In discussing recently the modern cultivation of tobacco among the Pueblo Indians, Leslie A. White remarked that “archaeologists have no evidence of the use of tobacco among the Pueblos in prehistoric times.” He further added that it seems that “tobacco was not used among the Pueblos prior to the advent of the white man.” These statements are counter to the rather firmly established opinion that tobacco must have been smoked in the pipes which are found in archaeological sites in the Southwest. As rumblings of consternation and dissent have been provoked by White's remarks, it seems in order to review briefly some of the data relative to this question.

Less surprise might have been occasioned had White worded his remark to read that no direct or tangible evidence of tobacco has come from archaeological sites in the area.

Braun and Plog's approach to understanding change in “tribal” social networks is critiqued with respect to (1) certain bridging arguments about the social meaning of particular evidential trends, and (2) certain conceptual biases regarding the nature of “tribal” social relations. Aspects of an alternative strategy for making sense of “tribal” social dynamics are discussed.

Blanton ’s use of a hypothesis of warfare among Early Post- Teotihuacan sociocultural entities of the Basin of Mexico to account for selective reoccupation following the end of Teotihuacan is based ultimately on a conceptualization of a dichotomy between a peaceful Classic period and a warlike Postclassic period. Except for unoccupied areas between local concentrations of Early Toltec sites there are no data to support the warfare hypothesis. Through a presentation of available Early Toltec settlement pattern data from the Basin of Mexico and a consideration of the sociocultural connections between Teotihuacan and the Early Toltec epi-Teotihuacan states, I support my earlier model which utilizes a tightly reasoned cultural ecological (sociocultural factors pais environmental features) framework to account for and predict the locations of concentrations of Early Toltec period sites. Continuity between Teotihuacan and the Early Toltec period sites is stressed.

The suggestion of Brecher and Haag that the Poverty Point, Louisiana, earthwork structure possesses solar alignments is shown to be incorrect. The existence of other astronomical markers is problematical.

Recently, VanPool and VanPool (1999) propose that postprocessual archaeology can be construed as a scientific practice if archaeologists would simply adopt a ,realistic view- of science. We argue that this ,realistic view- actually misrepresents science and we question the VanPools' attempt to reduce the dynamic practice of science to a series of static traits. We also affirm the incompatibility of the respective confirmation strategies employed by the postprocessual and processual programs.

Paul Sidney Martin identified two “watershed” moments in his career: (1) his adoption of the tenets of the New Archaeology and (2) the changes he made in his approach to pedagogy at the Vernon field school. We explore the relationship between these two watershed moments using Martin’s archival record. We find that, rather than being watershed moments, these changes have deeper roots in the trajectory of Martin’s work and career and moreover are clearly linked to broader historical occurrences, such as World War II, the G.I. Bill, the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and the establishment of the National Science Foundation. Furthermore, we find that the New Archaeology’s emphasis on egalitarian science—the metaphor of “archaeology as commune”—serves as a link among its theoretical innovations, methodology, and pedagogy.

A sound cultural chronology is the primary step in discovering the prehistory of any region. The chronology of the northwest coast of Florida and the adjacent Mobile Bay region of Alabama was first outlined by Willey (1949), utilizing his own surface and excavated collections, as well as the extensive but unsystematic work of Clarence B. Moore. Later Ford (1952) incorporated a portion of Willey's data into a chronological comparison of the Gulf Coast region and the Lower Mississippi Valley. Recently Sears (1956), in a most thorough report on the excavations at the Kolomoki site in southern Georgia, has called certain details of the ceramic chronology developed by Willey into question; notably the time position of the abundant check-stamped ware.

The role of scavengers, especially dogs, with reference to archaeological faunal remains is not always clear. While distortion admittedly results from the activities of these animals, total destruction of all such evidence is questioned. Emphasis is placed upon fish remains in the examples and both ethnographic and archaeological data are used. It is argued that a more thorough knowledge of the nature of the food items themselves will greatly aid in assessing both their potential archaeological visibility and the information they may yield.

Pedoturbation by moles at archaeological sites in the Upper Galilee of Israel is offered to supplement data published by Bocek (1986).

One of the first aspects of Middle American culture which strikes an amateur as interesting and possibly significant is the ordered arrangement of the buildings in almost all sites. Like those of Egypt—and unlike those of Greece and Rome —the sites seem to have been planned on a large pattern. The individual buildings are arranged according to a scheme which gives them space and which orients them on a common axis. They are not dropped in helter-skelter, crowded cheek-by-jowl, and set at odd angles to one another. Further, the city plans of Middle America seemollow fhe another and larger pattern. This is the pattern of the north and south axis of each site and each building. This orientation almost invariably follows one of three schemes. I t is sometimes true north, sometimes about 7 degrees east of north, sometimes about 17 degrees east of north, but practically never west of north. There are some sites which have no general pattern, and therefore no orientation.

