A major problem in Mesoamerican prehistory is whether the gigantic Pyramid of the Sun at Teotihuacán in the Valley of Mexico was constructed in a single building operation as has long been assumed by many Mesoamerican specialists. Because the Pyramid appears to be the earliest monumental structure at Teotihuacán and because it is so immense, some archaeologists have suggested that a foreign elite was responsible for its construction. With this and other problems in mind the tunnels in the interior of the Pyramid were re-examined in 1959 for evidence of earlier structures. A modest stone-faced structure was found within it, but it is so small as not to alter significantly the conclusions of earlier investigators concerning the building of the Pyramid in one operation. However, an obsidian figurine offering found in the northwest corner of the small structure, together with other evidence, suggests that the Teotihuacán “great tradition” was coming into being early in the Tzacualli (Teotihuacán I) phase under the leadership of an incipient elite which seems to have been developing indigenously at Teotihuacán. While the problem of the enormous size of the Pyramid remains, evidence suggests that its solution lies at Teotihuacán rather than elsewhere.

Three miniature cotton shirts, found among the textiles of the Uhle collection from beneath the Temple of Pachacamac, in the University Museum, Philadelphia, show an unusual style of tubular construction in which the warp yarns run horizontally and the neck and arm apertures are located along the upper edge of the shirt. Apparently falling in Uhle's early classification of “Epigone Style” these miniatures show the same general garment form as that of a large shirt reported from the La Capilla cemetery of Hacienda Marques, and in addition, display pleats and a yoke-like use of warp-wise bands seen in a few garments of a related style reported from Piedras Gordas and Huacho, the latter presumably of later date than the former. Although the miniatures are sufficiently sturdy to have served as doll clothing, their purpose is unknown.

Artifacts related to the Cody complex occur in medium-grained sand that is spread as a blanket eolian deposit a few feet thick in the Claypool site area, Washington County, Colorado. The artifact-bearing sand lacks noticeable dunal topography and lies unconformably on marl of Yarmouth age and on waterlaid coarse sand and fine gravel of Kansan age that underlie the marl. The deposits underlying the artifact-bearing sand are much too old to date the artifacts precisely, but the physical characteristics of the artifact-bearing sand suggest that it was deposited under conditions cool and dry, rather than warm and dry, possibly during retreat of Valders ice that began about 10,000 years ago. A moderately mature Brown Soil about 5 feet thick developed on the sand, possibly about 7000 to 5000 years ago during a moist phase of the Thermal Maximum. Thus, the artifacts are possibly 10,000 to 7000 years old. Deposits which overlie the artifact-bearing sand reflect several episodes of erosion and sedimentation that are inferred to represent climatic changes.

All radiocarbon dates from North America, associated with extinct Late Pleistocene mammals, those from levels stratigraphically later than levels with extinct forms, and dates associated with recent fauna are tabulated alphabetically by site. Dates associated with extinct fauna are cross-referenced in an alphabetical listing of species. Dates considered invalid are tabulated and are not utilized in formulating conclusions. Most herding animals, such as the Columbian mammoth, horse, camel, and bison, as well as the dire wolf, rapidly became extinct about 8000 years ago. The dates suggest a southward withdrawal from the Great Plains by the mammoth and a partial contemporaneity of Clovis elephant hunters in southern Arizona with Folsom bison hunters on the Plains. Dates for the extinction of the Imperial mammoth are probably too early. The mastodon may have survived in isolated areas after the extinction of other forms. The super bison may have become extinct earlier than 8000 years ago and Bison bison seems to have been present in some areas before the extinction of B. antiquus. Radiocarbon dates do not support the supposed late survival of the ground sloth. Extinction apparently occurred earlier in the Great Basin and Coahuila than in intervening areas.

Six dome-shaped, late Woodland burial mounds were excavated at this site (39BF224). Primary and secondary interments were found; either or both types may be present in a single mound. Primary burials were flexed and always found in deep pits. Each pit contained a single individual and burial offerings. Secondary interments of one or more individuals on the mound floor are represented by scattered masses of bone and also by a compact bundle burial.

Pottery from the mounds was of a single, undecorated type, described here as Truman Plain Rim. Vessels are conoidal, tan to dark brown, and tempered with quartz particles. The most distinctive characteristic of this pottery is the simple-stamped impressions extending horizontally around the vessel exteriors. Stone artifacts consist of triangular projectile points with corner notches and a straight base or side notches and a concave base, planoconvex scrapers, knife fragments, grinding stones, and retouched flakes. Bone artifacts include tubular and barrel-shaped beads and a splinter awl. Artifacts of fresh-water and marine shell recovered are a pendant, spoons, rings, disc beads, and a tubular bead. Additional artifacts, found in a stratum below the mounds, represent an earlier, non-ceramic occupation.

In the concluding sections, a history of mound excavations in the central and northern Great Plains is given, and the relationships between the Truman Mounds and material from other Woodland sites in Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, and North Dakota are discussed.

