A quantitative method is presented which assists the archaeologist in distinguishing between bones resulting from human activity and those deposited in archaeological contexts by non-cultural means. The assumption is that relatively incomplete carcasses are more likely to have been deposited or disturbed by extra-corporeal activities such as carnivores, raptorial birds, rodents, stream action, or man. This method is illustrated on faunal data from 3 sites in the High Rock county of extreme northwestern Nevada.

At the lowland Maya site of Altar de Sacrificios, two burials have been interpreted in such a way as to suggest: (1) that matrilineal principles of social organization may have been operative in some segments of Classic Maya society; and (2) that Maya political units may have been tied together by marriage alliances. These two hypotheses are examined here in the light of anthropological kinship theory. It is concluded that such marriage alliances are in the realm of possibility, but that matrilineality is unlikely.

The role of scavengers, especially dogs, with reference to archaeological faunal remains is not always clear. While distortion admittedly results from the activities of these animals, total destruction of all such evidence is questioned. Emphasis is placed upon fish remains in the examples and both ethnographic and archaeological data are used. It is argued that a more thorough knowledge of the nature of the food items themselves will greatly aid in assessing both their potential archaeological visibility and the information they may yield.

Irwin and Wormington (1970) employ cumulative curves to assess overall similarity between artifact complexes of the Great Plains. Properly applied, ogives are relevant only to R-mode phenomena. Numerical taxonomic aids are advanced as procedures more ef ficacious for such Q-mode analyses. Numerical taxonomy and computer techniques in general are currently within the reach of every archaeologist.

The earliest style of petrographs known for the Glen Canyon region, Arizona and Utah, is believed to be much older than previously held. Between 4000 to 8000 yr ago is the suggested new beginning date.

Zoomorphic beads of carved and polished hard stone, most often red jasper, have been found in Late Archaic, Poverty Point or unknown context across the southern states from western Louisiana and Arkansas to western Alabama. These beads have features that resemble locusts, specifically the grasshopper and the cyclical cicada. The most regularly accentuated feature is a midbody disc or projecting plate that is thought to represent the auditory organs or vibrating membranes of these insects and which participate in production of a relatively tremendous volume of sound. It is proposed that the locust bead concept, involving an element of magic, spread across the southern states in multicultural context at a time level near 1000 B.C.

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.

The statement of Fritz and Plog that an explicit formulation of potential laws must precede the collection of data is challenged on the grounds that (1) the collection of data, from some areas at least, must be made now or it will be lost forever, and (2) relevant archaeology can be done with salvage materials, gathered without knowledge of their ultimate use.

The article recently published by Sabloff and Smith (AMER. ANT. 34:278-286, 1969) adds little beyond elaboration to archaeological classification and further tends to perpetuate some common and basic errors. Some of these flaws are noted along with their manifestation in the type-variety system as propounded by Sabloff and Smith, and a direction to solution is indicated.

In a recent note, Salwen challenges Emery and Edwards, who earlier reiterated a suggestion by Byers and others that absence of marine shells in low levels of some Atlantic Coast middens might record “failure of the local inhabitants to learn to eat marine mollusks.” Salwen's “environmental” explanation for this phenomenon is challenged in turn. Further, in a list of drowned and near-drowned sites in the Northeast that he curiously says “can be considerably expanded,” his most recent citation is 14 years old, and he ignores more recent work. Finally, his belief that peat layers may protect artifact assemblages and preserve drowned coastal sites in “relatively undisturbed” condition is questioned.

Thomas criticizes the authors’ use of cumulative curves for the comparison of Paleo-Indian industries. While accepting Thomas’ theoretical point of view, we attempt to explain the use of the curves in meaningful and pragmatic terms.

The future of field archaeology in some parts of North America is seriously threatened by rampant pot-hunting. Archaeologists should capitalize on popular concern against the looting of foreign antiquities to build better public cooperation for site preservation within the United States.

Recently, an article appeared in American Antiquity that attempted to correct and supplement Don E. Crabtree's ethnohistoric discussion of obsidian blade making. Unfortunately, this article did not probe as deeply as was possible into the available source material. As a supplement to a supplement, this note traces the antecedents of the sources given and provides relevant portions of those earlier texts.

Test excavations at Aguacatal, located on the Xicalango peninsula, western Campeche, revealed chultuns (water cisterns) of the Late Classic period. Modern chultun construction by Chontal Indians, as late as the 1940's, followed the Late Classic period methods and style. First hand descriptions of the construction and use of chultuns by the Chontol is an aid in archaeological interpretation.

Neurolepis is an easily recognizable bamboo-grass found as the dominant vegetation in many of the wettest and most remote Andean montane grassland areas. The plant has little economic value and is usually burned to produce pasture or facilitate hunting. After burning, regrowth is extremely slow, so that areas previously occupied by Neurolepis are apparently permanently colonized by tussock pasture grasses. It seems likely, therefore, that the existing remnant areas of Neurolepis represent the areas which have not been substantially affected by man in historic, and perhaps prehistoric, times.

The Maya habit of abandoning a hut after the occupant's death and the readiness with which they moved communal sites may seriously affect archaeological estimates of population.