All reported findings of anthropomorphic clay figurines from the lower Pecos region of Texas are synthesized. Considerations are given to figurine chronology, technology, morphology, and function. The finds made with adequate chronological control occur in the Middle Archaic period, from about 2000 B.C. to 200 B.C. A brief description of the Lower Pecos Archaic cultural system is presented in order to place the figurines in a context for functional analysis.

The figurines are hand-shaped, usually unfired, and represent both males and females. Painted or incised decorations are restricted to female forms; socio-cultural explanations for this pattern are explored. The specific uses of the figurines remain indefinite.

In 1964 M. Coe and K. Flannery reported on the existence of a major obsidian chipping station, El Chayal, in highland Guatemala some 15 km northeast of the large administrative and ceremonial center known as Kaminaljuyu. In that report they introduce arguments supporting their belief that the chipping station exhibited a preceramic industry, belonging either to the Archaic period or to the Paleo-Indian period, or to both. New evidence, resulting from obsidian dating, unequivocally contradicts their conclusions and thus calls into question their basic line of reasoning. Obsidian dating results suggest that the El Chayal chipping station probably dates to the Early Post Classic period IA.D. 1000-1200) and certainly no earlier than A.D. 900.

In “The Scientific Nature of Postprocessualism”, VanPool and VanPool (1999) attempt to demonstrate that the sometimes hostile debate between processualist and postprocessualist archaeologies disguises substantive intellectual similarities. The most important similarity is their conformity to a refined definition of science. This definition is based on seven criteria that, as a group, demarcate science from nonscience. VanPool and VanPool pay inadequate attention to critiques of the notion that science can be clearly separated from other forms of inquiry. These critiques come from both within the literature VanPool and VanPool cite as well as from bodies of literature that they do not acknowledge, such as recent sociological, philosophical, and anthropological studies of science. Many of the demarcation criteria can be shown to suffer from overly simplistic accounts of the connections between evidence and hypothesis. Other demarcations do not recognize the social nature of scientific inquiry and the consequent incorporation of interests at various scales. Although VanPool and VanPool believe their criteria of science will promote synergy between processual and postprocessual, this paper questions the conceptualization of these schools and argues that synergy is better accomplished through the appreciation of difference among the various archaeologies and openness to alternative epistemologies.

The long-eared owl (Asio otus) and short-eared owl (A. flammeus) are indistinguishable by bone morphology alone. Since they inhabit contrasting ecological situations, identification of their bones from prehistoric sites is important for paleoenvironmental interpretations. Measurements on long bones of modern specimens indicate these species can be identified by bone size. Tables are presented for use by the analyst in identifying complete or fragmentary wing and leg bones.

The theory of Holocene refugia in Amazonia as offered by B. J. Meggers is discussed in terms of dating, climate analysis, ecology, and linguistics. There is strong evidence to suggest that Meggers" formulation may be premature.

The Ozark Uplift of northwest Arkansas and southwest Missouri has been a fertile field for archaeological investigation. Natural conditions have greatly facilitated research here, for despite the humidity of the region, there are numerous dry shelters or caves formed by the weathering of shale beds beneath limestone strata in bluffs along White River, its tributaries, and the Cowskin River. Debris, burials, and pictographs show that the Indians had used the shelters as combined homes, cemeteries, and places for ceremonials. In contrast to village sites in the lowlands of Arkansas, the bluff shelters afford more than a fragmentary picture of Indian life. Here, the burials are complemented by remains fortuitously preserved through absence of moisture, and the entire cave floor is comparable to the middens of the lowlands. The archaeological materials illustrate the complete life cycle of the aborigines. Cradleboards and burial wrappings, foodstuff and human feces all contribute to a reconstruction of Bluff-Dweller life.

Mound J, Monte Albán, a building of peculiar orientation and shape, has been mapped and tested for astronomical orientation. At the time of construction of the building, a line perpendicular to the base of the steps of J would have pointed to the rising position of the bright star Capella, which rose heliacally on one of the days of solar zenith passage. We note the existence of a possible zenith sighting tube built into the steps of building r which lies in the line of sight. A second coincidence is discussed in which 5 of the 25 brightest stars are found to have set close to the azimuth of the "point" of the building at the time it was erected.

In Byerly et al. (2005) we explored the hypothesis that the Paleoindian component at Bonfire Shelter was the result of a jump kill. Our efforts involved extensive mapping and GIS analysis, a re-examination of the Paleoindian-age bison assemblage, and consideration of the geomorphic history of the canyon in which the site is located. We concluded that the preponderance of evidence indicated the Paleoindian-age bison remains at Bonfire Shelter marked a processing site as Binford (1978) suggested, rather than a primary kill locality as originally interpreted (Dibble 1968). Bement (this issue) raises several concerns about our analysis and discussion, including that we omit pertinent information relevant to the interpretation of the site. His comments, however, result from a misreading of our discussion and a misconstrual of the data set, as we explain in this response.

Between May 11 and June 10, 1959, the Arizona State Museum conducted salvage excavations along a section of U.S. Highway 66 from the Arizona-New Mexico state line westward through Lupton for about 5.8 miles. Work in 10 sites with heavy equipment and a large crew of Navajo laborers resulted in the excavation of 16 pit houses, 43 surface rooms, 7 kivas (two only partially excavated), 6 trash deposits, 18 burials, and 21 miscellaneous architectural features. These ranged from Basket-maker III to Pueblo III, with no Pueblo I representation, and included an early Basketmaker III village with Mogollon affiliations. It was possible to clarify the definition of the White Mound phase and to demonstrate a specific front-oriented village plan for the Wingate phase. This intensive excavation produced a large quantity of material and data, thus raising the problems of how to accomplish the analysis of them and the publication of the results. This preliminary report is only a partial answer.