Stone circles known as tipi rings are a common feature of the Northern and Northwestern Plains of western North America. There are several types of stone circles: (1) a single course of stone in a simple circle; (2) more complex circles with several courses of stones; (3) circular walls made of piled-up stones; (4) corrals or forts of horizontal logs and stones; (5) stone circles of unusual size or with lines of rocks inside the circle. Studies of tipi-ring sites in Montana, Wyoming, and adjacent regions are summarized. The clusters of circles are usually found along main routes of travel and near water, fuel, and good hunting areas. Although many of these sites have been mapped, only a few of them have been excavated. Despite the paucity of cultural remains found in the excavations, the tipi-ring clusters are generally considered to be the archaeological remains of camps and villages of people who dwelt in conical, skin-covered lodges. The stones are believed to have been used to hold the skin lodge cover snug against the ground. Historical records, ethnographic observations, and the recollections of present-day Indian informants confirm these interpretations. Data from 136 recently studied tipi-ring sites along a 300-mile pipe-line from Greenriver, Wyoming, to Denver, Colorado, provide further archaeological demonstration of the domestic origin of the tipi rings. Only the very small or very large rings, or those with spokes or lines of rocks through them, such as the so-called medicine wheels, are considered to have served a ceremonial purpose.

The mound near Gila Bend, western Arizona, excavated between November, 1958, and February, 1959 for the National Park Service by the Arizona State Museum, was rebuilt, modified, and repaired through six major stages of construction. The platform mound in use at any given stage was flat-topped and slope-sided with rounded corners and an irregular squarish or subrectangular outline. The platforms were made of a caliche plaster, and the sides were faced with a plaster of mixed caliche and adobe, placed directly over the earth core. Evidence of pre-mound occupation was encountered underneath the platform mound and in an excavated pit structure near the southeast corner of the mound. The entire historical sequence revealed by this excavation took place within the Sacaton phase of the Hohokam culture which may have lasted from A.D. 900 or 950 to A.D. 1100 or 1150 in the Gila Bend area. The significance of this Hohokam mound complex is that it represents a northern extension of the Mexican pyramid idea.

In a rejoinder to Taylor's review of his Tamaulipas monograph, MacNeish restated his method of analysis and reviewed the system he used to establish his phase sequence. Taylor claims that MacNeish has defended his position by introducing new data and by presenting a point of view not expressed in the original monograph. Taylor insists that MacNeish's reply only confirms his original criticism that the Tamaulipas sequence is built on the premise that one excavation unit equals one phase.

Burins have recently been discovered in several Texas sites, in Central Texas, associated with Angostura points and in the Trans-Pecos area, in a Desert Culture context. A few parallels are seen with Alaskan burins. The data indicate that in Texas, burins are part of the paleo-Indian and Archaic complexes. There is also a possibility that they were made as late as the 16th century along the Rio Grande.

Burins have been considered a significant trait of many early lithic complexes in northern North America ever since Giddings (1951) discovered them at Cape Denbigh. Within the past year burins have also been recognized in the Archaic and paleo-Indian cultures in the Trans-Pecos and Central parts of Texas.

The chronological sequence for figurine types along the west coast of Mexico has been worked out from stratigraphic excavations at Amapa, Nayarit. Twenty-seven types of figurines are defined and placed in chronological position. There is an early group correlating with the Classic period of Central Mexico, and a late group correlating with the Postclassic.

Two Russian publications provide new information about the sites on Lake El'gytkhyn in the Chukchi Peninsula: a detailed description of the lake, a discussion of its origin, summary description of 33 blades from the craftsman"s hoard, and 13 objects from the campsite. The fine classification of the blades is criticized and the identification of some of the other tools is questioned.

The original guess dates for Jarmo were about 6000 B.C. (and thus close to the recent Washington and Heidelberg radiocarbon dates of 6750 B.C.) rather than about 4750 B.C. (the date derived from Libby's original radiocarbon determinations) as suggested in the papers on obsidian dating in American Antiquity, Volume 25, Number 1.

The immediate stimulus for N. C. Nelson's stratigraphic technique in the Galisteo Basin, New Mexico, was his participation in 1913 in Obermeier and Breuil's excavations in Castillo Cave, one of the most famous of the Spanish paleolithic sites.

A cross section of the surviving traces of two large prehistoric canals near Pueblo Grande, Phoenix, shows one to have originally been V-shaped in profile, about 6 m. wide and 4 m. deep, and the other U-shaped in profile, about 10 m. wide and 3 m. deep. Both were dug into coarse gravel and the broader (north) canal had been lined with brown clay subsequent to its construction and initial period of use. There is a possibility that the V-shaped South Canal was built first and perhaps abandoned when the North Canal was built. Both canals show evidence of repeated filling and clearing out, either by natural erosion due to a periodically swifter current or by the efforts of the Indians using the canals. Sherds under the banks and in the canals were too few for conclusive dating of construction and use, but suggest that this took place during the Soho phase of the Hohokam Classic period, that is, during the late 12th and the 13th centuries. Hohokam canals much older than this are known, and the occupation of nearby Pueblo Grande began earlier and lasted later than the Soho phase.

The diagnostic value of animal remains from archaeological sites is discussed in the following order of importance of the various osteological elements which can be used for interpreting the fauna they represent: teeth, skull fragments, articular ends of limb bones, foot bones, portions of the pectoral and pelvic girdles, and vertebrae.

Ultrasonic cleaning, a technique of wide industrial application, is suggested as applicable to archaeological artifacts. Speed and superior cleanliness ought to be its principal merits. A review of various ultrasonic methods and some pilot tests reveal an incapacity to handle large quantities of dirt. Preliminary cleaning may solve this problem. Two direct mechanical methods of ultrasonic cleaning are proposed as they offer simplicity, ruggedness, economy, and field adaptability.