Paleobotanical samples recovered from the floors of three domestic structures at an early historic (A.D. 1550-1700) site in northwestern Georgia are here compared. Several factors-excavation procedures, duration of structure occupancy, functional nature of structures, nature and timing of structure abandonment-which probably contributed to inter-sample variability are discussed. Consideration of the frequency of individual plant species in the samples and of the ethnohistorical evidence for aboriginal plant processing leads to the conclusion that most variability can be attributed to whether or not structures burned and when during the year burning occurred. The analysis demonstrates that the manner in which plant parts become carbonized has a major impact on the accuracy with which paleobotanical remains reflect actual plant utilization.

Skeletal material from high and low status interments at Monte Alban, Oaxaca, is used to evaluate the biocultural relationship between the two samples. Analyses of sex ratios, and metric and nonmetric variables fail to demonstrate a significant difference between the two groups, and suggest that class endogamy was unlikely. Analysis of the age structure of the samples provides evidence for a significant difference; social mobility and status achievement are suggested. Models of the growth and development of Monte Alban are evaluated in light of the biocultural analyses.

This article refutes Turnbaugh's (1979) thesis that explains the origin and spread of the calumet ceremony by proceeding from Wallace's (1956) model of nativistic movements. It presents ethnohistoric and archaeological evidence for the origin of the calumet prior to A.D. 1634 on the Great Plains and explains its subsequent spread into the Woodlands in terms of alliances for trade and warfare.

Obsidian production was a major component of Classic period Teotihuacan's economy, with hundreds of workshops producing cores and blades of green obsidian and bifaces of grey obsidian for distribution throughout central Mexico. Although green obsidian was evidently obtained through a state network, grey obsidian procurement was conducted independently by most workshop groups. Most production took place in residential areas beyond the major public structures of the city, but some of these craftsmen also worked periodically within the public precincts where their output would have been at the disposition of state officials. The burden of this levy fell primarily upon those sectors of the industry that were most dependent on the state for support and most involved in external distribution. However, despite this evidence of an important administered element in the Teotihuacan obsidian industry, the workshops apparently maintained their independence from the state. This may have been due to their organization in strong social units that had a long history of independent existence, and to their self-reliance in procurement and distribution during the earlier stages of the industry"s development.

The small, hierarchically organized societies on the Northwest Coast provide excellent examplex of the evolution of social complexity in nonagricultural contexts and thus can serve as an important testing ground for current models. Available archaeological data indicate that ranking appeared on the coast between 3,000 and 2,000 years ago. It is argued here that ranking developed from the interaction of two systems constraints and two processes: subsistence specialization, environmental circumscription and population growth, and promotion. Ranking develops because, given certain conditions, it provides both improved monitoring of the environment and improved responses to environmental shifts through information flow.

Moseley's contention that coastal Peruvian civilization was founded on a maritime subsistence economy is challenged, and the evidence that he used to substantiate his claim is re-examined. It is argued that: (1) the number of calories represented by the faunal remains in the late preceramic sites of the central coast is too few to have supported more than a simple hunter-gatherer society; (2) the potential productivity of the agricultural food plants present in the preceramic sites has been grossly underestimated; (3) biases in the preservation of sites and of food remains in the sites have not been considered sufficiently in drawing conclusions from the data; and (4) when considered in relation to the hydrology of the Peruvian coast, the distribution of the late preceramic sites indicates a dependence on flood-plain agriculture.

We examine the process of political development in relation to selected social and economic variables in the plateau region of the American Southwest. We argue that political development was closely associated with strategies of agricultural intensification, surplus production, changes in the organization and management of labor, and expanding regional exchange. We draw supporting data from several settlement systems and attempt to demonstrate that both exotic and labor-intensive commodities were restricted to political and economic centers. We then examine the distribution of one category of these materials, ceramics, through application of the "production step" measure. Our analysis suggests that access to highly decorated ceramic items was restricted to individuals residing at the largest centers. Traditional interpretations of the political organization of plateau region prehistoric groups stress their egalitarian qualities. We suggest that such interpretations be re-examined in the light of data and arguments presented here.

There are indications that future archaeological investigations of the Late Postclassic horizon of the central and eastern Gulf Coast will reveal the existence of several regional artistic subtraditions of the prevailing Mixteca-Puebla horizon style. This would discourage the current pan-"Mixtec" approach to the interpretation of Postclassic Mesoamerican culture. A consequence of this presently confusing practice is the provenience debate concerning the religious Borgia Group codices. An abstract method of costume analysis indicates that these pictorial manuscripts did not originate in the Mixteca because they do not display Mixtec ritual clothing patterns. Data from the costume analysis, together with internal clues from the codices and archaeological and ethnohistorical evidence, demonstrate that the Borgia Group codices had diverse origins. The general Puebla-Tlaxcala region is suggested as the probable homeland for codices Borgia, Cospi, and Vaticanus B. The stylistic twins, Fejervary-Mayer and Laud, are assigned to the eastern Gulf Coast.

