It seems to be a general rule that sciences begin their development with the study of the unusual. They have to develop considerable sophistication before they interest themselves in the commonplace. American archaeology has been no exception. It began with digging in mounds and the collecting of choice objects and has now progressed to the excavation of camp sites and the delimitation of culture complexes as wholes. Nevertheless, there is still a tendency to underrate the importance of simple utilitarian artifacts of types which are widely distributed in space and time. This may be justifiable as long as the archaeologist's interest is centered on foci and aspects, but such types become of extreme importance as soon as one attempts to broaden the frame of reference. Thus the fact that certain stone artifact types seem to be present throughout most of the area east of the Rockies, from Folsom on, becomes highly significant when we contrast this area with others in the New and Old Worlds.

Semi-Subterranean houses with an entrance through the roof are a well known feature of the interior of British Columbia, having been described for the Thompson, the Chilcotin, the Shuswap and others of the upper Fraser River valley. They have, in fact, an even wider distribution east of the Coast and Cascade Ranges, extending south over the Plateau and into northern California. Although this type of dwelling existed among the Aleuts, it appears that the coastal people to the south of them, even in Alaska, were either unfamiliar with the pattern or rejected it in favor of others. Sporadically, along the Pacific Coast all the way from California to Bering Sea, house floors were excavated to varying depths, sometimes even to two levels; but, everywhere, the houses characteristically lack the roof entrance and, except for sweathouses in the south and Bering Sea Eskimo dwellings in the north, even the idea of an earth covering is absent. In view of this fundamental divergence, it is interesting that subterranean structures do appear in several places on the coast of British Columbia.

This paper is an attempt to clarify the meaning of the terms “type” and “variation” when applied to archaeological materials. Although they are used constantly in speech and literature in almost every conceivable context, it must be admitted that archaeology has no generally accepted, impersonal methods of establishing the scope and application of these terms. Kluckhohn has recently written:

The summer of 1941 saw the American Museum in possession of a permit to excavate two caves on the Crow Indian Reservation in south-central Montana. Those caves were selected from other possibilities the year before by my colleague, Junius Bird; but, owing to his absence, the permit, originally issued to him, was changed in my favor. August and September were chosen as the most favorable time, and five weeks were devoted to actual field operations.

Many factors contribute to the result that archaeological field research in Middle America is done, not, as generally in the United States, by many small expeditions from many institutions, but by a few organizations whose activities are mainly or entirely devoted to this region. In recent years the Mexican government, the assistance of which is now embodied in the Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, the Carnegie Institution of Washington, and the American Museum of Natural History, have contributed the major part of such research. For several years past, the joint expeditions of the National Geographic Society and the Smithsonian Institution have taken an important part, and during the season of 1941–1942 three expeditions of the Institute of Andean Research, under the auspices of the Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs, carried on excavations in Middle America.

One of the activities of the University of New Mexico's 1939 field school at Chaco Canyon was a reconnaissance excavation in the vicinity of Largo Canyon, to the northeast of the Chaco, proper. This was a continuation of the survey and excavations of the past four seasons, as a part of the project for outlining chronologically and geographically the culture known as Gallina. The extent of the Gallina manifestation to the east and south has already been fairly accurately delineated, but its western and northwestern boundaries are unknown. Since the San Juan and Mesa Verde centers lie to the northwest, it was deemed imperative that the cultural connections in that direction be determined. Typical Gallina unit houses are common on the headwaters of the Largo and in the Llegua Canyon area which heads in the same region. The extremely rugged area lying between this district and the San Juan and Mesa Verde region, however, is not only difficult of access, but is practically unknown archaeologically.

During parts of the seasons of 1937 and 1938, parties from the Montana Archaeological Survey excavated at a campsite exposed by one of the many cave-ins in abandoned tunnels of the Red Lodge Coal Mines, near Red Lodge, Montana. The first season's work was under the direction of the late H. Melville Sayre, then Director of the Survey, while Raymond Thompson was leader of the 1938 party. Laboratory analysis and interpretation were completed by the writer, who is indebted to Paul Reiter, of the University of New Mexico for critical comment.

Like the other cultured peoples of Mexico and Central America, the Tarascans of the time of the Conquest had knowledge of the calendar. Indeed, in the Relation de Michoacán–an anonymous work which, as we shall later see, was written between 1540 and 1541, –are mentioned the names of thirteen Tarascan months, and for four of them the corresponding date in the Christian calendar is given. One more month, although not named, is said to have fallen on November 14.

In archaeological sites plant remains are frequently encountered either as artifacts or as natural deposits. A study of such remains commonly yields much valuable information, not only for the archaeologist but for other investigators as well. Thus, the former vegetation of a region and its possible bearing upon the previously existing climate are often revealed. Both the botanist and the paleontologist are interested in the preservation of plant remains and the structural and chemical changes which they have undergone since their deposition or submergence. In addition, of course, the careful study of woody artifacts frequently affords significant information regarding the Customs and practices of primitive peoples in working their materials. In order that the greatest value may be obtained from a study of botanical materials, however, it is essential that certain precautions and techniques be used in collecting and preserving them. Unfortunately, much botanical information available in an archaeological site is either discarded or overlooked in the process of digging and exposing the site.

