Green et al.’s (1998) recent contention that the Buhl Paleoindian craniofacial attributes are similar to other North American Indians and East Asian populations is tested here through a principal components analysis based on 16 cranial measurements. The analysis involved the comparison of the cranial morphology of the Buhl specimen with 26 Howells’ modern populations. We also added to the analysis the craniometric data regarding a firmly established South American Paleoindian skull (Lapa Vermelha IV, Hominid I), that shows craniofacial similarities to Africans and Australians. The results corroborate the ideas presented by Green et al.(1998) and Neves et al.(1998a). They suggest that the Americas were colonized in early times by two different populations, one of generalized sapiens, and another of classic Mongoloids, with a short interval of time between the migratory events.

Questions are raised concerning the Pleistocene age assignment of a human burial from the Yuha Desert, California. Evidence is presented demonstrating that the C-14 dates of around 22,000 years B.P. should be viewed with extreme caution, especially because of the inherent problem in soil carbonate dating. Both the degree of soil development and the landform associated with the burial appear inconsistent with the reported age. In addition the presence of late-appearing cultural material at the locality conflicts with the purported antiquity of the site.

In the Edwards Plateau and Trans-Pecos regions of southwestern Texas are a large number of archaeological sites which have been referred to as “burnt rock mounds.” Although this name is now well established in the archaeological literature of Texas, one looks in vain for a satisfactory statement concerning the origin and nature of these rather unusual sites. Quite a number have been excavated, but as yet few detailed reports on individual sites have appeared. The authors of recent reports assume that the term “burnt rock mound” is well understood and, although implying that it represents a distinct culture trait, do not explain what it means. It is evident that many archaeologists do not understand its meaning, for at recent archaeological meetings outside of Texas the writers of this paper have frequently been asked, “Just what is a burnt rock mound?” In view of this, it seems advisable to put on record a brief summary of what is known at present about the formation of these sites.

Ever since Yuma points were recognized as being particularly ancient, Yuma County, Colorado has been a logical area of interest. Nevertheless, until 1941 the county had received scant attention from professional archaeologists, with the sole exception of a partial surface survey by Dr. E. B. Renaud. On the other hand, there had been considerable collecting by local residents, most particularly by Perry and Harold Andersen of Yuma, Colorado, who have amassed a large and valuable collection including numerous Folsom and Yuma points.

In 1941 Yuma County was still liberally spotted with blowouts resulting from wind erosion of the sandy soil consequent upon the previous drought. Conditions were, for the archaeologist, optimal. Thanks to Dr. Donald Scott, who arranged that expenses be defrayed by the Peabody Museum of Harvard University, my wife and I were enabled to spend part of the summer and early fall in Yuma County and adjacent portions of other counties.

Migration is a key driver of human cultural and genetic evolution, with recent theoretical advances calling for work to accurately identify factors behind early colonization patterns. However, inferring prehistoric migration strategies is a controversial field of inquiry that largely relies on interpreting settlement chronologies and constructing plausible narratives around environmental factors. Model selection approaches, along with new statistical models that match the dynamic nature of colonization, offers a more rigorous framework to test competing theories. We demonstrate the utility of this approach by developing an Island-Level Model of Colonization adapted from epidemiology in a Bayesian model-selection framework. Using model selection techniques, we assess competing colonization theories of Near and Remote Oceania, showing that models of exploration angles and risk performed considerably better than models using inter-island distance, suggesting early seafarers were already adept at long-distance travel. These results are robust after artificially increasing the uncertainty around settlement times. We show how decades of thinking on colonization strategies can be brought together and assessed in one statistical framework, providing us with greater interpretive power to understand a fundamental feature of our past.

Projectile points are a common subject of archaeological study. In the past decade, landmark-based geometric morphometrics (LGM) has increasingly been used to analyze points as whole objects. LGM and other studies document allometric changes in points—change in shape with change in size—as a product of resharpening. Allometry registers in part because different segments or modules of points are subject to different degrees of resharpening, with blades often experiencing more reduction than stems. Different modules retain varying degrees of morphological integrity as points move through their use lives. Most previous LGM studies involved two-dimensional point models, and few tested directly for modularity. We apply LGM methods to three-dimensional models of Folsom point replicas whose degree and pattern of reduction are known, finding evidence for both allometry and modularity, with modest integration. Complementary non-LGM data reveal similar results, indicating a robust pattern and ways to approximate LGM results in other data. Moreover, our dataset's experimental control clearly identifies the results as a function of the progressive reduction in use experienced by points.

Recent work has demonstrated that Goshen points overlap in time with another group of unfluted lanceolate points from the Plains, Plainview points. This has raised the question of whether the two types should be kept separate or consolidated into a single type. We sought to resolve this issue by applying geometric morphometric methods to a sample of points from well-documented Goshen and Plainview assemblages. We found that their shapes were statistically indistinguishable, which indicates that Goshen and Plainview points should be assigned to the same type. Because Plainview points were recognized before Goshen points, it is the latter type name that should be dropped. Sinking Goshen into Plainview allows us to move beyond taxonomic issues and toward understanding both the spatiotemporal variation that exists among Plainview assemblages and what it can tell us about the adaptations and social dynamics of Plainview groups.

