A carved sacrum from a fossil camelid was found near Tequixquiac in 1870 in Upper Pleistocene deposits of the Valley of Mexico. At that time it was described as one of the first discoveries that proved the co-existence of man with extinct fauna in the New World. The specimen was apparently lost at the end of the 19th century and serious doubts have been expressed about its authenticity. This carved bone was rediscovered in 1956, and recent studies of the specimen tend to demonstrate its authenticity and scientific value. A survey of all known examples of similar finds in North America suggests that the Tequixquiac bone is probably the only example of true art that has yet been found in Paleo-Indian levels in the New World.

An archaeological survey of the areas along the river and the side canyons in upper Grand Canyon led to the location of 18 sites, five isolated and 13 in four clusters. The age of these sites is consistent with others found in the Grand Canyon north of the Colorado River and ranges generally around the period A.D. 1050-1150. It would appear that the occupants of these sites were struggling agriculturalists of the Anasazi pattern who were unable to adjust to this rigorous environment and abandoned the area. Evidence for a more or less continuous use of the Grand Canyon was found in the Little Colorado River Canyon, where the original Hopi sipapu was located. While prehistoric occupation may once have occurred to a minor degree near the mouth of the Little Colorado, its major function has been as a passage-way between the Hopi pueblos and the Hopi salt mine, with an intermediate stop at the sipapu (a geological formation). This paper is one of a series that attempts to outline archaeological developments in the Grand Canyon region.

It is suggested that the idea of a sedentary pattern of existence diffused into southern Arizona from lower western Mexico or Guatemala by way of the region west of the Sierra Madre. It is also suggested that this transmission occurred shortly after the introduction of a teosinte-infected chapalote corn into the Southwest, a type that was better suited to low, arid regions than the chapalote corn that preceded it. The spread of this sedentary complex from southern Arizona into other areas also is outlined.

Slate backs of iron-pyrite mirrors have been found in the southwestern United States, Mexico, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Panama, Ecuador, and Peru. Three engraved slate disks were recently excavated at two sites in Costa Rica, one at La Fortuna and two at Guácimo. Slate disks in this region are not unusual. Many have traces of the gum that was used for glue, and at least one fragment bears traces of the wooden frame. The significance of these three plaques lies in the designs they bear. These designs indicate that the disks were made between A.D. 435 and 500 in an area remote from lower Central America. Grave objects associated with the mirror backs include reworked jades; gold objects in Coclé, Quimbaya, and Guayas styles; and Incised Zoned Bichrome and Negative Painted Bichrome Incised wares. These disks and the objects associated with them provide insight into pre-Columbian interchange and trade routes in lower Central America, and they suggest that slate disks were important in commerce and perhaps served as ceremonial objects.

A fresh examination of the chronological data of the inscription serves as a framework for analysis of the undeciphered or text glyphs. The undeciphered glyphs have been grouped into categories. The main category, which consists of glyphs related to the up-ended frog glyph, the flat hand, and Thompson's Jog glyph, is interpreted as referring to local history. Another category is composed of glyphs or clauses that are common at other Maya sites and shows ideas not limited to a particular town but common to many of them. Another category of glyphs is restricted to a phenomenon, the Triad, which so far has been identified with certainty only at Palenque. In an appended section definite readings for hitherto floating dates of two other Palenque inscriptions are proposed, and it is suggested that the 819-day count originated at Palenque, from which it spread as far as Copan. These readings may facilitate future glyphic research at Palenque.

A small mask cast in copper with the features of a Maya merchant god supplies the first incontrovertible evidence that the Maya cast copper. As it has been in the British Museum for nearly a century, its authenticity cannot be doubted. One detail makes it virtually certain that the piece was cast in the lowlands. A large stone mask, collected in Mexico over 50 years ago, can be assigned with some confidence (despite previous doubts as to its authenticity) to southern Veracruz. It reveals attenuated Olmec influence and also has attributes of a merchant god.

Neutron activation analysis has been used to determine manganese in a series of potsherd chips from sites in the Valley of Mexico. The application of this technique and the use of laboratory-scale commercial equipment is described. Such equipment can give results in this application that are comparable to those obtained with the much higher fluxes characteristic of large reactors.

Neutron activation was used by Johnson and Stross to determine the manganese content of the clay used in 11 sherds from Cuicuilco and Teotihuacán in the Valley of Mexico. The results indicate that three distinctive sherds of negative ware from Cuicuilco differ from local Late Preclassic wares but are similar to pottery of the Tzacualli phase made locally at Teotihuacán. Trade between the Chimalhuacan settlement at Cuicuilco and the Tzacualli town at Teotihuacán is thus indicated.

The identification of a phalanx of a barren ground caribou (Rangifer arcticus) from the Holcombe site in southeastern Michigan is perhaps the earliest association of man and an animal species in the eastern United States. This phalanx was excavated from a small pit which contained four fragments of unifacially worked artifacts, a number of plano-convex spalls typical of the Holcombe lithic complex, and a small amount of beech charcoal. Association of this site with a beach of glacial Lake Algonquin places its occupation at approximately 9200 B.C.

In 1962 a perforated, picklike antler object was found in a deposit with late Pleistocene fauna in Delta County, northeastern Texas. Charcoal from a burned area in the same deposit yielded a radiocarbon date of 9550±375 B.P. Two possible quartzite artifacts were also found in the same deposit.

Attention is called to a case of duplication of nomenclature in which the Milling Stone complex of San Clemente Island, California, as defined by M. B. McKusick and C. N. Warren, is apt to be confused with the Milling Stone horizon of the adjacent coast, as delineated by William Wallace. Existence of the Milling Stone complex has been questioned by Sam-Joe Townsend. The complex of the island and the horizon of the coast are claimed by no one to be equivalent in time or content, and an attack on the former should not be mistaken as an attack on the latter. It is suggested that before the confusion is further compounded another term be found for the island manifestation.

During the 12th and 13th centuries A.D., diverse populations of Pueblo Indians gradually withdrew from the drainages of the San Juan River and its tributaries, leaving the area uninhabited and open to future reoccupancy by Navajos. Two hypotheses have been put forward to explain these emigrations: the great drought theory and the Athabaskan raider theory. However, data from recent field work in the Four Corners area can be put together with clues from the literature to construct a third hypothesis: that late Pueblo II population shifts from the north created multiple, small pressures which slowly built into a chain-reaction of anxieties, producing widespread population rearrangements in the San Juan regions, cultural and stylistic changes and, finally, an increasing trend toward emigration. Paiute pressures in the north may have combined with climatic deterioration to initiate withdrawal of the Utah peripheral farmers who, in retreating, disturbed precarious balances of San Juan groups who were already maximally expanded in population. These, in turn, began to move about more frequently than previously, disturbing one another. Stylistic changes in pottery and architecture, large towns, and defensive sites reflect the unrest which resulted in final migration to more peaceful drainages.

At the 29th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology I presented a paper entitled “Excavations on Hiva Oa, 1963.” In the abstract distributed at the meetings I stated (p. 41) that a decorated potsherd which appeared to be a fragment of a ceramic disk had been found at the Pekia site on Hiva Oa, Marquesas Islands. I also stated, “Thus far no parallels are known in Polynesia. A comparative study is in progress.” I can now report that the specimen is of modern manufacture. This came to light upon the return of Dr. Yoshiko Sinoto to Hiva Oa on May 21, 1964.