In the late summer of 1952, as the author was breaking camp at conclusion of the Smithsonian-Princeton field investigations at the Horner site, near Cody, Wyoming, a large earthenware vessel was brought to him for examination. According to its owner, Mr. Don Marquess, the vessel had recently been found “ … under an overhanging rock near Goff Creek Lodge, which is located 43 miles from Cody, Wyoming, on the North Fork of the Shoshoni River, 10 miles from the East gate to Yellowstone National Park. The ledge of rock under which it was found is on the bank of Goff Creek, a mountain stream which runs through the camp and empties into the Shoshoni River. The bottom [of the pot] was protruding slightly from the surface of the ground. The rocks under which it was buried are of a flat nature of various sizes …” (Marquess to Wedel, letter of October 31, 1952).

Some unwarranted conclusions drawn by Speth in a recent article in American Antiquity are pointed out, and clarification of some other concepts referred to in that paper is suggested. The validity of an equation used by Speth is questioned and cautious application of some other equations is suggested.

In the summer of 1945, members of the Illinois State Museum under the direction of Thorne Deuel, Director of the Museum, excavated a group of Indian burial mounds in the Havana, Mason County area. Burial No. 10 in Mound No. 9 of this group yielded 22 rounded bead-like objects, composed of strongly oxidized iron, together with slightly more than 1000 ground shell and pearl or pearl slug beads. As the burial was evidently prehistoric and of Hopewellian age, it was at once conjectured that the iron might be of meteoric origin. In January, 1946, several of these supposed iron beads were sent to the State Geological Survey, with the request that the nature and source of the iron be determined if possible. In addition, Dr. Deuel kindly made available the data presented herein on the nature of the discovery and on the size, shape, and arrangement of the supposed beads.

Archaeological research in Chihuahua, Mexico, is something that has been talked about a great deal recently, but little in the way of field work has been accomplished. During the 1930's there was a spurt in archaeological activities in that area which saw a number of individuals conducting surveys and small scale excavations mainly in the northwestern part of the state. Reports on much of this work, and upon field work accomplished earlier, appeared in this same period. But since that time very little has been accomplished. As more knowledge of the prehistory of southern New Mexico, southeastern Arizona, and central Mexico became available, attention was focused on north central Mexico, including Chihuahua, as a key area in which might be found answers to many existing problems, especially those dealing with Southwestern-Mexican connections. In the period since World War II, J. Charles Kelley has reported upon work in southern Chihuahua in the Rio Conchos drainage, and the University of New Mexico conducted investigations in the Bolson de Mapimi in southwestern Chihuahua. The latter work, however, is unreported.

Twenty-Six years of periodic reconnaissance along the Missouri River bluffs in western Missouri have revealed numerous archaeological sites on which repeated finds of long well-made blades, lanceolate in form, have occurred. These typical blades are not found in the artifact inventories of the reported manifestations of the region, but do seem to bear striking similarities to artifacts of the lithic cultures of the Great Plains. Brief mention of this complex has appeared (Shippee, 1940, p. 12; Wedel, 1943, p. 102) but it has not been fully characterized. Data now available will be presented here; they are tentative until supplemented by excavation.

The four sites which will be described are located in Clay County, Missouri, within a few miles of Kansas City (Fig. 4), in which area the Kansas River joins the Missouri. The prairies of eastern Kansas are relatively close by. The topographical locations and artifact inventories of these sites are practically identical.

Fiedel and Morrow challenge our argument that Clovis technology originated in the southern Plains or Southeast and from there was carried by populations migrating north. Upon entering the Intermountain West relatively late, they encountered a population utilizing a different technology (Western Stemmed), the latter having arrived independently from the Pacific coast. Fiedel and Morrow offer arguments in favor of Clovis-first in the Intermountain West and coastal California and against the coastal route, Clovis origins in the south, and technological differences between Clovis and Western Stemmed. We evaluate these arguments and find their supporting evidence, when provided, meager and unconvincing.

The site of Las Madres near Galisteo, New Mexico, has yielded a provocative array of culture traits, each deviating from recognized Anasazi norms. Regional types of black-on-white sherds were encountered, accompanied by variants. Few Glaze I Red sherds appeared on the surface, but excavations revealed them in considerable quantity from top to bottom; there are fewer Glaze I Yellow and Polychrome representations. Tree-ring dates and ceramic materials indicate occupation from the late 1200's to about 1370. A transitional situation is suggested by bird bones, pottery variations, absence of formalized building plan, eclectic burial practices, and lithic artifacts. There is no evidence of direct migration of Mesa Verde people into the Galisteo region.