Excavations at Pottery Mound, a large Pueblo ruin located on the banks of the Rio Puerco in New Mexico, have recovered over 4,000 bird bones representing 50 species. The habitats of these birds include grassland, marshland, canal- and riverbank, Pinyon-juniper forest, and coniferous forest. Instead of attributing this diversity to changing climate or long-distance hunting expeditions away from the pueblo, I employ the "garden hunting" model, which ascribes increased species biomass to areas of human disturbance. At Pottery Mound prehistoric agricultural fields increased insect populations and provided wild and cultivated seeds which attracted a variety of birds. Additionally, irrigation canals extended riparian growth from the river across the floodplain creating more available cover for predators. This ecotone effect allowed avian species to increase beyond their normal numbers and diversity in undisturbed areas. All 50 species at Pottery Mound could have been obtained within a small radius of the site.

Although previous studies of Olmec iconography have correctly recognized the importance of the jaguar element and its conceptual origins in the shaman-jaguar transformation complex of beliefs, they have not explained why the Olmec expression of feline features should be different from their expression in other prehistoric American art styles sharing origins in the same complex of beliefs, nor why the Olmec chose to express them in the form of an infant were-jaguar, often held in the arms of a seated adult male. It is here suggested that the majority of the attributes of the were-jaguar motif can best be explained by analogy with the congenital deformities manifested in and associated with multifactorial neural tube defects. The apparent fusion of the portrayal of these defects with the portrayal of feline elements suggests that the art style and religious beliefs were being manipulated for political reasons, which would be most likely in a chiefdom form of sociopolitical organization. Reasons for stylistic variation in the portrayal of the were-jaguar and its widespread distribution are discussed.

We present the production step measure, an ordinal scale index of the labor input in ceramic manufacture. The measure is used to compare the relative labor costs of producing different kinds of pottery vessels. It is then employed in an analysis of archaeological ceramic samples from the Late Postclassic Valley of Oaxaca and the Reserve phase in the Pine Lawn Valley, New Mexico.

Ethnoarchaeological work in the Mayan Highlands has revealed that some individuals continue to make and use chipped stone implements for the manufacture of manos and metates. As a result site formation processes, effects of resource distribution, and stone tool characteristics can still be studied. Chipped tools of industrial glass are also made and used in the area, and provide useful models for some of the prehistoric uses of flaked stone tools, as well as information relating to their storage, curation, discard, and learning contexts.

This paper identifies a domain of inquiry that lies at the interface between archaeology and the philosophy of science. I argue that in the recent past archaeology has contributed little to the philosophy of science. This situation can change if archaeologists succeed in calling those issues or controversies that have genuine philosophical import to the attention of philosophers. This paper provisionally explores two such areas: first, the use of ecological principles to explain human behavior; and second, problems of confirmation in ethnoarchaeology.

Larson's (1972) hypothesis that warfare during the Mississippian period in the Southeast was primarily a struggle over the fertile silt and sandy loam bottomland soils is summarized. This is then contrasted with Gibson's (1974) thesis that, at least in the Lower Mississippi Valley, warfare was caused by the "asymmetrical" nature of the kinship systems found there. Such systems led to status decline over several generations and forced individuals to attempt to offset the decline by achieving success in warfare. The Larson-Gibson dispute is essentially an ontological argument which pits the materialist's view of reality against that of the idealist. This dispute is compared to a similar one between Harris (1971, 1974, 1977, 1979) and Lizot (1977) concerning the explanation of Yamomamo warfare in South America. Following this, the basic material conditions of Mississippian warfare are suggested. The importance of mechanisms such as Gibson has proposed for understanding Mississippian warfare at the "tactical" level is recognized. Finally, primacy is given to Larson"s materialism at the "strategic" level.

A recent identification of ramon in Miranda's sixteenth-century relacion of Alta Verapaz more likely describes achiote. There is very little archaeological evidence to suggest that ramon was more than a famine food in ancient Maya times.

Dickson's elaborate linear programming simulation of the agricultural carrying capacity of the Tikal sustaining area is flawed by an energetic miscalculation.

Webster's criticism of my linear programming simulation of the agricultural carrying capacity of the Tikal sustaining area is answered.

Morphological similarities in bone technology between Old World and New World Pleistocene epoch assemblages are noted, and their implications are explored.