The archaeological site commonly referred to as Spiro is becoming more and more a topic for discussion among Mississippi Valley archaeologists. This developing interest and enthusiasm in the Spiro site has been stimulated in various ways; by examination of artifacts in private collections or in museums, by an increasing reference to Spiro materials in the literature, and through recognition of Spiro as a grandiose example of the so-called “Southern Cult” complex. Although there has been considerable interest in the site, little synthesized information has been published. Only recently, Orr has presented the most definitive facts available.

Probably the study of petroglyphs and pictographs has been the most neglected field of archaeology. This disregard has prevailed despite the fact that both types of drawings exist in almost every state. Few attempts have been made to study the relations between different sites or between petroglyphs and other remains. Petroglyphs are regarded with little concern because little is known about them and detailed descriptions will not help to solve the problems confronting the investigator.

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

A. J. Waring, Jr. has reported certain Hopewellian elements in northern Georgia. His comments reminded me of a site, previously unreported, in the vicinity of Franklin, Tennessee.

I report from my field notes a site discovered two miles west of Franklin, atop Reid Hill, a knob 140 feet high: “Built on the flat top of the hill, the conical mound measures 18 feet high by 80 feet in diameter. The mound is built of stones and earth. (These stones are large and numerous. It is essentially a stone mound.) A deep trench had been cut into the east side of the mound but no sherds, flint, or other material were visible.” Its situation, on a high hill in the flat Harpeth Valley, is similar to that of the many stone mounds reported from Georgia. No central depression was observed, but it may have been destroyed by the trench. I was unable to learn who dug into the mound so do not know whether artifacts were recovered.

Llewellyn Lemont Loud, archaeologist and senior preparator in the University of California Museum of Anthropology, died in Oakland, September 6, 1946.

Born August 18, 1879, in Woodland, Aroostook County, Maine, of farming-stock parents of Scotch ancestry settled in Penobscot County (the name was originally McLoud), Loud graduated in the classical course of the Caribou High School at the age of twenty-two, being able to leave the parental farm for study only during the winter months.

During the summer of 1941 the writer made a survey of the sites in Canyon de Chelly National Monument, Arizona, which represent the later phases of Modified Basket Maker and the early phases of the Developmental Pueblo period. The object of this survey was to trace the development of architecture from the early slab-lined pit houses to the above-ground dwellings constructed of linearly-laid stone masonry. Since the writer lacked the facilities for any intensive excavations, the information contained in the paper was on the whole based on surface observation.

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.

The Leake mounds are located 1½ miles west of Cartersville, Georgia, on the north side of the Dallas-Rockmart road. They lie a short distance back from the left bank of the Etowah River but are still in the river bottom. They were briefly mentioned by Moorehead in Etowah Papers, but he did not discuss the type of material there. The group consists of three mounds, of which one was flattopped and the others domed, at least in recent years. The mounds lie directly across the Etowah River from Ladd's Mountain, where Waring recently reported the destruction of a tomb of Hopewellian type. In 1940 the Leake mounds were also sold to road builders and the greater part of them now forms the fill for the new bridge at that point. Pat Wofford, Jr., of Atco, Georgia, observed the destruction of the mounds and salvaged as much material as possible. The other authors are indebted to him for calling to their attention the significance of the remains.

Two recent articles have pointed out the use of wheeled toys in pre-Spanish times in Mexico. Evidence points to ceramic wheeled toys having been used in several localities in that country. Ekholm found them at Panuco, Vera Cruz; Staub collected one just south of Panuco; Drucker describes several from Tres Zapotes, Vera Cruz; Charnay dug up some at Tenenepango, southeast of Mexico City; and one was obtained by Saville in the “valley of Oaxaca.” According to Caso, copper animals with legs perforated as for an axle probably came from Panama.

At the junction of Redwood Road and Mountain Boulevard in Oakland, California is an outcrop of rock containing hematite which shows signs of having been worked aboriginally. The exposed stratum measures 30 by 20 feet by 6.5 feet at its highest point. Hematite occurs in almost pure form as thin layers in the main body of rock.

Sizeable cavities can be seen at the base of the deposit, indicating where the hematite was chipped out. Fire may have been used as an aid in getting out the ore, this being suggested by the presence of charcoal and smoke blackening. No quarrying tools were found.

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 number of unusual ornaments of gold and copper were found several years ago in a site on Apalachee Bay, Wakulla County, Florida (Fig. 74). This site lies in the St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge a few hundred feet east of its lookout tower, several hundred yards south of the headquarters, and a mile northwest of the St. Marks lighthouse. The site is a burial ground, showing no signs of habitation other than some sherds and flakes of chert scattered on the surface. The burials are found close under the sandy surface on a small natural ridge which lies along the shore where high land merges into extensive marshes. Nearby are two other sites, both shallow refuse areas. One lies about 150 yards to the west, near the gate of the present lookout tower. The other is under the buildings of the present refuge headquarters.

In a review of a recent book by the writer, The Origins and History of the Mayas, Part I, Introductory Investigations, Los Angeles, 194S, Mr. J. Eric S. Thompson, of Carnegie Institution, levels criticism against what he considers its main thesis, the identification of the Itzas with the rulers of the Maya “Old Empire.” Although the full development of this thesis is planned for publication in Parts II and III of his work, the writer desires the privilege of making a brief answer to this criticism in the present journal.

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.

On May 25, 1946 Mrs. Wauchope and I were the guests of Mr. and Mrs. M. L. Vincent, Jr., of Lake Charles, Louisiana, on a picnic to Little Pecan Island in southwest Louisiana. During the day, we made a small excavation to sample a ridge which had previously yielded some human bones and fragments of pottery.

About five miles of marsh separate Little Pecan Island from Grand Chenier Ridge, not far from the town of Grand Chenier (Fig. 54). The waters of Little Pecan Lake wash its north and east shores. The island is about three miles long and is nowhere over 500 yards in width.