Curved, single-piece shell fishhooks are found archaeologically in Oceania, Ecuador, southern Peru and northern Chile, and the Santa Barbara region of southern California. The hypothesis that fish were possible transpacific carriers of these shell fishhooks is examined in the light of recent tuna-tagging research. Tag release and recovery data show that three species of tuna are capable of undertaking long-range migrations. Skipjack tunas are known to migrate from Baja California to Hawaii. Some bluefin tunas have migrated from Baja California to Japan. Albacore, which is believed to consist of a single population in the northern Pacific Ocean, probably circumnavigates the Pacific. A migration model of the northern Pacific albacore population suggests at least one possible transportation route of shell fishhooks between Hawaii and the Santa Barbara region. Heyerdahl has postulated that the association at historic contact in the Santa Barbara region of the curved, single-piece shell fishhook, the frameless plank canoe, and the Polynesian-type cosmogony of the Chungichnish cult is evidence for pre-Columbian transpacific contact. Contrary to his theory, reasons are advanced here to suggest that these traits may instead be fortuitously associated rather than diffused as a complex.

The Convention on the Law of the Sea, the culminating document of the Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea, received favorable votes from 130 States in April 1982. The United States voted against approval. Articles 149 and 303, which address archaeological and historical objects found in various ocean zones, are compromise measures with ambiguous texts that are subject to interpretation. Archaeologists generally, not simply underwater archaeologists, should be concerned with these provisions because they could set an unfortunate precedent for future international negotiations involving cultural resources, and because they may apply to inundated prehistoric sites as well as to shipwrecks.

In the summer of 1935, a road gang working in the vicinity of Torrington, Wyoming, near the north bank of the North Platte River, was blasting for road material in the face of a low bluff. Among the debris of one explosion they found several broken skeletons, together with a few stone artifacts and some bone beads. The artifacts were dispersed among the workmen, but the skeletal material, together with a few of the beads, came into the hands of Dr. S. H. Knight, Professor of Geology at the University of Wyoming. On a trip to New York he brought the cranial fragments to the American Museum of Natural History, where they were restored by the author.

Wilson Duff's tentative identification of several lower Fraser River artifacts as atlatl weights led the authors to examine 104 whole and fragmentary probable weights from the Northwest. They classify them on the basis of lashing grooves, notches, holes, or scars into three main types, each of which has variants. The weights are found in the lower Columbia and lower Fraser river valleys with a concentration in the Dalles-Deschutes region and range in time from the late Middle to the early Late periods of the Dalles Reservoir sequence, about 500 B.C. to A.D. 1400. Metallurgical analysis of a hollow copper bead found with two weights indicates that it is prehistoric and suggests connections to the east. The weights are often found paired in burials. Although ethnographic comparisons are disappointing, archaeological comparisons reveal possible relationships between the Northwest and California, the Great Basin and the Southwest, especially during Basketmaker II, and the eastern Woodlands. The possibility that the Northwest atlatl weights may be derived from eastern forms reinforces the previously presented idea that the Northwest participated in certain continent-wide developments.

In a 1995 paper, Raab et al. questioned Arnold’s assertion that high sea temperatures in prehistoric southern California resulted in maritime subsistence disaster. The current discussion by Arnold et al. argues that our data were flawed and taken out of sociocultural context. Not only are these claims unfounded, they are based largely on an unfortunate strategy of combining uniformitarian and interpretivist analytical frameworks

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.

Serrated edges, and wonderful chipping techniques, are commonly displayed on chipped stone objects of the Pacific Coast region from California to British Columbia, but the greatest ultimate perfection of serration obtains in the so-called Stockton type points, peculiar to the delta and flood plain region near the confluence of the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers. The distribution of these specialized forms seems to approximately conform with this great flood plain, which is, generally speaking, not much above sea-level. This area was called by the early Spaniards the “Tulares,” because a great part of it was an impenetrable swamp, covered by a rank growth of tule reeds.