Dichotomies or bipolar scales usually provide the conceptual framework for discussions of historic period Native American cultural change in the western Great Lakes. Archaeological and historical studies of Removal period (A.D. 1795-1840) Potawatomi of northern Indiana and southern Michigan provide challenges to common dichotomous frameworks used to define identity, political affiliation, geographic location, or other attributes of individual Potawatomi. Examples of these classifications include dichotomies such as Catholic vs. Non-Catholic, assimilationist vs. traditionalist, or accommodationist vs. non-accommodationist (among others). Case studies of four Potawatomi, two of whom successfully resisted removal (Pokagon and Benack) and two who did not (Menominee and Ashkum), illustrate the need for multiple lines of evidence that facilitate comparisons between diverse communities living in a rapidly changing world. Relations with the colonizer were the most significant element related to successful resistance. Site location provides a visible signal of these wider social ties extending beyond the local community.

During the autumn of 1941, excavations in Modified Basketmaker sites in Mesa Verde National Park were carried on, for the twin purposes of clearing well-preserved pit houses that could be used in the interpretative program of the park and of adding to the meager amount of information on Modified Basketmaker culture in the park area. Although this period has been studied extensively in adjacent districts, little work has been done on it in the Mesa Verde.

On a Wooded Hilltop overlooking Sheguiandah Bay on Manitoulin Island is one of the most remarkable Indian sites ever discovered in Canada. It was found in the course of archaeological survey work in 1951 (Lee 1953). Extensive surface collections were made; the materials indicated that the site might be one of the earliest known in Ontario. Hundreds of large quartzite blades were obtained and their apparent connections were with the George Lake 1 site at Killarney, some twenty miles away on the mainland (Greenman 1943). The Sheguiandah site, vastly richer in material, gave promise of yielding valuable information about the nature and cultural connections of the people who had worked and perhaps lived there. Further, despite the fact that the site had thus far escaped the attentions of souvenir hunters and relic collectors, it was believed that any delay in investigations might subject it to the destructive forces which have fallen upon so many important prehistoric features.

Two bone objects from the Tule Springs site, possibly tools, occurred in ancient sedimentary fill of a small spring outlet-channel remnant. The ancient spring was active more than 40,000 years ago and again 12,000 to 13,000 years ago. The fill and the bone contained therein could be of either age. Chemical and X-ray analysis on bone of the known ages and bone from the fill showed no significant or systematic differences in fluorine, uranium, nitrogen, or phosphate content. On geological grounds, it is concluded that the bone objects are 12,000 to 13,000 years old.

The finding of ceremonial bone and shell objects at Puntarenas Farm, Jalaca, southeastern Costa Rica, along with ceramics of known Chiriqui or Red and Black ware, has thrown new light upon the extent of pre-Columbian trade and the penetration of cult traits from northern South America into lower Central America. Although no radiocarbon date has been obtained as yet, it is known that the manufacture of Chiriqui or Red and Black ware was continued into post-Columbian times.

The presence in this region of shells found only on the Caribbean coast of Central America and not on the Pacific, as well as artifacts of manatee (Trichechus m. manatus Linn.) bone, also associated solely with the Caribbean littoral, indicate the extent and importance of trade. In the same sense, the appearance of the alligator-serpent motif on both coasts of the Nicoya Peninsula and on the western coast with ware related to Ulua Polychrome types and with an Ulua style alabaster vase, places a new northern boundary with respect to the diffusion of this cult motif. The Ulua Polychrome types and the Ulua style alabaster vase put a time horizon covering from A.D. 1000 probably to the Spanish arrival. The alligator-serpent concept, so familiar in the Amazon and Andean regions, the “eagle” or “condor” concept, the feline, the monkey, and the frog all emphasize the common base of lower Central American religion. Likewise they point to San Agustin as a cultural center of great importance in lower Central America.

From the artistic point of view, the bone objects represent some of the most intricate carving yet known in eastern Central America. Both the style and subject matter place these figures in a different category from bone artifacts associated with Mesoamerican cultures.

To aid in the celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of the Society for American Archaeology and its journal, American Antiquity, I was invited to address myself to “Unsolved Problems in New World Culture History.” I have agreed to do this, but, with the editor's indulgence, I would like to rephrase the title as I have, for I think that the word “continuing” more accurately captures the sense of the situation and where our interests lie. As all of us are aware, there are many unsolved problems in Precolumbian culture history—“more holes than cheese,” as the saying goes—but I think I should take a look at some of those with which we are most familiar.

