A desire to increase efficiency in the description and typological study of stone artifacts led to a conference of ten archaeologists in Santa Fe, New Mexico. This conference concentrated on the delineation of attributes of specimens rather than on the creation of a typological system. It attempted to meet the requirements of this phase of archaeology on a continental rather than a regional scale. Considerable attention was given to the various sorts of punched cards and to data-processing equipment. A glossary of definitions and an attribute form sheet for recording specimens were compiled and issued to the attending members for use in pilot studies of regional collections. The form sheets were laid out with a view to transferring the data to standard IBM cards and determining significant clusters of attributes. The testing of the definitions of attributes and the form sheet through actual use is intended to reveal possible improvements and to evaluate the practicality of rapid-processing methods in typological studies of this nature.

In February, 1963, an unusual discovery was made at La Ventilla, less than a mile from the “Ciudadela” in Teotihuacán, Mexico. This find is a composite or sectional stela made up of four superimposed elements that fit into each other by means of stems and orifices. All elements are different in form and are, from top to bottom, discoidal, globular, conical, and cylindrical, the last fitting into a platform base. This piece is unique in Mesoamerican archaeology and seems to have no significant parallels elsewhere. This stela was carved during the Classic period of Teotihuacán. Its function has been clarified through comparison with mural paintings of the Tlalocan in Tepantitla, Teotihuacán, where a ball-game scene is portrayed, and at each end is a stela that is almost identical with that of La Ventilla. It seems evident that the La Ventilla monument is a ball-court stela-marker.

Supplementing Part I of this report, by Weyer, Part II is concerned with certain vital needs in American archaeology for a central facility in which high-speed methods of data analysis can be applied to the determination of types of stone artifacts on a broad scale, the distribution of these types can be mapped wherever they occur in the New World, manuals can be prepared for general research, and related functions can be performed. It is held that our individualistic approaches to these problems in various areas, rather than producing strictly comparable results, are causing greater confusion than ever; that distributional studies based on noncomparable “types” are superficial and misleading; and that there are already on hand such great amounts of material that their analysis can never be accomplished comprehensively by “hand” methods. The advantages and disadvantages of edge-punch and IBM cards are discussed in relation to several purposes, such as catalog records, sorting for attributes (singly and in combinations), and computer treatment. The project's steering committee has decided to proceed with IBM cards, but before disseminating its recommendations, will conduct pilot studies to achieve the most efficient codification of attributes as well as a standard form on which data must be recorded before an operator can proceed with the punching of cards.

The Applied Science Center for Archaeology of the University Museum in Philadelphia is now experimenting with devices that will facilitate the task of precise location and even discovery of cultural strata. The Geohm resistometer and the proton magnetometer are both being used satisfactorily, and further development of a new sonic device has begun. The Center has also been studying new techniques for the determination of trace elements in metals and ceramics, and the thermoluminescence method for dating pottery and other fired objects. In cooperation with the already established radiocarbon laboratory, a project is underway to acquire and date tree samples of very great age. The Center is also gathering and cross-indexing information on completed analyses carried out with the various dating devices and techniques. This information is drawn from both published and unpublished materials.

Through the use of the direct historical method and analysis of materials from more than 250 sites that indicate Southern Paiute occupation, a reconstruction of the culture history of this ethnic group is attempted. The data permit the following hypotheses: that the Southern Paiute were essentially a Desert culture people with the addition of agriculture in the south; that they entered the Southwest and the southern Great Basin about A.D. 1150 or slightly earlier from the north; that they did not develop from any of the Pueblo groups in the area; and that they maintained their maximum range until disrupted by European incursions between A.D. 1800 and 1860.

