To frame a model of style valid for archaeology in the general case it is necessary to begin by stripping away all the specialized connotations the word has assumed until there only remain the fundamental tenets without which the essence of the matter would itself dissolve and escape. It is never easy to feel that one has reached the bottom of things. Nevertheless, the pursuit of this exercise over a considerable period of time has gradually led me to three conclusions which I regard as the basic tenets upon which a general model can be constructed. The first is that all theories of style ultimately rest upon two primitive givens: that, whatever else it may entail, style (a) concerns a highly specific and characteristic manner of doing something, and (b) that this manner is always peculiar to a specific time and place. The second conclusion is that, when projected into the realm of archaeology, style in this general sense is the perfect complement of function regarded in an equally general sense.

Obsidian artifacts from Edzna, Dzibilnocac, and Santa Rosa Xtampak in northern Campeche, Mexico, have been analyzed by means of X-ray fluorescence in order to determine their trace element composition. The results are compared to the trace element composition of obsidian sources in Guatemala and Mexico. It is postulated that the obsidian from the three sites in northern Campeche came from highland Guatemala, mostly from El Chayal. Our data are compared to the published data of other archaeological sites in Mesoamerica from which obsidian samples have been analyzed. Finally, obsidian transport routes are postulated between northern Campeche, Mexico, and highland Guatemala.

At least two sets of stelae at Seibal, Peten, Guatemala are “look-alikes,” and this resemblance may be empirically demonstrated by a series of measurements. The scant variation encountered between measurements of some of the features of the figures on the stelae suggest the use of templates or patterns as a traditional technique among Mayan sculptors during the Classic period.

Surface survey on the piedmont near the present village of Xoxocotlan, Oaxaca, Mexico, has revealed the pattern of prehistoric settlement around an irrigation canal that distributed water from a dammed reservoir located on the flanks of Monte Alban. Intensive systematic collection techniques have permitted quantitative statements to be made about the density of occupation and the contribution of the irrigation system to the food supply of Monte Alban.

This paper comprises a survey of selected publications describing various kinds of design analyses applied to pottery from two regions of the world that are relatively well known archaeologically: the U.S. Southwest and the Near East. My purpose is simply to demonstrate some progress, some problems, and some potentialities of this form of archaeological analysis as it has been used in these two geographic areas where painted pottery makes up a large and significant proportion of the prehistoric record.

It has long been recognized that certain macro and microanalyses of soil and midden constituents can aid archaeologists in determining the strategy and evolution of subsistence activities as well as in dealing with questions of site function and intra-site variability. Applied to the site of Medaños la Joyada (El 102) located in the Moche valley on the north coast of Peru, these techniques: (1) shed light on a subsistence strategy characterized by plant cultivation and the exploitation of marine resources found associated with the phenomena referred to as “sunken gardens” (Parsons 1968; Rowe 1969; Moseley 1969; Parsons and Psuty 1975); (2) provide comparative information for the data collected by Parsons and Psuty (1975) in their excavation of sunken garden sites located in the Chilca valley on the central coast of Peru; and (3) call into question the utility of the “small site methodology” as outlined by Moseley and Mackey (1972).

This paper describes the contemporary clay mine at Hacienda Yo’ K'at, Yucatan, and documents the archaeological association of a restored sherd-tool of Puuc slateware in a collapsed tunnel of the mine. The shape of the sherd and its in situ position suggest that it was used to gather clay in the mine during the period of A.D. 800-1000. The paper suggests the relationship of these data to the neutron activation studies of Yucatan pottery and their contribution to the study of ancient Maya trade.

Archaeologists dealing with large faunal samples have all faced the problem of recording and retrieving masses of data regarding animal bones. This paper presents a comprehensive computer coding system for all vertebrate skeletal parts. The system utilizes alphabetic abbreviations that can be automatically translated into a fully hierarchic numerical code. The format is readily learned and can be used in conjunction with standard canned computer programs available at many institutions.

Polished “stone gorgets” may have had the same function as contemporary ceramic tools.

Nine hundred eighty Early Iron Age graves at Hallstatt, Austria, were excavated between 1846 and 1863. Since then, no really comparable body of material has been discovered in temperate Europe. A report is presented on some initial attempts to reconsider this classic material using quantitative methods. The analyses reported attempt to determine from grave goods the sex, age, status, and the relative date of buried individuals. Graves are graded according to their likely integrity and are described by the types of object they contain. These descriptors are then subjected to some regular forms of data analysis and some provisional general conclusions are drawn.