A central tenet of the so-called demographic hypothesis is that larger populations ought to be associated with more diverse and complex toolkits. Recent empirical tests of this expectation have yielded mixed results, leading some to question to what extent changes in population size might explain interesting changes in the prehistoric archaeological record. Here, I employ computer simulation as a heuristic tool to address whether these mixed results reflect deficiencies in the formal models borrowed from population genetics or problems with the generalizations archaeologists have derived from them. I show that two previously published and highly influential models highlight two different effects of demography. My results illustrate how natural selection and cultural selection weaken the relationship between census population size, cultural diversity, and mean skill level, suggesting that one should not expect population size to predict the diversity or complexity of a cultural trait under all conditions. The concept of effective population size is central to understanding why the effects of population size can vary among traits that are passed by different mechanisms of cultural transmission within the same population. In light of these findings, I suggest ways to strengthen (rather than abandon) empirical tests of the demographic hypothesis.

The Lavon Dam and Reservoir, under construction by the Corps of Engineers, Department of the Army, is one of the many projects throughout the country which will soon obliterate information relating to the prehistory of North America. This particular project is located on the East Fork of the Trinity River in Collin County, Texas, 21 miles northeast of Dallas. It was scheduled for completion in January, 1952.

The Trinity River is one of several major rivers flowing in a southeasterly direction across the state of Texas. It heads in four branches north and northwest of the city of Dallas and flows into Galveston Bay and thence into the Gulf of Mexico, approximately 40 miles due east of the city of Houston. The East Fork (and its principal tributary, Pilot Grove Creek) is the easternmost of the headwater branches. It rises in Grayson County and enters the main stream in southwestern Kaufman County.

Most investigators of Maya chronology consider that the Maya measured time intervals by a modified vigesimal count of days or, alternatively, by a tun count in which the uinal and the kin were fractions of the tun. The claim is made that neither of these interpretations is satisfactory and that the Maya perceived their time count to be a composite count comprised of three distinct counts whose respective units are the tun, the uinal and the kin. Support for this contention is found in the early post-Conquest writings as well as in the representations of time counts in the inscriptions and codices. Adoption of this interpretation leads to a clearer understanding of the Maya use of positional notation and also serves to explain some peculiar epigraphic features present in several chronological counts.

A series of papers at the 24th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, in Salt Lake City in 1959, was devoted to Developments in Dating Techniques, and dedicated to Nels C. Nelson in recognition of his pioneering role in establishing the technique of stratigraphic excavation in America. During his work in the Galisteo Basin of New Mexico in 1914 he dug a series of ten 1-foot levels, classified all the sherds found in them into seven types, and calculated their frequencies by levels. These resembled sections of normal distribution curves, and demonstrated that statistical analysis of data from arbitrary levels could reveal chronological change just as could data from physically distinct strata. Within a few years this technique was employed by several other archaeologists and it continues to the present to be an indispensable technique of investigation.

Through the kindness of Clement W. Meighan, I have been enabled to examine a collection of fish remains obtained from an aboriginal shellmound on Strawberry Point, a promontory on the northwest shore of Richardson Bay, Marin County, California. Richardson Bay, an arm of San Francisco Bay, extends in a northerly to northwesterly direction from Sausalito. A description of this shellmound, and an explanation of the numerical grid system employed in its excavation, have been published by McGeein and Mueller (1955: 52–3, Figs. 22–3), who designated the site “Mrn 20.” With commendable thoroughness the excavators saved every bone encountered, and it is thus possible to present an identification of every bone rather than the more usual listing of species from a small, selected sample.

Radiocarbon dating is a useful tool in archaeological research, but the precision hoped for by some is not attainable because of the nature of the radiocarbon assay itself, possible contaminations, the Suess effect, and especially the peculiar nature of wood structure and growth. Wood and charcoal, unlike animal remnants, will not necessarily give the age corresponding to the time when the tree died or was cut; they will give only the age of the particular fragment used in the radiocarbon assay. If wood comes from the central portion of a large tree stem, there may even be several hundred years difference between its radiocarbon date and the date of the corresponding archaeological level. Such discrepancies are common in the recent finds at Teotihuacάn. Even the apparently erroneous date of 1474 ± 230 B.C. for Teotihuacάn can thus be explained. Other radiocarbon dates should also be evaluated with this in mind.