Early Holocene archaeological deposits from a San Miguel Island cave have produced sea grass artifacts that include two basketry fragments and hundreds of pieces of cordage. The twined basketry pieces, dating to about 8,600 years ago, may be sandal fragments. Pieces of cordage have been found in strata dated as early as 9,900 years ago. The woven artifacts from Daisy Cave roughly double the antiquity of such objects from the Pacific Coast of North America and add significantly to our knowledge of early Holocene technologies along the California coast.

A large Gramineae pollen, positively identified as corn (Zea mays), from the sediments of Lake Shelby in coastal Alabama at a stratigraphic level securely dated to 3500 B.P. predates any other evidence for corn in eastern North America by at least 1,000 years. Currently, the most frequently cited and accepted date for corn in eastern North America is approximately 1800 B.P. from macrobotanical remains; however, several paleoecological studies have reported corn pollen in older contexts. The Lake Shelby pollen adds to a growing body of microfossil evidence supporting the presence of maize in eastern North America much earlier than the macrobotanical records indicate. Corn was probably present in eastern as well as western North America by 3000 B.P.

This paper examines the application of mammalian taxonomic diversity measures in the analysis of human subsistence. Employing qualitative and quantitative taphonomic analyses on archaeofaunas recovered from a sheltered Fremont site in Utah, numerous small- and medium-sized animal bones (especially Leporidae) are identified as nonhuman accumulations. Measures of taxonomic diversity for the shelter’s entire assemblage suggest that the inhabitants practiced a generalized, broad-spectrum subsistence strategy. Omitting the nonhuman accumulations and calculating similar measures on bones interpreted as human refuse produce a different portrait of subsistence practices. Using this investigation as a case study, mammalian faunal assemblages from six additional Fremont assemblages are examined to further demonstrate that subsistence inferences based on diversity measures should be approached with caution. We demonstrate that measures of taxonomic diversity are valuable tools but should be used in concert with analyses of taphonomic agents. Furthermore, rather than employing only those bones identified to species, we emphasize that specimens identified to taxonomic genera may offer adequate resolution in examining prehistoric diet breadth.

Dorn (1983) has proposed that changes in rock varnish chemistry can be used to date varnished artifacts. Specifically, he suggests that the varnish cation ratio, (K + Ca)/Ti, decreases as the age of the varnished surface increases. Although the method is generating significant archaeological interest, many of its underlying assumptions remain undemonstrated. This paper examines one premise of the method, that the varnishing process is regular. Data obtained from varnish distributional studies challenge this assumption and, when compared with the chemical data obtained from the same archaeological site, suggest that the cation-ratio dating technique may not be able to provide accurate dates for most varnished artifacts.

In southern New England, typological distinctions between Niantic, Hackney Pond, and Shantok ceramics have been used to describe changing settlement patterns for the Late Woodland (500- 350 Years B.P.) and contact (post-A.D. 1600) periods. Based on the initial typologies developed by Rouse (1947) the Shantok ceramic tradition was also considered an ethnic marker of the Mohegan and Pequot tribes based on material recovered from Fort Shantok. Reexamination of stylistic data have suggested that levels of stylistic similarity between late ceramic types actually limit their use as ethnic markers in reconstructing contact period settlement patterns (Lizee 1994; McBride 1990). In this study, neutron activation analysis is employed to determine if compositional profiles correspond with identified stylistic types. The distribution of compositional groups within the region proves to be useful in describing changes in settlement during the Late Woodland and contact periods for southeastern Connecticut. Results of this study suggest that cultural factors underlying the evolution of the historic Pequot and Mohegan tribes, and locations of focal village sites, also had an impact on access to clay resource zones at the time of European contact.

The highly fragmented nature of most archaeological ceramic assemblages makes whole or reconstructible vessels valuable and rare finds. Vessel volume has rarely been systematically quantified because convenient reconstruction methods dealing with sherds and partial vessels have been lacking. Now, with the method presented in this paper, highly accurate volumetric capacities of fragmented vessels can be calculated from carefully prepared vessel profile illustrations. The profile is digitized using a small number of points per vessel (20 to 30 points are usually sufficient). These data are then converted to a volumetric measure using a computerized algorithm based on the geometry of stacked bevel-walled cylinders. This method of determining vessel volumes was tested and shown to be highly repeatable and accurate. Quantifiable sources of error are generally limited to less than one percent per vessel, with the final accuracy limited chiefly by the quality of illustration. With this computerized technique, fragmented vessels no longer need to be fully reconstructed in order to obtain volumetric information.