Based on published lexicostatistical dates, two intervals in the prehistory of southern Mesoamerica stand out as fertile periods in terms of the generation of new languages: the Terminal Preclassic/early Early Classic Periods, and the Early Postclassic Period. After comparing archaeological evidence with language distributions within the subregions of southern Mesoamerica during the first of these periods, we conclude that the cultural processes during both periods had the same potential for producing rapid rates of linguistic divergences. Just as rapid proliferation of linguistic divisions was symptomatic of the well-known collapse of Late Classic Maya civilization, so it can be taken as a sign of a collapse of Terminal Preclassic civilization. Both collapses were characterized by severe population reductions, site abandonments, an increasing balkanization in material culture, and disruption of interregional communication networks, conditions that were contributory to the kind of linguistic isolation that allows language divergences. Unlike in the Terminal Classic collapse episode, small refuge zones persisted in the Early Classic Period that served as sources of an evolving classicism; these refuge zones were exceptions, however, not the rule. Although the collapse of each site had its own proximate cause, we suggest that the enormous geographical range covered by these Early Classic Period site failures points to a single ultimate cause affecting the area as a whole, such as the onset of a prolonged and devastating climatic change.

The respondents raise interesting issues that deserve further discussion in this and other forums. I urge readers to examine my original paper published in this journal and compare it with the concerns raised here. I do note several points of agreement, including the recognition that repressive governments affect the work of archaeology both directly and indirectly; that Latin American countries differ remarkedly in their individual histories and approaches to government; and that, in general, archaeology in Latin America is dependent on the state.

There is reason to believe that the bow came into use in the New World in relatively recent times, and that prior to its introduction, or its much less probable local invention, the spear-thrower enjoyed continent-wide distribution in both Americas. These suppositions are based on the apparent total absence from all respectably ancient deposits of small, light points suitable for the tipping of arrows; and, conversely, by the presence in such deposits of larger points, of sizes and weights appropriate for service with the heavier, longer darts propelled by the spear-thrower. Furthermore, the spear-thrower is known to have been replaced by the bow in the Southwest during the Basket Maker II period, probably in the early centuries of the Christian era.

Supplementing Part I of this report, by Weyer, Part II is concerned with certain vital needs in American archaeology for a central facility in which high-speed methods of data analysis can be applied to the determination of types of stone artifacts on a broad scale, the distribution of these types can be mapped wherever they occur in the New World, manuals can be prepared for general research, and related functions can be performed. It is held that our individualistic approaches to these problems in various areas, rather than producing strictly comparable results, are causing greater confusion than ever; that distributional studies based on noncomparable “types” are superficial and misleading; and that there are already on hand such great amounts of material that their analysis can never be accomplished comprehensively by “hand” methods. The advantages and disadvantages of edge-punch and IBM cards are discussed in relation to several purposes, such as catalog records, sorting for attributes (singly and in combinations), and computer treatment. The project's steering committee has decided to proceed with IBM cards, but before disseminating its recommendations, will conduct pilot studies to achieve the most efficient codification of attributes as well as a standard form on which data must be recorded before an operator can proceed with the punching of cards.

The Papago Indian Reservation, touching the Mexican border in south-central Arizona, has been the scene of anthropological work by the Department of Anthropology of the University of Arizona and the Arizona State Museum during the past four years. One branch of this general study has been archaeological, consisting of reconnaissance and of excavation in what were considered to be key sites. Beyond Gila Pueblo's limited survey in Papagueria, next to nothing was known about it. The environment is harsh and arid, and scanty surface water limits agricultural possibilities. Yet more than 5000 Papago Indians somehow manage, as they have for centuries, to make a comfortable if simple living in the area. Certainly the life there today is nothing new and it is a fair conclusion that, although inhospitable, the area should furnish a fairly rich archaeological picture. As our work proceeded it became evident that there were ruins in abundance. With few exceptions, these were small and the occupation thinly spread. Occasionally, a large site with sizable trash mounds gave promise of stratigraphy.

Southwestern Pueblo pottery of the prehistoric periods has been studied, named with dozens of geographic appellations, and traced back from period to period with genealogic thoroughness. “And La Plata Black-on-White begat Red Mesa Black-on-White, and Red Mesa Black-on-White begat Escavada Black-on-White, and Escavada Black-on-White begat Gallup Black-on-White.” But the family tree of prehistoric Southwestern walls has not been cultivated with the ardor of the potsherd horticulturist; the relation of roots to branches has been largely conjectural.