In this article, we use pronghorn dental age data to document pronghorn hunting strategies at Hogup Cave, Utah, and explore their relationship with a widespread late Holocene trend in increasing large-game abundances noted in archaeofaunal contexts throughout western North America. Specifically, we test the hypothesis that at Hogup Cave, pronghorn hunting methods changed from a middle Holocene strategy dominated by encounter hunting of individual animals to a late Holocene strategy emphasizing large-scale communal hunting. Our analysis suggests that ancient hunters visiting Hogup Cave most likely employed small-scale encounter hunting during the fall and winter months and that this subsistence pattern varied little between the middle and late Holocene. Moreover, while hunting strategies appear to have remained generally similar throughout the 8,800-year occupational record at Hogup Cave, artiodactyl abundances show a dramatic increase relative to smaller, lower-ranked prey in late Holocene strata, suggesting that a temporal shift in the favored hunting strategy, by itself, cannot explain this trend in every context.

Plog and Hegmon (1993) focus on my research (Leonard 1989) on Black Mesa, Arizona, faunal assemblages as part of a broader critique of the work of a number of researchers who consider the effects of sample size on assemblage richness values. I suggest that their critique is problematic for a number of reasons, primarily statistical, but also because they do not provide an alternative hypothesis for the observed pattern.

Two generations of intensive archaeological work conducted in great part by the Carnegie Institution of Washington in the Southern Maya area have resulted in a wealth of factual information and the establishment of a fairly comprehensive and continuous cultural sequence. In spite of the many facts, few attempts have been made by Middle American archaeologists to synthesize this data and present it within a coherent conceptual framework. The reluctance of Middle Americanists to extract from the factual data theories regarding the recurring regularities of human behavior may be due in part to the feeling that such “theorizing” is purely speculative and unscientific. The picture is further complicated by the fact that in the Maya area the great bulk of the archaeological material collected and studied consists of artifacts from the excavations of mounds and tombs in the large ceremonial and urban centers. This material understandably does not represent the totality of the culture concerned.

The Black Mesa Archaeological Project has been conducting field investigations and archaeological research in northeastern Arizona since 1967. The work is contracted for by Peabody Coal Company in order to comply with federal, state, and tribal statutes. The longevity of the project, as well as its size and complexity, affords a unique opportunity to evaluate and refine research, project administration, and legal compliance procedures. In most situations, clear advantages have resulted from the opportunities to learn from the project's history. Unfortunately, changing statutes and changing interpretations of the same statutes have resulted in major problems—both for the archaeologists and for the Peabody Coal Company.

In the North central Middle West there is a well-defined complex of archaeological material traits that received the classificatory name Oneota aspect of the Upper Mississippi phase at the Indianapolis meeting of 1935. The material which probably should be grouped together occurs over quite a large geographical area. In northern Illinois it is one of the best known of the prehistoric cultures and is represented by at least three foci. In Wisconsin the southern and western parts of the state contain quite a number of sites grouped into three foci, two of which appear to be local, namely, Lake Winnebago and Grand River. The sites in northeastern Iowa and southeastern Minnesota contain remains so similar to those of southwestern Wisconsin that they have been placed together in the Orr focus.

Paleo-Indian type artifacts of the Manzanillo complex consist of crude tools, such as choppers and scrapers, made of silicified wood. The find is related to the El Jobo chronology and is also compared with other complexes in North and South America.

The first season's excavations of the University of New Mexico at the site called Pottery Mound, near Los Lunas, New Mexico, have revealed a painted kiva with interesting differences when compared with those heretofore discovered. The excavations were carried on as part of the 1954 Archaeological Field Session of the University of New Mexico. Work was continued at the site for a period of 6 weeks. It is contemplated that excavations will be resumed in the season of 1955.

Pottery Mound is a large site covering approximately 2 acres. It has been known for the last 2 decades to archaeologists and laymen alike as a place prolific in many kinds of pottery. It is this circumstance which has given the place its name.

Excavations of the 1954 season were carried on in the northeast portion of the mound. Also a very extensive refuse pile on the south periphery of the site was trenched for stratigraphical purposes.

The contents of a bone-filled pit from a Late Prehistoric period site in the Bighorn Basin, Wyoming, are inferred to represent the remains of a meal originally cooked in a skin container. The residue remained in the container, outside of the pit, for at least three weeks. Subsequently, but within a few weeks of cooking, the residue was dumped upside down into a pit which was then sealed with a sandstone slab. Preparation of the food and its disposal took place between June and September. The temporal resolution made possible by the analysis of the insect remains permits the inference that the site assemblage accumulated during two separate occupations. Such an inference affects how the site assemblage may be interpreted within the context of a settlement system.

In view of the potential significance to American archaeology of the discovery of man-made artifacts along with extinct fauna near Valsequillo, Puebla, Mexico, it is considered useful, in addition to the detailed field documentation, to present the evidence of independent observers concerning the in situ associations. Comments by three such independent scientists, R. S. MacNeish, F. A. Petersen, and H. M. Wormington, on the character of the evidence at Valsequillo are quoted.

A burial at Vegueta on the central Peruvian coast contained pottery assignable to two regional styles. This association supplements other evidence for widespread interaction during the Middle Horizon. These distributional patterns are compatible with the hypothesis that several powerful commercial centers existed at this time, rather than the kind of political integration implied by the Huari Empire.

Dating a moderately large sample of obsidian artifacts from a site can contribute highly accurate knowledge about three basic unknowns for site deposits: (1) the presence or absence of a statistically significant tendency towards superposition in the deposit; (2) the nature and degree of disturbance inhibiting the full expression of the superpositional tendency; and (3) the directional bias associated with the disturbance.

Deposits of the following three sites are analyzed: Mammoth Junction site, California; La Victoria site, Guatemala; and the Chorrera R-B-1 site, Ecuador. A test for artifact reuse is described and is applied to the three sites.