A semisubterranean cane and grass house was recently excavated at the site of Chilca on the central coast of Peru. The context in which it was found, as well as its associated radiocarbon date of 5370 ± 120 B.P., indicates that the house was made by early preceramic horticulturists. Seven burials were found inside. The remarkable state of preservation in which the house was found provided sufficient data for a full-scale reconstruction of the structure. This small, conical, beehive-type house is the earliest artificial shelter yet reported from Peru.

In 1963 archaeological investigations were conducted by the Arizona State Museum in a series of Hohokam sites on the Gila River Indian Reservation of south-central Arizona. Significant data were derived from two of the eight sites tested. One site, Arizona U:13:9, included two small villages. The earlier village was first occupied during the Snaketown phase, which is estimated to date between A.D. 300 and 500. Occupation continued through the Sacaton phase or until about A.D. 1100. The later village was occupied during two phases of the Classic period, or from A.D. 1100 to about 1450. At this ruin both inhumations and cremations, apparently contemporaneous, were found in a distinct burial zone. The patterning noted in the placement of these two types of burials is a new feature for the Hohokam Classic period. The other site, Arizona U:13:11, a small Soho phase village that was occupied between A.D. 1100 and 1300, is important for the support it adds to the establishment of a pattern of burial placement during the Classic period.

Three factors contribute to differences between archaeological samples: sampling error and functional and temporal differences between the parent populations from which the samples are drawn. Many archaeologists have explained such differences as due only to temporal variations between the parent populations, thereby ignoring sampling error and relegating functional specificity to a minor role.

A statistical analysis of potsherd frequencies in samples made by the Chicago Natural History Museum from an eastern Arizona pueblo, the Carter Ranch site, was undertaken using UNIVAC. By taking into account sampling error, differences between parent populations appeared that could most logically be attributed to functional differences. From the calculations, four possible functional constellations of pottery types were discovered, four types of rooms were isolated, a probable ceremonial complex of five pottery types was established, and differential areal disposal of sherds was found. It was impossible to demonstrate temporal differences between provenience units on the basis of sherd frequencies. Any such differences played a minor part in contributing to sample variation as compared to functional differences between provenience units.

Prehistoric human and nonhuman feces from alcoves in the Glen Canyon region of southern Utah are a rich source of pollen and spores. The dominant pollen types (determined in a 200-grain pollen count) vary greatly from sample to sample, making stratigraphic and climatic interpretation very difficult. The record of economic plant pollen appears to reflect the prehistoric Pueblo diet. Cleome, Zea, Cucurbita, and Opuntia are the most abundant economic pollen types. Long-distance transport of pollen from distant montane forests will account for the presence of occasional pollen grains of spruce, fir, and alder in certain samples. The salvage and study of ancient human feces promises to reveal new information about the environment and diet of prehistoric man in the Southwest, a development of interest to both the ecologist and the ethnobotanist.

The residue of an archaeological site, which represents a collection of cultural and noncultural materials, provides quantitative information from which some indication of cultural practices and ecological and chronological relationships can be extracted. If quantitative methods of analysis are to be successfully applied to archaeological remains, the archaeologist must either totally excavate a site, recovering all the elements in the residue, or he can devise some system of sampling it. Total excavation is seldom possible or feasible because of limited resources. Consequently, he resorts to the process of sampling, that is, excavating only a portion of the whole site. His field objective is to collect as representative a sample of elements as possible with a minimum expenditure of time, labor, and money. Achieving this objective depends upon following a sampling procedure. Stratified-cluster sampling is a method proposed to achieve this objective. A sampling design of 13 steps is presented to serve as a guide to this method.

Sahagún's General History of the Things of New Spain, a Nahuatl text completed in 1555, contains an ethnographic description of cire perdue gold casting. Aboriginal copper casting was not described. However, it is believed that his gold-casting description also constitutes a basically valid description of copper casting. To test this, experiments were undertaken to cast copper bells following Sahagún's description of gold casting and using native materials whenever possible. From the resultant successful casting of several copper bells it is inferred that the above belief is valid.

Recent ethnographic work among the Tzotzil Indians in Highland Chiapas has revealed the presence of cosmological concepts and patterns of behavior that may have an important historical relationship to the ancient Lowland Maya. While these data offer exciting possibilities for inferences concerning the ancient Maya, we need to proceed with caution and to take account of a number of critical methodological problems before we project these patterns back into the prehistoric past. We know that all cultural systems are in a constant state of change; hence we should not assume that we are finding any exact survivals from the past, but rather hope that the trends of change in the Tzotzil area have been consistent enough to make inferences possible and productive. We also know that there is a great deal of variation among Tzotzil municipios (and even within municipios), so that statements about “Tzotzil cosmological concepts” need to be treated with caution. Finally, the hypotheses I have advanced in previous papers — such as the possible relationship between sacred mountains in contemporary Zinacantan and pyramids in ancient Maya archaeological sites, or the possibility that some system of rotation in priestly roles was functioning in the ancient Maya ceremonial centers — should be treated strictly as hypotheses and not converted into statements or propositions as Holland did in his recent paper.

