and watered by innumerable spring-fed streams, the cultural development of the inhabitants was apparently of a homogeneous nature. As late as 1636, when the English began to establish plantations throughout the valley, the natives were found united in a well-defined River Confederacy, with frequent intercourse maintained through river travel. While trade routes probably connected this section with many other parts of the country, cultural contacts had apparently persisted among the river tribes in spite of occasional raids of warlike groups from other regions.

Although graphical methods are in common use by engineers and astronomers, they are less familiar to archaeologists. To portray the rhythm of celestial motions, astronomers often use “elongation” diagrams to show angular distances of moon and planets from the sun on each day of the calendar year.

The Maya recognized a zone within which the planets could not be seen because of proximity to the brilliant disk of the sun. The moon cannot be seen on the day of conjunction with the sun, and is generally invisible on the day before and the day after this “new moon day.” The three consecutive days in the lunar table of the Dresden Codex may represent the 3-day phase of moon disappearance.

During the past year there has been much discussion of the need to bring the different branches of anthropology into closer coordination so that they may work together for their common interest. In recognition of this need, the American Anthropological Association at its annual meeting in December, 1945, created a committee which it instructed to

I have just completed the examination of about 20,000 fragments of mammal bones comprising seven archaeological collections. One collection contained 13,293 fragments, another, 2745 and a third, 2109. The localities represented ranged from Coahuila, Mexico, to western Pennsylvania, and the greater part of six months was required to make the identifications.

Such work, involving great numbers of specimens from many localities and a wide variety of local habitats, constitutes a problem for both the zoologist and the archaeologist. It is also a special problem for institutions which consent to identify such collections. To facilitate cooperation in such identifications, I offer the following suggestions to the archaeologist.

A good many years ago Nelson and Gifford made a careful and extensive survey of the shellmounds of San Francisco Bay, in the course of which they utilized quantitative methods of analysis to determine the probable age of the cultures represented. In the years since their publications, new deposits have come to light in various parts of the Americas to which their methods might be applied, and a great deal more knowledge is now available which is applicable to the field of primitive dietetics.

In a recent note, John W. Griffin has suggested that the form of the pedestal vessels from the Madisonville site is derived from a European model. He quotes Holmes, who thought the design was possibly copied from the work of southern neighbors (Middle Mississippian?), but rejects this conclusion on the basis that “the pedestal of this vessel can hardly be considered related to the annular bases and occasional pedestal-like bases of Middle Mississippi vessels.”

A portal with foreign ornamentation is more complex than a plain, unadorned doorway. Mexican by derivation, the Atlantean columns of the Initial Series Temple at Chichen Itza were incorporated in Maya architecture. The sculptured figures were given uplifted arms in a pleasing conceit that strong arms sustained the overhead load. These uplifted arms caused projections alongside the pair of heads, so that a stone lintel which rested solely on the inner projections would have had insecure support; hence the requirement for greater extension of the lintel on the Atlantean columns. Some marginal covering of the inscription on the underside of the lintel apparently resulted, but it did not affect the initial series, 10.2.9.1.9, 9 Muluc 7 Zac.

The distribution of grooved axes in California as given by Heizer is complete with only the following minor exceptions. On display in the Chicago Museum of Natural History there are two full-grooved axes labelled “Hupa” and a third attributed to the Achomawi.