Underlying paleo-Indian period artifacts, deeply weathered chert implements have been recovered in Florida from a sandy clay horizon heretofore considered culturally sterile. Although the stratigraphic position of the stone implements in the sandy clay deposit has been demonstrated without question, dating has been a problem because no carbon-containing material has been preserved. Thus experiments were undertaken to investigate the environmental conditions under which the stone artifacts have weathered and the time required for the given extent of weathering. The electron microprobe was used to evaluate the surface compositional changes that occur in Florida chert during weathering. The patina of a chert surface exposed to an acid environment was found to be depleted of iron to a depth of ∼ 600μm. The mechanism through which Fe is leached from the surface is thought to be a diffusion-controlled process in which the depth of leaching is proportional to the square root of exposure time. This may provide a means of dating artifacts fashioned from these cherts.

A stylistic analysis of the incised patterns executed on the shoulders of the pottery of five Central and Northern Plains village groups yields two broad pattern types. The configurations of these types and their variants in time and space conform to what is now known of the development of the five historic socio-linguistic groups considered: Pawnee, Arikara, Cheyenne, Crow, and Mandan-Hidatsa. The spread of a distinctive triangular pattern, the “Alternating Triangle,” from its inception along the eastern boundary of the Central Plains, provides a test of the hypothesis that incised Plains pottery shoulder patterns derive in large part from stimuli from Mississippian groups to the east. Subsequent history of the incised patterns is that of a strong collective tradition over-riding earlier patterns in the Northern Plains. This incised tradition is related to historic data on skin and robe painting and to the concept of a general art style of the area, as well as to fundamental problems in the field of art.

The interpretation of skeletal material in the reconstruction of culture history by archaeologists and physical anthropologists is open to a number of criticisms. Problems inherent in the typological approach are discussed.

Little is known of the post-Folsom sequence at Blackwater Draw, Locality No. 1, in spite of over 30 years of intermittent excavation by major institutions at this site location. Until recently it has been lumped under the name of the "Portales complex" under which several culture complexes were grouped as a single entity. This paper makes an initial attempt to separate these cultures in chronological sequence.

Valle del Azufre is a newly discovered source of high-quality obsidian in central Baja California, which exhibits the most intensive exploitation of any known source in the greater United States Southwest and Northwest Mexico. Over 15 subsurface trenches and at least one adit occur at the source. Evidence for the prehistoric distribution of Valle del Azufre obsidian is presented based on energy-dispersive x-ray fluorescence spectrometry characterization of the source material and artifacts from the Baja California peninsula. Despite the intensity of exploitation at the source, the distribution of Valle del Azufre glass appears to be largely restricted to the central part of the peninsula.

The Maya imagined both the visible and the conceptual in three-dimensional form. Thus their painters had to represent the third dimension on flat surfaces. Seven ways of showing solid form were invented: combined front and profile views, overlapping, foreshortening, “half-view,” variations in line weight, arbitrary shading, and detached contour lines. Two ways of showing spatial depth were invented: overlapping and raising the level in the composition. Pottery painters never attained perfect command of space representation. Representation of space and form in art is a product of the same kind of speculation and experimentation which produces geometry and philosophical conceptions of space. The Maya lacked the conception of dimensions and never formulated the relationship between even length and width. This restricted their arts; in painting, for example, representations of space and form could not be formulated but had to be reinvented each time they were used.

Radiocarbon dates of 6880, 6980, 7270, and 6380 B.P. have been obtained for an Early Horizon site (Oak Grove) in the region of Santa Barbara, California. These dates permit the definite association of many cultural features which have previously been denied for the Oak Grove complex: a partial maritime economy, a core-and-flake industry, bone and shell technology, the use of asphaltum, and flexed burials. It is unlikely that the Early Horizon in Santa Barbara was sedentary to any degree.

This paper evaluates previous models of cave and rockshelter use in the American Midsouth from the Early to the Middle Archaic periods. Four sites are compared in order to identify variability in activities, seasonality, occupation intensity, and function. Focus is placed on using the often overlooked feature assemblages to discern these activities. Data suggest that the changing use of many caves and rockshelters is not one of longer term occupation as base camps, as has been previously argued, but rather as specialized field camps dedicated to the processing of mast resources. This shift takes place as Middle Holocene warming prompted hunter-gatherers to adopt a more logistical mobility strategy in order to take advantage of the spatio-temporal variance associated with increased mast availability. It is further argued that these sites were likely locations of women's activities and that foraging in the Midsouth involved groups of women engaged in daily tasks centered around mast, tasks that over time imbued caves and rockshelter s with symbolic meaning such that they came to function simultaneously as both processing camps and as persistent places of ritual significance in the hunter-gatherer taskscape.

Fieldwork conducted on the Cape Bathurst Peninsula, Northwest Territories, Canada, has resulted in the discovery of 75 sites representing occupations spanning more than 3,000 years. Nearly all of the sites are characterized by the predominant use of a distinctive rock called a “clinker.” Resembling a basalt-to-obsidian-like material, it is formed by the spontaneous combustion of local organic-rich shales. The fusing occurs in burning areas called bocannes that are common along the Horton River and the cliffs along the eastern shore of the peninsula. Despite the evidence for intensive use on Cape Bathurst and the more general Mackenzie Delta region, none of the four potential quarry sources yielded evidence of actual prehistoric use. This is attributed to the dynamic nature of the formation and erosion of the bocannes over the last several thousand years.