There are two competing views regarding the nature of human adaptation in the Great Basin. One, proposed by Jennings, is that the adaptation was based on the intensive use of all available resources, and remained essentially static from 8000 B.C. to the present, being unaffected by climatic changes. The other view, proposed by Heizer and others, suggests that the regional adaptation varied through time and space, being affected by local resource availability and climatic changes. The validity of these two views was tested by regional surface sampling in Owens Valley, eastern California. Survey data were analyzed by a variety of quantitative and qualitative techniques, revealing a complex sequence of changes in subsistence-settlement patterns. These data tend to support the view that prehistoric adaptation in the Great Basin was variable, rather than static, through time.

Most investigators of Maya chronology consider that the Maya measured time intervals by a modified vigesimal count of days or, alternatively, by a tun count in which the uinal and the kin were fractions of the tun. The claim is made that neither of these interpretations is satisfactory and that the Maya perceived their time count to be a composite count comprised of three distinct counts whose respective units are the tun, the uinal and the kin. Support for this contention is found in the early post-Conquest writings as well as in the representations of time counts in the inscriptions and codices. Adoption of this interpretation leads to a clearer understanding of the Maya use of positional notation and also serves to explain some peculiar epigraphic features present in several chronological counts.

Three passages in the hieroglyphic inscriptions of the Maya city of Tikal in Guatemala indicate inaugurations to the throne of three rulers at A.D. 682, 734, and 768. The distribution of the rulers' name-glyphs in the inscriptions, as well as differences in the art and architecture of the time-periods thus marked, support the validity of the three inaugural dates. The parentage of the rulers and the likelihood that the three rulers were members of the same family is discussed. The author suggests that personality differences among the three rulers can be discerned.

Building upon the work of several other people, Clemency Coggins has recently presented a tentative reconstruction of Tikal dynastic history, complete with a proposed genealogy of the rulers themselves. These are important data for any attempt to reconstruct the social and political organization of Tikal, and this paper explores their implications. The data are consistent with models of ancient Maya sociopolitical organization in which patrilineal descent, stratification, and strong central political authority were important. At Tikal, this seems to have been the case from the first century A.D. until Terminal Classic times. A currently popular view that, in Early Classic times, positions of prestige, power, and authority were open to anyone who had the necessary talent, wealth, and support is probably untenable, at least for Tikal.

A total of 383 obsidian hydration measurements are reported for highland Ecuador. Specifically, hydration rim measurements have been used to test the reliability of five radiocarbon dates from the site of El Inga, and three of them are shown to be too young.

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.

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).

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

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.

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.

Neutron activation analysis was used to determine the chemical composition of sources of obsidian artifacts from the Paleoindian site of Los Tapiales in Guatemala with an occupation date of around 10,700 radiocarbon years ago. Three different sources were detected, all between 50 and 75 km from Los Tapiales. The predominant source represented in our ten samples was in the Rio Pixcayá area, and another was in the Tajumulco area. A third source, identified by comparison with other work, appears to be in the area of San Bartolomé Milpas Altas.

The problem of teaching archaeology to large, lay audiences has received little attention from specialist anthropologists. A very diverse audience with specific attitudes to archaeology takes such courses. Few people are interested in more specialist training, although most beginning courses emphasize this aspect of archaeology. The paper describes some of the basic course content desirable in an introductory course and some of the methods that can be used to teach it. It concludes that the specialist training of professional archaeologists and the reward system of the discipline make it difficult for them to face the challenge of teaching beginning students.