Historical and archaeological evidence indicates that unoccupied buffer zones were a pervasive feature of the aboriginal cultural ecology of Amazonian floodplains. Buffer zones in Ucayali culture history are examined in detail, and the more general implications that such zones have for interpretations of Amazonian prehistory and ecology are discussed.

A critical evaluation of radiocarbon measurements taken from recent excavations at Chavin de Huantar, Peru provides the basis for an absolute chronology for the Chavin culture at Chavin de Huantar which spans from 850 B.C. to 200 B.C. Radiocarbon measurements from four coastal sites stylistically related to Chavin de Huantar are reviewed and found to be generally prior in date to the earliest known occupation at Chavin de Huantar.

Although previous studies of Olmec iconography have correctly recognized the importance of the jaguar element and its conceptual origins in the shaman-jaguar transformation complex of beliefs, they have not explained why the Olmec expression of feline features should be different from their expression in other prehistoric American art styles sharing origins in the same complex of beliefs, nor why the Olmec chose to express them in the form of an infant were-jaguar, often held in the arms of a seated adult male. It is here suggested that the majority of the attributes of the were-jaguar motif can best be explained by analogy with the congenital deformities manifested in and associated with multifactorial neural tube defects. The apparent fusion of the portrayal of these defects with the portrayal of feline elements suggests that the art style and religious beliefs were being manipulated for political reasons, which would be most likely in a chiefdom form of sociopolitical organization. Reasons for stylistic variation in the portrayal of the were-jaguar and its widespread distribution are discussed.

Spatial and temporal variations in human populations are, to a large extent, determined by the environmentally controlled distribution of biotic and abiotic resources. While archaeologists generally recognize this relationship, many fail to fully appreciate the complexity of either the changing environment, the ecological literature, or applications of ecological data to archaeological problems. It is important to apply modern ecological principles to archaeological problems, but the novelty of the principle should not preclude the nature of the problem to be solved. For example, the concepts of ecotone and edge effect are still applicable to archaeological problems concerning biotic boundaries such as those between forest and grassland even though it may be more appropriate to use an individualistic approach in research designs concerned with diffuse environmental and biotic gradients.

This paper evaluates the research potential of small contract surveys conducted in the greater Phoenix metropolitan area. It is argued that if the data produced by small project surveys are to be used to answer regional questions, it is necessary to treat each small survey as a sample unit within a region and to synthesize the data from several such surveys. Statistical techniques are employed to determine the representativeness of the greater Phoenix small survey sample. Preliminary archaeological results of the surveys conducted within the Phoenix area are presented and guidelines for the conduct of future surveys are suggested.

We present the production step measure, an ordinal scale index of the labor input in ceramic manufacture. The measure is used to compare the relative labor costs of producing different kinds of pottery vessels. It is then employed in an analysis of archaeological ceramic samples from the Late Postclassic Valley of Oaxaca and the Reserve phase in the Pine Lawn Valley, New Mexico.

Ethnoarchaeological work in the Mayan Highlands has revealed that some individuals continue to make and use chipped stone implements for the manufacture of manos and metates. As a result site formation processes, effects of resource distribution, and stone tool characteristics can still be studied. Chipped tools of industrial glass are also made and used in the area, and provide useful models for some of the prehistoric uses of flaked stone tools, as well as information relating to their storage, curation, discard, and learning contexts.

The application of extremely complex multivariate models of classification to subjective inspectional methods of categorization is analyzed in detail, with the widely used Texas system of dart point typology as a case study. The history of the development of the Texas dart point typological system is sketched. An attempt by Gunn and Prewitt (1975) to objectify the classificatory system by multivariate methods is criticized. The techniques applied were too idiosyncratic to the particular data set used to be of predictive value. Discriminant function and multivariate classification analysis are discussed in detail, emphasizing simple geometrical examples by which the major principles may be grasped. Suggestions for improvement are offered for those who wish to follow Gunn and Prewitt in constructing automatic classification schemes.

Macroplant remains recovered during excavation and by flotation are an ambiguous record of prehistoric human/plant interactions. This paper attempts to clarify the relationship by considering natural and cultural processes affecting the archaeological survival of seeds recovered from sites. Also outlined are some characteristics of these botanical artifacts useful in distinguishing their source. In addition, brief comments are directed toward the problem of biases in the paleoethnobotanical record.