Holmes states that steatite was widely used by the Indian tribes north of Mexico for the manufacture of implements, ornaments and utensils. The manufacture of stone vessels predominated on the Pacific coast, especially in the Santa Barbara region where sites have stone vessel fragments in all strata, and along the Atlantic coast, where this trait was especially associated with the Old Algonkian culture of the North Atlantic. The use of stone vessels in the areas in which pottery was used, both in the Mississippi Valley and the Southeast, although much less common, is indicated by occasional references to vessels or fragments on various sites and by the presence of quarries such as those described by Jones3 in the Tallapoosa River region of Alabama. The comparative infrequency of these artifacts on sites in the lower Mississippi Valley inspired the preparation of this report of a large cache of fragments of stone vessels found on a site in West Carroll Parish in northeastern Louisiana.

In the lake region of the Valley of Mexico Nature and Man have combined to .produce radical changes in the character of the landscape. The giant elliptic bowl about forty-five miles wide by fifty-five miles long, which was formed during the elevation of the Mexican plateau, has been the stage of violent volcanic outbursts, followed by interludes of sedimentation. In geologically speaking recent times and, accordingly, since man made his appearance in the valley, sedimentation has been the dominating, if not sole factor. Owing to the fact that the Valley of Mexico has no natural outlet, the sediments brought down from the surrounding steep and high mountain ranges have accumulated in enormous quantities, forming a huge floor, over which the water from the mountain sides spreads in a shallow sheet. Since precipitation is often violent, and very irregularly distributed throughout the year, and since even evaporation under the strong tropical sun is too slow to prevent great quantities of water from remaining in the valley for a considerable time, the history of man in this region is a narrative of an endless struggle against the wet element. Even today the work is going on, although the tunnel outlet finished in 1900 has put a stop to inundations on a large scale. The colonial works have turned the lake bottom into an arid and salty desert, only partly covered by water.

Two recent papers, one by Arthur Woodward, the other by J. Alden Mason, have called attention to the transportation of artifacts by the process of animal migrations. The impulse for both of these works derived from the finding of an Eskimo arrowhead imbedded in the breast of a duck shot at Bakersfield, California. Similar cases from the states of Indiana, North Carolina, and Nebraska are on record in these reports. Undoubtedly there are other known instances, but these four should serve to illustrate the fact that sizeable migrating birds may import projectiles of outland origin from tremendous distances.

I should like to present some additional instances which have come to my attention. These deal chiefly with transport of artifacts by migrating sea mammals and fish. The larger sea mammals are peculiarly suited,to carrying weapon points, since they have a thick protective fat covering in which a projectile could remain imbedded without having a harmful or hindering effect on the animal's health or movement.

The existence of this rock shelter was first brought to attention through a gift, which included two woven yucca sandals, made to the Laboratory of Anthropology by Mr. Arthur Bibo. A visit to the site from which the specimens were obtained having revealed a promising situation, plans were laid for excavation. Investigation here was deemed particularly important since no dry cave material had been previously reported from this section. Mr. Ben Florsheim, the owner of the property on which the shelter was located, readily granted permission to carry on the projected work. Preliminary preparation having been made, the writer, assisted by Mr. Stanley Stubbs of the Laboratory staff, began actual operations on November 17th, 1932.

Results in the synthetic studies of archaeology and phases of Recent physiography and geology are not unfamiliar to investigators in many parts of the world. These are generally concerned, however, with somewhat ideal conditions, cave or arid, for both archaeologic discovery and the revealing of physiographic succession.

El Tepalcate, an archaeologic site on a low flat peninsula situated just off the eastern shore of Lake Texcoco and near the town of Chimalhuacan, is the site described by Ola Apenes in the preceding article.

The excavations made at the site consisted of fifteen separate pits and trenches by which an attempt was made to find stratified materials and to determine the nature of the circular heaps of stone and the alignments of stone forming large rectangles which are the only architectural features visible on the surface of the site.

This paper is a plea for the complete reworking of the Iroquoian material, archaeological and historical, from the point of view of acculturation. The writer is not the first to make this plea. Both Fenton and Hunt have pointed out the necessity of reworking the source material for Iroquoian history; Fenton regards the 400 years of contact between Iroquois and white and between Iroquois and Algonkian as an excellent source “for an acculturation study showing the effects of the interaction of Indian and White culture, the interaction of Indian and Indian… and the adjustment of culture to environment.”

During the autumn of 1941, excavations in Modified Basketmaker sites in Mesa Verde National Park were carried on, for the twin purposes of clearing well-preserved pit houses that could be used in the interpretative program of the park and of adding to the meager amount of information on Modified Basketmaker culture in the park area. Although this period has been studied extensively in adjacent districts, little work has been done on it in the Mesa Verde.

The geology of the Clovis site cannot be fully understood from examination of the immediate surroundings. While the studies published by the investigators who have been excavating the vertebrate fossils and human artifacts have contributed much to an understanding of the locality, there are important items in the regional physiography and geology which have not heretofore been described in print. The writer has for several years been attempting to complete a manuscript on the Llano Estacado, its cap rock, and similar cap rocks of the world. This study is now essentially completed and the manuscript will, it is hoped, be submitted to a geological periodical in the near future. For the guidance of archaeologists, this short outline of salient features bearing on the Clovis locale is offered in advance of fuller demonstration.