An exceptionally fine and significant stone figurine of the Ohio Hopewell Culture was found recently among the items in the collection of the late James L. Wright of Rochester, New York. Purchased by Mr. Wright's father in 1882, this figurine was found in one of the mounds of the famous Newark (Ohio) earthworks group in August 1881. The figurine is that of a shaman or priest masked by the head and skin of a bear, the probable totem of his clan or group. The shaman holds in his right hand a human head. The presence of typical Hopewellian earspools on both the shaman and the head indicates the possibility that the shaman is performing one of the rites in the ceremonies concerned with the dead and that the head is that of a fellow clan or group member.

Preliminary investigations at White's Mound, Richmond County, Georgia, have revealed a stratified sequence of cultural material that begins with Stallings Island fiber-tempered pottery and is followed by Deptford, which occurs coincident with a more popular cord-marked type and minor amounts of a fabric-impressed type. The cord-marked pottery is assumed to be indicative of the timing and impact of the Northern tradition on this area. The last test square excavated on the site yielded evidence of possible cannibalism in the form of redeposited fragmentary bones, most of them cooked and a few calcined. With the deposit of bones, some of which had been cut, were a boatstone, a bear-claw necklace, and Deptford bold check-stamped and simple-stamped sherds. An alternative explanation is redeposited cremation which does have precedence in the Georgia area and in the Northern tradition.

A radiocarbon date of A.D. 1015 for the Macon Earthlodge, Ocmulgee National Monument, has recently been determined. The material dated was part of a charred roof beam. This date, and another from the Brown's Mount component, agrees with generally accepted dates for the Macon Plateau period in central Georgia.

Although noted authorities contend that percussion flakes made with a wooden billet are thinner and shapelier than those made with a hammerstone, this experimenter wishes to report that he can see no difference, even when he strikes off the flakes himself. He begins to doubt that anybody else can tell the difference.

A device now being used in industry is suggested as a way to automate much of the labor of artifact description and comparison. This is a numerically controlled machine tool, and some problems and possibilities connected with its use are discussed.

It is generally accepted that Lake Mohave artifacts date from the closing phase of the last deglaciation when the lake stood at its highest level. A re-evaluation of published data shows that Lake Mohave artifacts date from the overflow period, but only after the lake had abandoned the highest or 946-foot beach. A radiocarbon date of 9640 ± 240 years has been obtained from Anodonta shells at levels between 925 and 930 feet. These shells have been interpreted as remains of animals stranded en masse during the final recession of the Pluvial lake. No evidence for such a catastrophic event has been presented, and there is some evidence which suggests the opposite. The Anodonta shells appear to represent remains of dead animals deposited when the lake stood somewhat higher than 930 feet. It is apparent that an interdisciplinary approach, involving geology, paleolimnology, and palynology, as well as archaeology, is needed if man's place in the history of Lake Mohave is to be understood.

The occurrence of sherds of Southwestern pottery in several localities is noted. These sherds are briefly described and are discussed in terms of probable trade routes between the Southwest and southern California.

Radiocarbon dates of 6880, 6980, 7270, and 6380 B.P. have been obtained for an Early Horizon site (Oak Grove) in the region of Santa Barbara, California. These dates permit the definite association of many cultural features which have previously been denied for the Oak Grove complex: a partial maritime economy, a core-and-flake industry, bone and shell technology, the use of asphaltum, and flexed burials. It is unlikely that the Early Horizon in Santa Barbara was sedentary to any degree.

Southwestern archaeologists generally agree with Jett's opinion that more than one cause was involved in the widespread 13th-century Pueblo migrations, but they may disagree with his emphasis on the influence of non-Pueblo enemy groups, for which actual evidence remains meager, and his de-emphasis on the effect of known drought conditions. A serious specific error, however, lies in his use of the “Flagstaff” (Pueblo Plateau) tree-ring record for prehistoric weather fluctuation in areas of the Rio Grande and southern Arizona, since these are completely outside the area defined by Douglass, Schulman, and others for the “Flagstaff” chart. Past weather conditions in the Rio Grande frequently contrasted or differed in degree of wet and dry periods, as indicated by the Rio Grande tree-ring chart, and some areas of the Southwest still are not covered by charts.

Information is solicited on the distribution in time and space of limonite crystal beads. Nine such beads from two sites in southern Arizona are described.

Illustrations of skeletal positions and locations of associated artifacts, especially when the number of burials is large, may be increased in accuracy and efficiency by using sheets prepared photographically. A commercially produced, 14-inch polystyrene plastic model of the human skeleton can be used to simulate the basic burial positions found in archaeological sites. Photographs of these positions may be reproduced by offset process on a series of printed forms, and such forms may be used for quick and accurate recording of burial data in the field. Similar but greatly reduced prints may also be used on mock-up diagrams of the site. This technique will eliminate difficult verbal description, increase accuracy, improve comprehension, save time, and reduce publication costs.

Methods used in taking drill cores at a deeply stratified archaeological site in Kanawha County, West Virginia, are reported. A site exposed by river-bank erosion was tested with six cores, and additional deeper levels of probable human occupation were found. The site limits were determined, and evidence was gathered which suggests that the site was originally on an island. This work indicates that core drilling at similar sites in alluvial valleys would be a useful archaeological technique.