Site acquisition or placing of preservation easements on archaeological sites are the best means currently available for insuring site preservation for future research. The examples presented are intended to inform the archaeological community about agencies involved in the acquisition of archaeological sites.

This paper identifies a domain of inquiry that lies at the interface between archaeology and the philosophy of science. I argue that in the recent past archaeology has contributed little to the philosophy of science. This situation can change if archaeologists succeed in calling those issues or controversies that have genuine philosophical import to the attention of philosophers. This paper provisionally explores two such areas: first, the use of ecological principles to explain human behavior; and second, problems of confirmation in ethnoarchaeology.

Midden shell carbonate O-18 profiles are used to estimate the month of shellfish collection. Fourteen molluscan shells from a coastal midden in Baja California were analyzed to demonstrate the potential of the technique for reconstructing settlement patterns. Ancillary information on paleotemperatures is also recovered from the O-18 values.

Evidence indicates that several temporally distinct periods of prehistoric occupation of the now dry Santa Elena Peninsula of Ecuador coincided with periods of mangrove formation on the Peninsula. This article challenges the premise behind the hypothesis that such hydrophytic vegetation indicates greater rainfall during these periods. An alternative hypothesis is suggested, based upon the argument that known coastal uplift and probable accompanying physiographic changes first created, and later destroyed, the edaphic requirements for such a formation. The need to invoke a hypothesis of climatic shifts is thus dispensed with.

Interpretations of prehistoric social organization based on multivariate statistical analyses of burial practices are becoming increasingly common in the North American archaeological literature. Unfortunately, these analyses and interpretations can incorporate weaknesses ranging from faulty data coding and the mis-application of statistical procedures to biases in the statistical and logical procedures employed. These problems are discussed in light of recent analyses (Tainter 1975a, 1975b, 1977a, 1977b, 1978) which use burial data from six Woodland sites in the riverine midwestern United States to develop a model of social change for the period A.D. 200-800. The results of these particular analyses are shown to be, at best, highly ambiguous and, at worst, contradictory to the proposed interpretations. This paper summarizes the weaknesses in these analyses, both to show the absence of support for the particular proposed interpretations and to illustrate how inappropriate methods can negate potentially useful mortuary research.

A subsurface, modified systematic survey using a mechanical soil auger was carried out in downtown St. Augustine, Florida in 1976. The purpose of the survey, done in conjunction with historians and planners, was to locate the boundaries of the sixteenth-century Spanish settlement founded in 1565. The auger survey attained this goal, and the results were confirmed by three years of subsequent test excavations. The survey comprised the first stage in an ongoing cultural inventory and site assessment program for planning in St. Augustine, and has subsequently been extended to cover the entire corporate limits of the city. Having been tested through the excavation, the auger survey has proven to be a reliable method of revealing subsurface occupational and temporal patterning. It is also a fast, inexpensive and nondestructive survey method for the modern urban environment.

Ninety-six percent of the obsidians in the valley of Guatemala originate in either the El Chayal or the Chimaltenango source systems. To an established hydration rate for El Chayal obsidian, one for Chimaltenango is added, thus expanding chronometric control to most of the central highlands of Guatemala.

Larson's (1972) hypothesis that warfare during the Mississippian period in the Southeast was primarily a struggle over the fertile silt and sandy loam bottomland soils is summarized. This is then contrasted with Gibson's (1974) thesis that, at least in the Lower Mississippi Valley, warfare was caused by the "asymmetrical" nature of the kinship systems found there. Such systems led to status decline over several generations and forced individuals to attempt to offset the decline by achieving success in warfare. The Larson-Gibson dispute is essentially an ontological argument which pits the materialist's view of reality against that of the idealist. This dispute is compared to a similar one between Harris (1971, 1974, 1977, 1979) and Lizot (1977) concerning the explanation of Yamomamo warfare in South America. Following this, the basic material conditions of Mississippian warfare are suggested. The importance of mechanisms such as Gibson has proposed for understanding Mississippian warfare at the "tactical" level is recognized. Finally, primacy is given to Larson"s materialism at the "strategic" level.