A major theoretical issue in studies of the cultural ecology of Central Mexico has been the role of irrigation in the evolution of the state in that area. A major methodological problem has been the location and dating of prehistoric canal systems. A recent discovery near Xalostoc, of a stratified canal system (representing three distinct periods) in the exposed profiles of contemporary adobe extraction pits, offers an ideal situation for dating of prehistoric canals. All three are apparently Pre-Coyotlatelco in date and the settlement history suggests that some of them are contemporary with Teotihuacan.

Plants metabolize carbon dioxide photosynthetically either through a 3-carbon (Calvin) or 4-carbon pathway. Most plants are of the C-3 type; C-4 plants are primarily grasses adapted to hot, arid environments. Since C-4 plants have a higher 13C/12C ratio than C-3 plants, animals and humans with a significant C-4 plant food-intake will have higher 13C/12C ratios as well. Maize is a C-4 plant, hence maize cultivators living in predominantly C-3 plant environments should show significant isotopic differences from local hunter-gatherers in their skeletal remains; the importance of maize in their diet should also be measurable. The practicability of this method is demonstrated for New York State archaeological materials and wider implications are mentioned.

The evaluation of the significance of archaeological resources, mandated by federal, state, and local statutes, has forced American archaeologists to justify why sites or their contents should be preserved. The currently popular approach toward evaluation emphasizes determination of the relevance of archaeological resources to regional research problems. However, this approach fails to recognize that resources have values to research problems not yet conceived. It is argued, therefore, that evaluation must focus directly on the observational properties of resources. Using Spaulding's article, "Dimensions of Archaeology," as an initial inspiration, five such properties were defined: variety, quantity, clarity, integrity, and environmental context. A recent project in coastal California provides examples of how this alternative approach may be used.

Excavation of 19 prehistoric burial mounds at ten archaeological sites of coastal West Mexico produced 245 human skeletons during the summers of 1968-74. These archaeological sites are situated within a coastal swamp known as the Marismas Nacionales which encompasses parts of southern Sinaloa and northern Nayarit. Seventy-nine of the 245 specimens unearthed possess complete or nearly complete crania. Examination of these skulls in addition to 25 crania from the nearby sites of Guasave, Sinaloa and Amapa, Nayarit, reveals four varieties of cranial deformation. The skull shapes closely resemble motifs found among figurine heads from the same region and time period in Mexico, suggesting that a single conceptual ideal was held in common by those artificially shaping the infants’ skulls and those manufacturing the clay figurines.

Knapping experiments and examination of flaked stone objects distributed throughout portions of southwestern Imperial Valley and northern Baja California indicate that criteria other than presence or absence of percussion bulbs can be used to support the artifactual nature of certain fractured stones.

Aerial thermograms of an area in north-central Arizona immediately to the north of Merriam Crater have revealed the existence of parallel arrays of alternating ridge and swale linear features in the ashfall zone of Sunset Crater. The patterns are not easily identified on simultaneously acquired panchromatic photographs. Pollen and soil analyses confirm the highly geometric pattern to be a previously unrecognized prehistoric agricultural field. Recovery of Sinagua sherds of known age found at nearby living sites and in the field indicates that the farming activity occurred between A.D. 1065 and 1250. After 700 years of abandonment, local plant succession for the field has not yet fully re-established the probable former shrub community, apparently due to differences in physical and chemical properties existing between field and nonfield soil areas, related perhaps to prehistoric agricultural practices.

The evolutionary stage designated chiefdom or ranked society is examined for its utility in archaeological research. The concept of redistribution is abandoned as an indicator of chiefdoms. A cybernetic model of chiefdoms is presented, and measures of mortuary differentiation, ritual-regulatory networks, subsistence autonomy, and part-time craft specialization are proposed as indicators of this type of socio-political organization.

It is argued that conflict and the need for defense arose in the Late Woodland Stage of the Northeast and Ontario in response to competition for a vital resource, deer hides. Furthermore, the distribution of populations and the size of hunting territories can be directly linked to sustained yields of this scarce good.

Faunal remains recovered from the lower levels of the Connley Caves (south central Oregon) in the late 1960’s were attributed to turkey (Meleagris gallopavo), thus implying a major prehistoric range extension for this bird. Reanalysis of the Connley Caves avifauna demonstrates that this material should have been assigned to sage grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus), and that the original investigators erred by confusing sexual dimorphism with taxonomically significant variation.

Developments in environmental quality testing have revealed the need for a reappraisal of the methods of phosphate determination employed by archaeologists. The results of such a reappraisal are presented with recommendations for the implementation of a new technique of quantitative phosphate determination called sequential fractionation. With this technique three discrete fractions are determined by differential solubility criteria. These fractions closely approximate in amount the major types of inorganic phosphate known to be retained by soils. Sample analyses are presented which indicate that the method can be employed to distinguish between natural and human deposited phosphate and to identify features.