Two sites, Kogruk (at the summit of Anaktuvuk Pass, Alaska) and Engigstciak (at the head of the Firth River delta, Yukon Territory, Canada), have recently yielded flake-tool assemblages which show striking resemblances to a Eurasiatic flake-blade tradition based on a Levallois-Mousterian stone-chipping technique, and to the Clovis flake-blade tradition of America which appears to be based on a similar chipping technique. It is suggested that these traditions are historically related and that the Arctic sites provide a possible link between the two. The presence of incipient fluting in Siberia and at Engigstciak may prove significant. Dating is discussed in terms of the ecology and geology of the sites and is correlated with the probable periods of availability of the Bering land bridge. An upland-foothills zone is seen to be essentially continuous from central Asia to central North America. It is suggested that this zone provided the only environmentally compatible link between the two continents, and that it was therefore the most probable route of early hunting peoples into the New World.

Notwithstanding the numerous published works which have specifically or incidentally treated with the curved fishhooks of California, there is available at present no single source which draws together the accessible information and cites the relevant bibliography. The present article seeks to remedy this situation and seems justified on the grounds of making available the California data to local workers and to those who are further interested in the near identity of some of the California types with those of the Chilean coast in South America, on the one hand, and with those of the Oceanian area, on the other. Within North America the distribution of single-piece curved bone fishhooks is spotty, and a theoretical problem of historical community of these various occurrences also awaits analysis.

Curved hooks of shell and/or bone occur in California in archaeological sites on the Santa Barbara Channel islands (San Miguel, Santa Rosa, Santa Cruz), on the islands farther south and more distant from the mainland shore (San Nicolas, San Clemente, San Miguel), and on the coast from Point Concepcion to Santa Ana.

In December 1933, under the Civil Works Administration, a number of archaeological projects were organized with the primary purpose of reducing unemployment. The scientific direction of these particular emergency measures was given to the Smithsonian Institution which, since its founding in 1846, has carried on much important prehistoric research for the National Government. In the nature of the case it was the primary purpose of the C.W.A. to set a large number of unemployed persons to work with the least possible delay, while it was the duty and desire of the Smithsonian Institution to see that the scientific results attained might be as extensive and complete as the unusual opportunity warranted. The present article aims to sum up briefly the nature and results of these particular projects and their bearing on the wider problems of scientific archaeology as a channel for relief employment.

Loma Seca (Chihuahua E7-5) was discovered July 23, 1949. It is an eroding village site located about one kilometer south of the Rio Conchos some eight kilometers southwest of Ojinaga, Chihuahua, Mexico. The site is located at the western edge of a large draw which intersects the valley of the Rio Conchos at this point. Physiographically the site occupies an eroding saddle at the foot of a high mesa which represents an outlier of the high gravel terraces of the Conchos valley. The mesa or butte lies just north of the site and separates it from the lowlands of the Conchos valley and at the same time provides protection from northerly winds. There is a thin scattering of hearthstones, flint chips, and artifacts over the eroding surface of the draw just west of the site.

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.

Vaillant's geographic and stylistic term, Mixteca-Puebla, is rapidly and unfortunately being supplanted by an ethnic and linguistic term, Mixtec, which has rather suddenly become a popular label for the final pictorial horizon style of much of Mesoamerica. The well-known dangers of using an ethnic or linguistic term for an archaeological manifestation are intensified in this case by the lack of systematic archaeological work in the Mixteca region. The great mercantile and religious center of Nahua-speakers rather than Mixtec-speakers at Cholula is suggested as the origin of the almost pan-Mesoamerican diffusion of the Mixteca-Puebla style in Postclassic times. Thus, Mixteca-Puebla, not Mixtec, should be used to describe this style which flourished in and probably originated somewhere in a geographic region dominated in late preconquest times by Nahua-speakers in the north and Mixtec-speakers in the south.

In 1937 John M. Goggin found a series of blow-outs in the San Jose river valley, western New Mexico, which produced serrated projectile points reminiscent of Pinto Basin material. The following year Joseph H. Toulouse, Jr., identified 3 distinct cultural horizons, each with an associated sand stratum (Bryan and Toulouse 1943). The most recent stratum, made up of loose drifting surface sand, contained Pueblo and recent cultural debris. Beneath this was a layer of consolidated buff to white colored sand identified as late dune. In this stratum were , found diagnostic milling stones and the distinctive small, serrated Lobo point. Under this buff sand lay a compact layer of red sand, old dune, with similar milling stones but with a larger serrated point type today known as the San Jose.