Historical and archaeological evidence relating to Norse activities in the New World early in the second millennium A.D. is reviewed, together with archaeological evidence relating to contemporaneous aboriginal occupations of the regions probably reached by the Norse. The Norse probably contacted Indian populations in southern Labrador and Newfoundland, Dorset Palaeoeskimos in northern Labrador, and Thule Eskimos in Greenland and perhaps in the eastern Canadian Arctic. Speculation on the nature of relationsips between the Norse and these groups is presented, and it is concluded that occasional contacts involving both trade and plundering probably occurred over a period of several centuries. There is no evidence to indicate that these contacts had any major influence on aboriginal North American populations, and it is argued that such influences are unlikely to have occurred. The most important result of contact between these groups was the prevention of European colonization of the New World for half a millennium.

Many models for the development of complex societies in Mesoamerica have assigned a major role to the economic importance of long-distance trade or exchange. Consideration of the distances between major centers of the Formative and Classic indicates that basic foodstuffs could not have been profitably moved between them. The evidence for the Early and Middle Formative indicates that long-distance movement of any material of which we have evidence could not have had much economic importance. By Early Classic times higher population levels make it possible to speak of long-distance movement of goods other than food staples on a scale that could have had a significant impact on a complex society.

A method for measuring diversity is proposed that uses an archaeologically derived underlying frequency distribution of classes of artifacts to generate theoretical expectations for the number of different classes of items that should be found in a collection of a given total size. Because sample size is controlled for, collections of different sizes can be directly compared in a simple graphical display. Because of its rigor and simplicity, this method serves to focus interpretive attention on issues of anthropological (rather than methodological) importance. Examples from the archaeological literature are used to illustrate the operation and potential applicability of this method to a wide range of archaeological problems.

Fiber-tempered potsherds recovered from three sites of the Nebo Hill phase in western Missouri and eastern Kansas date to between 4550 and 3550 radiocarbon years (2600–1600 B.C.) and represent the earliest dated vessels in the midwest. The occurence of fiber-tempered pottery at this time period and this far north and west of the traditionally-defined southeastern hearth for such wares requires a major reappraisal of the assumed distribution and antiquity of Late Archaic ceramics in eastern North America. This report describes the ceramic sherds from the Nebo Hill type site in terms of their method of manufacture and probable use, and identifies factors influencing their survival and preservation in the middle-latitude lowlands. It is proposed that the temperate latitude distribution pattern of shallowly-buried, fiber-tempered potsherds is shaped primarily by the variables of time, ambient moisture and temperature, and ware porosity, and is not necessarily isomorphic with the prehistoric distribution of fiber-tempered vessels.

This article proposes a sequence of rulers for Machaquilá, as south-central Petén site which flourished in the Late and Terminal Classic periods. A number of articles on this matter about other Maya sites have appeared since Tatiana Proskouriakoff’s publication on Piedras Negras, in which she identified initial and inaugural glyphs. While Machaquilá’s monuments lack such event glyphs, the date patterns involved, as well as the identification of name glyphs and titles, permit the establishment of a sequence of rulers, an explanation for the fall of Machaquilá (usurpation or conquest by a non-Classic Maya ruler), and a possible reason for the collapse of Tikal.

This study examines and defines the potential information offered to archaeology by the study of gastropod remains. A historical review of past accomplishments in archaeomalacology provides the foundation from which zooarchaeologists can begin to recognize the primary concerns for future research in the discipline. The past, present and future approaches to archaeomalacology are discussed under a taphonomic framework. Under the guise of biostratonomy, gastropod presence in archaeological contexts is explained according to four major pathways of shell introduction. Allied to this aspect of taphonomy is diagenesis, an understanding of which assists archaeologists in recognizing the role of gastropods in cultural versus natural environmental settings. This study concludes with a critique of present trends in archaeomalacological method and theory.

The obsidian industry of Classic period Tikal, Guatemala, is discussed with regard to geological source determinations and behavioral typology. The potential of these two approaches for cultural reconstruction is greatly extended when they can supplement each other. Recent source determinations of obsidian artifacts from Tikal indicate (1) a behavioral link between locally-produced prismatic blades of Highland Guatemalan stone and ceremonial incised obsidians and eccentrics, and (2) a Central Mexican origin for a seemingly large portion of Tikal's obsidian projectile points and knives.

Recent archaeological excavations at a Machalilla (“Early Formative”) site on Ecuador's south coast have resulted in the recovery of charred maize kernel and cupule fragments. A detailed study of the Machalilla maize described here suggests that two primitive varieties were present on the coast of Ecuador by 1200 B.C. Previously published reports that have attempted to establish the presence of maize during the preceding Valdivia phase are reviewed briefly, and their incompleteness is discussed.

Investigation of dark earths from two archaeological sites near Araracuara, on the Río Caquetá in Colombian Amazonas, indicates that these soils are anthropic, with characteristics similar to those of the terra preta soils of the Brazilian Amazon. The Araracuara sites belong to the Camani (plainware) phase of the second to ninth centuries A.D. and to the Nofueri phase (ninth to seventeenth centuries) with pottery of the Polychrome Tradition. The Araracuara examples are the first archaeological terra preta soils analyzed from west of Brazil, although similar materials are reported from Ecuador and Peru. The problems of recognizing and dating the first appearance of terra preta soils are discussed, and a plea is made for closer collaboration between archaeologists and soil scientists.

A prerequisite to dietary reconstruction based on the trace element content of disinterred bone is the evaluation of postdepositional, or diagenetic, changes in the levels of trace elements contained in the bone. This study describes one method of assessing trace element permeation in disinterred bones from the Black Earth site, Illinois. The levels of several trace elements were determined in 50 samples of bone and associated soil. Correlation coefficients were calculated to evaluate the degree to which variation in the bone levels corresponds to variation in the soil levels. The results suggest that no significant postdepositional exchange of Zn and Mn had occurred at the Black Earth site. Other methods of evaluating permeation and leaching are discussed.

Studies of ancient Maya water management tend to emphasize consideration of features related either to agriculture or to the provision of communal water supplies in water-poor settings. Ceramic-lined wells in eighth-century Quiriguá, however, constituted household facilities of standardized form, distributed widely in a community where water supplies were always readily available. These wells both expand our knowledge of specialized Maya hydraulic technology and remind us that such inventions are not always the result of threats to survival.

Oral presentation of papers has assumed ever increasing importance as a mode of information dissemination among the professional community. Many oral presentations are diminished in effectiveness by disregard of formal and mechanical aspects of presentation. Discussion of these aspects among professionals is as essential as is formal instruction in them for students.

The practice of anonymous reviewing of manuscripts and grant proposals is denounced.

Comments are offered on heat treating experiments and archaeological studies by Schindler, Hatch, Hay and Bradt concerning Bald Eagle Jasper from central Pennsylvania. Their conclusions concerning aboriginal patterns of use of Bald Eagle Jasper are critiqued. Their explanations for the effects of thermal alteration on jasper fracture properties are also questioned.

Wheeler's review, while concentrating on key topics, uses inapplicable ecological data, misinterprets important issues, and makes incorrect statements about the book's contents.