Geologic evidence from Anaktuvuk Pass indicates that the latest ice advance during the Itkillik glaciation reached its maximum stand between 8000 and 9000 years ago. Archaeological sites at the pass lie behind a terminal moraine built during this advance and therefore must postdate it. In view of the probable time involved for deglaciation, habitable ice-free areas near the axis of the valley could not have been available for campsites until an advanced stage of ice wastage. Radiocarbon dates indicate that deglaciated areas existed near the present drainage divide as early as 7200 years ago, but prior to that time the valley floor was largely buried under stagnant ice. Although certain archaeological complexes have been interpreted on the basis of typology as evidencing considerable antiquity, the geologic relationships between the sites and radiocarbon-dated, late-glacial sediments places a maximum limiting age of about 7000 years on the oldest cultural materials.

Worked deer jaws have been found in a large number of sites in the Plains and Midwest, and a variety of functions have been attributed to them. This paper singles out a typologically well-defined group of deer jaws from Mississippian sites and argues for their identification as sickles. The argument is confirmed by the pattern of wear that appeared on an experimental deer-jaw sickle made by the author. The striations that appeared on the buccal surface constitute the most conclusive evidence linking the experimental tool with the archaeological specimens.

The conch shell figured on the Temple of Quetzalcoatl at Teotihuacán, is Turbinella angulata, the West Indian Chank. This species is closely related to the “Sacred Chank” of India, a shell which figures prominently in Hindu mythology, religion, and art. This finding may be interpreted as one more bit of evidence for transpacific influences on prehistoric Mesoamerican culture.

In their recent description of Machalilla culture Meggers and Evans deny that Machalilla is related to any other known ceramic complexes. It is suggested that Machalilla may be related to Late Tutishcainyo and may have entered coastal Ecuador from the western Amazon basin.

In a recent article Borhegyi identifies certain stone objects as part of special gear worn by players in Mesoamerican ball games. He cites descriptions by early Spanish observers of the game as well as archaeological representations of ball-game gear. Borhegyi's interpretation is not supported by either the historical documents or the archaeological evidence cited.

A striking morphological resemblance between projectile point types suggests a connection between two early preceramic complexes, one in the Southeast, the other in the Southwest. The point types compared are Dalton (Southeast) and San José (Southwest).

The exposed surfaces of stone artifacts from the Security Cove site, Alaska, were altered by the mechanical-chemical activity of crustose lichens. This factor should be considered in patination studies carried out in regions where lichens are known to occur. The activity of lichens and the resultant effect on artifact surfaces is discussed and illustrated in two figures.

The largest sculptured monument in Mexico is the unfinished Idolo de Coatlichán, which weighs 197 metric tons and lies in the bottom of a barranco near Texcoco, where it was abandoned by its makers. The Idolo is made of a huge boulder of andesite, which is the same material from which the Diosa de Agua (also stylistically related), found at Teotihuacán, was carved. A tentative attempt is made to compute the number of workers required to transport the finished monument.

A process known in biochemistry as column chromatography suggests how, under certain conditions, carbon lenses can migrate downward to new levels in the soil of archaeological sites. A radiocarbon date from a carbon lens may not correspond to the date of objects found associated with it.

A small ruin of presumed ancient Maya origin is described. This ruin is the only certain prehistoric structure discovered on the Mountain Pine Ridge of British Honduras, and it is associated with a natural granite outcrop of monumental appearance in such a way as to suggest that the two formed a shrine of a type not previously reported in Lowland Maya archaeology.

Midden profiles encountered in archaeological excavation frequently appear homogeneous despite their known stratigraphic complexity. As an aid to definition of significant zones of deposition, soil pH profiles can be constructed to supplement visual recordings. Such a profile was constructed and shown to be of considerable value in site interpretation. Soil pH zones agreed with known artifact distributions and visual features. The method employed is simple, adaptable to field use, and of sufficient accuracy to provide useful results.

A corroded white-metal lip plug from Guerrero was shown by wet-chemical and spectrographic analyses to have originally contained over 99% lead. After reviewing 16th-century eyewitness accounts, linguistic evidence, the mineral resources of Mexico, the technological problems involved in the primitive extraction of lead from its most common ore, galena (PbS), and the few early lead artifacts reported from Mexico, the authors state their opinion that the smelting of lead ore and use of metallic lead were known before the arrival of the Spaniards and that there is no valid reason to doubt that this object was made before the Conquest.