The element-motif-layout framework of design analysis, which has dominated the study of prehistoric Southwestern ceramic decoration since the late 1930s, is shown to be ambiguous as a means of understanding and comparing such decoration. A new analytical approach is presented involving the isolation of design units based on comparative study of how design configurations are used in a style corpus of whole vessels. Application of the method and its usefulness in comparative stylistic studies, as well as potential usefulness in ceramic dating, are discussed.

Shellfish seasonality studies are summarized in this article, which presents the results of analysis at 94 sites in nine southeastern states. All but six of the sites are middens or shell lenses composed of marine or brackish water species (M. mercenaria, R. cuneata, D. variabilis). Shells in those sites along the Atlantic coast were collected from fall to early spring, while shells in sites on the Gulf coast were collected during early spring to summer. Freshwater shellfish middens in four states have been investigated and consistently indicated collection during warm weather. The uniformity of the results indicates that the variation in species used, techniques used, sample sizes, or geography have no noticeable negative impact on the usefulness of the results. It is argued that shellfish were a staple in the diet of many prehistoric horticultural peoples in spite of the fact that they are a dietary supplement for modern hunters and collectors.

Archaeologists frequently explain tool curation by its efficiency. Such explanations ignore the fact that curation is a complex activity and that its component parts are efficient in different ways. I argue that the nature and distribution of lithic resources critically affect technological efficiency and I discuss two aspects of curation, maintenance and recycling, asserting that they are responses to raw material shortages. Shortages result from regional geological conditions and from behavior patterns that restrict access to raw material in certain contexts. Ethnographic and archaeological examples support this hypothesis and highlight the relationship between subsistence-settlement organization, raw material distribution, and technology.

Analysis of bone collagen extracted from human skeletal remains from archaeological sites dating from the Archaic period through Euro-American settlement provides evidence for the introduction of maize into regional subsistence patterns. Stable carbon isotope ratios of samples from both the eastern Ozarks and the Mississippi River alluvial valley indicate that human populations living prior to ca. A.D. 1000 consumed little or no C4 plant material. In populations dating after ca. A.D. 1000, stable carbon isotope ratios indicate that maize represented a significant part of the human diet throughout the region. The change in dietary patterns coincides with a shift in settlement patterns from dispersed hamlets and small villages to civic-ceremonial centers with associated villages, hamlets, and farmsteads. This isotopic evidence indicates that Emergent Mississippian diets did not include substantial quantities of maize or other C4 plant material.

The seed blower is an instrument typically employed by seed technologists to sort seed types by density. Because of the labor intensive nature of hand separating flotation samples, the seed blower offers archaeologists a new apparatus that enhances the efficiency of initial separation. The blower is described, and initial results of its application to archaeological flotation samples from Louisiana are presented.

Recent excavations near Chaco Canyon in northwestern New Mexico have yielded evidence for the use of cultigens by the early second millennium B.C. and continuing into the first millennium B.C. This information comes from four sites, all of which have been radiocarbon dated. The evidence for the oldest use of a cultigen, maize, is in the form of pollen; however, macrobotanical specimens of maize or squash were also recovered from sites dating to the Late Archaic. These data are summarized, as are their significance and implications.

Prehistoric potters used a wide variety of materials as temper, or filler. Although temper selection has often been assumed to be the result of purely cultural factors, recent research indicates temper had technological functions as well. Impact and thermal-shock resistance data of a range of kinds, grades, and amounts of temper are presented. Test results indicate that the use of finely-ground tempers in general and burned shell temper in particular produce briquettes that are significantly more durable than briquettes incorporating other materials.

A sample of Stallings and Orange series ceramics from riverine and coastal sites in South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida was analyzed for fiber content. A portion of each sherd was macerated in acids to release fibrous tempering agents. The fibers, as well as other potentially identifiable materials, were then isolated from the maceration and examined using a scanning electron microscope (SEM). A comparison with published anatomical descriptions and fresh plant material revealed that the Stallings series sherds contained fibers and scales of Tillandsia usneoides L. (Spanish moss). Fiber-tempered sherds of the Orange series from the Bluffton midden in Florida also contained Spanish moss, although it cannot be demonstrated at present that Spanish moss was the primary tempering agent of Orange series ceramics.

Two engravings from the Gulf Coast seem to refer the origin of humankind to the Fifth Sun; consequently they raise again the hypothesis of the eastern position of Tamoanchan. This sacred place, at once mythical and historical, was the home of the gods; the cradle of humanity, the point of departure of the great ancestors from the Gulf (the Olmecs); it was also the paradise lost. One of these pictures predates the Nahuatl culture, and, hence, may indicate the antiquity of this myth.

The astronomy of the ancient Maya is an impressive achievement. Without the use of optical instruments, the Maya of the Classic period observed and recorded recurrent eclipse periods as well as the synodic orbit of Venus. Early work on the Maya hieroglyphs interpreted the chronological and calendric systems of the Classic period inscriptions and demonstrated the existence of a lunar synodic calendar. Many of the Lunar Series hieroglyphs that record the lunar synodic calendar have been interpreted, but the meaning of Glyph X has remained unknown. This report offers the explanation that Glyph X records positions in an eighteen-month lunar calendar. The Classic period Maya may have used this eighteen-month calendar to establish an average length for the lunar synodic month.

In this report we attempt to answer the question: which measurement system did the Late Classic Maya use to build their buildings? Measurements were collected from ten buildings at three Puuc style archaeological sites: Uxmal, Kabah and Chichén Itzá, which date about A.D. 750-1000. The tentative results of the study suggest the Maya employed a measurement system involving what we are calling a zapal, which was 147 ± 5 cm long. A zapal was divided into 16 units, kab, of 9 xóot’ each, or 9 units, oc, of 16 xóot’ each. Thus, there were two alternative ways of grouping the 144 xóot’ that made up each zapal. An examination of the linguistic and ethnohistoric data reveals nothing to contradict the notion that such a measuring system was present among the ancient Maya, and that multiples of 3, 4, and 12 are involved.

A reexamination of the data presented by Shafer and Hester (1983) indicates that the level of specialized production and volume of intersite exchange of chert tools in the area of Colha has been greatly overstated. Evaluation of rates of production over time suggests that at most a few thousand chert tools were produced per year at Colha, indicating a very low level of specialization, if any. The context of the chert debitage deposits is suggestive of domestic production for household use, rather than the “industrial-level mass production” postulated by Shafer and Hester.

The definition and existence of specialized chert tool workshops and workshop deposits at Colha, Belize are addressed in this reply. Density estimates are provided for workshop deposits along with revised production estimates for the Late Preclassic Period. A pattern is beginning to emerge in the Maya lowlands with regards to communities of craft specialists; they appear to have been in settlements surrounding the larger centers, not in the major centers themselves.