Arithmetical procedures, including addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and square root extraction, are demonstrated using the Maya numerals. All procedures can be carried out efficiently. The Maya system is relatively unique in that it combines properties of both place-value and non-place-value numerical systems. The Babylonian system, discussed briefly, also utilizes a mixture of properties from the two systems. In order to take into account the unique hybrid characteristics of these two systems, as well as the subtractive principle of the Roman numerals, we here define a third category of numerical systems designated as mixed-place-value in type. The three types of numerical systems are compared and the advantages and disadvantages of each are mentioned. The evolutionary development of numerical systems in relation to the mathematical needs of societies is discussed.

Since mid-1974 very significant advances have been made in interpreting the Mixtec codices of Mexico. Many older hypotheses have been disproved, including the long-accepted chronological scheme proposed by Caso (1949), and these will cause profound changes in archaeological correlations for the Oaxacan area. The most important codex research is now focused upon correcting the chronology, distinguishing between actual history and mythical events, and clarifying the natures and roles of supernatural beings. The use of Central Mexican concepts hindered earlier research, but these patterns are erroneous for the Mixtecs and have now been discarded; accurate interpretations occur only with the use of Mixtec cultural and linguistic data. Mixtec codex studies are now firmly established as a separate and independent area of specialization within Mesoamerican scholarship.

An apparent similarity in settlement pattern change in portions of the Khuzestan region, Iran, and the Middle Northern Rio Grande region, New Mexico, is described. A model is formulated as a series of hypotheses of correlation to test the validity of this supposed change in the Middle Northern Rio Grande region. Test implications of this model dictate the establishment of a survey transect. Site data is gathered from the transect using museum records, published reports and a stratified, random sample site reconnaissance. The "site weight index" is described and used to render this site data into comparable numerical form. A phi-coefficient statistic is applied to this data, and the first model is rejected. An alternative model of settlement change is derived and used to reinterpret Northern Rio Grande prehistory in general.

Salvage operations were carried out at an extensively pot-hunted Zoned Bichrome period (300 B.C. to A.D. 300) cemetery in northwestern Guanacaste Province, Costa Rica. This is the first "pure" Zoned Bichrome site of this type to be studied and yielded a cross-section of ceramics representative of other Late Formative sites in the area and of contact with the Maya lowlands. In addition, it solidified the impression of this period being an entity distinct from subsequent regional developments. This distinction is seen in terms of adaptation to the exploitation of marine mollusca, a pattern not present in Zoned Bichrome sites known at the present time, but very important in succeeding Polychrome periods.

In a recent article, Stuart Struever made certain statements which deserve comment. Discussion of the possibility of pre-maize agriculture in the eastern United States appeared in print as early as 1924. Sunflower and marshelder seem to have been among the plants domesticated, but not giant ragweed. The evidence for cultivation of amaranth and chenopod needs more careful evaluation. The archaeological occurrence of unusually large seeds may be good evidence of domestication, but the occurrence of chenopod at the Pomranky and Hodges sites in Michigan does not appear to be good evidence.

The village site, which is the subject of this report, has been known for at least three-quarters of a century. Its large size, the abundance of surface materials, and the nearby presence of a conspicuous earthwork, combined to attract attention to the site. Prof. G. C. Broadhead, of the University of Missouri, explored the region in 1872, and gathered a number of sherds which form part of the present archaeological collection at the University. During the '70's and '80's there were quite a few pseudo-scientific excavations on the site, the published reports of which are more tantalizing than illuminating to the modern student. Fowke was there in 1907; and local amateurs have long made a practice of gathering specimens there, and sending them to scientific institutions.

In recent years, questions and arguments about the Mogollon culture have grown hotter. Southwestern archaeologists have split into two camps, one pro- and the other anti-Mogollon. The main argument seems to be whether or not the Mogollon culture was ever a separate entity with a development distinct from the Hohokam and Anasazi cultures, and, if the Mogollon was a separate entity, should it be granted the same independent taxonomic status as the Hohokam and Anasazi?

Much work remains to be done in the Mogollon culture and one can not make too many dogmatic statements. But in this article, I propose to set forth some conjectures which will at least use the available data and which may clarify the situation somewhat.

Much of the discussion about the separateness of the Mogollon has hinged on the problem of dating the earliest known phases of this culture, namely, the San Francisco, the Georgetown, and pre-Georgetown.