Prosecutions of looters under the U.S. Government's Archeological Resources Protection Act (ARPA) have heretofore come in cases involving federal or Indian land, thus limiting applications of the law and questions about both the law and the legal rights of artifact collectors. In this essay we examine the GE Mound case, the first prosecution and conviction of a group of looters under ARPA for interstate transport of artifacts illegally removed from private property. The GE Mound case serves as a textbook on issues that currently confront archaeology. The conflicting interests of archaeologists, looters, other artifact collectors, and Native Americans are illustrated in the legal proceedings and the controversies surrounding the prosecution. We review the proceedings and controversies to establish a factual record for this precedent-setting and politically sensitive case.

This paper reports new data on stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes obtained from human skeletal remains found at six prehistoric sites dating between A.D. 400 and 1500 in southern Ontario. Analyses examine more closely the timing and intensity of maize adoption and the importance of animal protein in the diet, adding to earlier work in the region by the same authors (Schwarcz et al. 1985). As a result of changes in preferred methods of extracting bone collagen, a comparison of extraction methods is presented. Results indicate a gradual increase in the importance of maize in the diet over a period of approximately 600 years, from A.D. 650 to 1250, and little change in nitrogen isotope values during the same period. The results are considered within the larger temporal and geographical framework of eastern North America, drawing on stable isotope results from the published literature. Both paleobotanical and isotope data indicate marked differences in the timing and intensity of maize utilization in different regions of northeastern North America. Nitrogen isotope values decrease after around A.D. 1350, suggesting a decrease in animal protein in the diet. Stable isotope data provide one source of evidence for changes in human subsistence patterns and their interpretation relies on complementary data from sources such as the analysis of faunal and botanical remains, settlement patterns, and material culture.

Obsidian studies in the greater American Southwest have come of age. No longer does the region lag behind other adjoining regions both in the understanding of source provenance and the integración of obsidian source studies into regional designs. Most of the archaeological obsidian sources discussed here were originally presented in semi-quantitative form in this journal in 1988 (Shackley 1988a). The purpose here is to present that same data in broadly useable quantitative form calibrated to international standards, update the source descriptions when appropriate, and, finally, present data on a few new sources recently located. This is a necessary step to continue the momentum of obsidian studies in the region and make the information available to all. Finally, some discussion is directed toward the archaeological utility of obsidian studies in the region.

This paper presents a method of identifying lithic reduction loci based on size-sorted debitage in the macroscopic size range. Multivariate analysis of decremental size classes of debitage derived from the use of nested screening provides a means of investigating the differential operation of size sorting at various size levels, so that size thresholds for distinguishing deposits of probable primary and secondary refuse can be identified on empirical grounds. The method is used to distinguish refuse dumps from what appear to be lithic reduction loci within an obsidian core/blade workshop excavated at the Early Postclassic city of Tula, Hidalgo, Mexico.

Carbon and nitrogen isotope ratios of (1) bone collagen from six burials of the Late Woodland Period at Nantucket Island, Massachusetts, and (2) a wide range of potential dietary materials provide data for evaluating coastal diets. Archaeological and historical data give evidence for the availability and use of dietary items. The bases of the food chains and trophic levels define the possible food groups: terrestrial C3 and C4 plants and their consumers, marine C3 and C4-like plants and their consumers, and marine carnivores. From these data, computer analysis of multiple linear mixing equations relating isotope ratios of human bone collagen to those of dietary food groups shows allowable ranges of these food groups in the diet. The results argue for a diet of 40–65 percent oceanic animals, with the rest consisting of substantial amounts of animals from salt marsh and eelgrass meadows or of maize, and minor amounts of C3 plants and their consumers.

During the past 20 years the collection of samples for flotation and subsequent paleoethnobotanical analyses have flourished. At the same time, archaeologists have become increasingly concerned with both the physical and cultural contexts of material remains. With this in mind, we must critically examine the sampling schemes used in the field and laboratory. This article presents a method that can help archaeologists recover the most complete information needed to address both the physical and cultural context of archaeobotanical remains. By comparing flotation samples from features and adjacent locations, we demonstrate the need for systematic, comprehensive sampling and analytical procedures to delineate the chronological, stratigraphical, and cultural relationships between and among materials in adjacent areas.