Cultural anthropology is generally considered to be a distinctive discipline which seeks an understanding of the fundamental nature of culture and of culture change. The nature of its ultimate objectives, however, is rarely made explicit, and a lack of agreement exists concerning even the more immediate objectives. There is reason to believe that within the last few years archaeology and ethnology are, in many respects, growing rapidly apart instead of contributing to mutual problems. It seems timely, therefore, to inquire whether there really exists a general, basic problem of culture and to what extent archaeological research may be brought to bear upon it.

The group of ruins comprising the prehistoric pueblo of Kinishba is situated in a broad valley about four miles northwest of the town of Fort Apache, Arizona, on the White River Apache Indian Reservation. Kinishba, the Apache name for this pueblo meaning “Brown House,” is derived from the color of the rock walls of the ruin. The valley is bounded on all sides by high plateaus and mesas, with the White River cutting across from east to west at the southern end. The valley floor is thickly covered with grass, cholla, and juniper, while the surrounding hills support a fairly heavy stand of pine, pinyon, and juniper.

The attention given to the details of pottery description has of recent years absorbed so much of the interest of specialists in Southwestern archaeology that to the outsider it often appears an unduly exaggerated, if amusing, preoccupation which consumes a great deal more time and effort than it deserves. To those who have tried to work in the area, however, it is not necessary to point out the importance which this relatively imperishable trait holds. This is especially true in the case of exploration of new areas by means of surface survey, where broken pieces of pottery make up the larger part of the diagnostic material available, and in the excavation of the less well-preserved sites, especially in the peripheral areas.

The Supplementary Series at Yaxchilan is characterized by the presence of two glyphs usually absent at other sites. The two are commonly known as the “extraneous glyphs,” but this is rather a misnomer, for at this site they form an apparently integral part of the lunar count. In this paper, we are assigning the letter Z and Y as names for the two glyphs.

Inquiry concerning the matter of prehistoric wooden bows of all varieties, from various institutions of the Southwest, has revealed an outstanding dearth of such articles from this section. Most museums of the country are blessed with only a fragment or two, or at best a few specimens of such bows. It may be, then, that the collection herein described is unique both as to numbers and variety of bows represented.

During the past two years the field activities of the Nininger Laboratory (now the American Meteorite Laboratory, Inc.) have brought to light four new meteorites on old Indian camp sites in eastern Colorado (Plate 5) and western Kansas. The mere fact of these several associations strongly suggests that the aborigines recognized a special significance in these fallen stones. However, it must be admitted that, without additional evidence, these associations could be regarded as accidental.

In the summer of 1936, while travelling on Reindeer Lake in northern Saskatchewan, a collection of potsherds was brought to me by a trapperprospector, William Douglas. These sherds were found in what appears to have been a well-established camp site on an island about one third up the lake. The lake itself is approximately 140 miles long and, like most lakes of the Precambrian Shield, filled with thousands of islands. The find was quite a random one but because of the high latitude would seem of particular interest. The position of the site is approximately 56°35" north latitude. To complicate the problem is the fact that both historically and in the tradition of the Crees and Chippewyans the lake has always been the almost exclusive territory of the “Idthen-eldeli,” Caribou-Eater branch of the Athabascan-speaking Chippewyan. The Churchill River, into which the outlet of Reindeer Lake flows seventy miles to the south, has traditionally and historically been the dividing line between these two peoples.

During the summer 1934, my wife and I were faced with the problem of excavating a dry cave that gave promise of being unusually valuable in the study of the ancient Indian cultures of southern Nevada.

Samples of textiles from the Spiro, Oklahoma, mound were sent to the Smithsonian Institution for analysis. Through the courtesy of Dr. Waldo R. Wedel and the National Bureau of Standards, which made the analysis, the report quoted below has been received.

These textiles were excavated by private individuals in 1935, before the University of Oklahoma took charge. My object has been to salvage as much as could be rescued, and attempt to preserve it behind glass.

The coast of Long Island is dotted with shellheaps, both large and small, of which all but a few are true kitchen middens of the pre-white contact period. This is particularly true of the region investigated by the writer, from the New York City line to Stony Brook on the North Shore. In only one heap examined prior to 1936 did a single artifact of European origin present itself. In that instance, a badly corroded triangular arrow of iron was found in a pit surrounded by deep deposits of shell and other refuse that contained not one fragment of metal, glass, or crockery. In this heap the majority of arrow points were of local quartz, and triangular in pattern. The pottery was abundant, and though most sherds were of typical Long Island Algonkin vessels, there was a fair amount of definitely Iroquoian ware including a small, nearly complete, square-collared pot that cannot be distinguished from a Mohawk Valley specimen.