Archaeologically, the east coast of Hudson's Bay is an unexplored area. There never has been scientific excavation undertaken in this region, although the Eskimo inhabitants have been plundering the “Tunit” graves and old tent sites for many years. However, some archaeological information based upon collections from the Belcher Islands and Port Harrison, is available. In 1921-24 Dr. Knud Rasmussen and Dr. Therkel Mathiassen obtained, collections from the Belcher Islands and Port Harrison for the Fifth Thule Expedition. Mr. J. Kenneth Doutt of the Carnegie Museum, Pittsburgh, secured additional artifacts from the Belcher Islands in 1938, which have been described and analyzed by Dr. Diamond Jenness. In the summer of 1939, the writer secured archaeological materials from Eskimos on Tukarak and Inetelling Islands in the Belcher Group.

Although all of the artifacts from the east Hudson's Bay region have been excavated by Eskimos, the reasonably specific provenience, and lack of other data lend some scientific value to these collections.

Archaeologists have suggested that various methods of surface texturing, specifically those resulting in alternating ridges and grooves, affect the gripability of a ceramic vessel. Various methods of vessel texturing were applied to ceramic test tiles and evaluated using a tribometer outfitted with a malleable skinlike substrate. Nontextured (smoothed) ceramic tiles were similarly evaluated. Tiles were evaluated under both dry and wet conditions. Coefficients of static friction suggest that, under wet and dry conditions, smoothed surfaces generate less friction than textured surfaces and that not all textured surfaces produce the same amount of friction. Results indicate that vessel-wall texturing may be an adaptation for increased vessel longevity. Explanations of the development and use of textured pottery must now consider gripability along with a variety of factors related to vessel performance.

With the death on January 23, 1975, of Matthew W. Stirling, pioneer archaeologist, ethnolo-gist, and the discoverer of the Olmec civilization, American archaeology has lost one of its grand men. He is survived by his wife, Marion, a son, Matthew, his daughter Ariana, and one grandchild.

Matt was born in Salinas, California, on August 28, 1896. His father was manager for the Southern Pacific Milling Co. and was in charge of establishing warehouses in the Salinas Valley, so he lived in various small towns while growing up. While a boy and young man, he also spent considerable time on the ranches of his grandfather Williams (for whom he was named) near Gonzalez and Salinas, in a milieu that has provided the setting for some of the novels of John Steinbeck, an old family friend who often discussed the pioneer days with Matt’s maiden aunts, Did and Bee.

Some time between 1837 and 1844 Dr. Montroville Wilson Dickeson found a fossil human pelvis and bones of extinct animals in the vicinity of Natchez, Mississippi (Culen 1900: 113–5).

In 1846 Dickeson reported this find to the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, stating in substance that the human bone was found at least 2 feet below 3 associated skeletons of Megalonyx in a “plateau of blue clay … that underlies the diluvial drift of Natchez“ (Dickeson 1846: 106–7).

When in the past I have listened to writers of scientific reports bewailing the fact that their writings have been misunderstood or misinterpeted, I have been inclined to pass severe judgment: An author should be able to express what he thinks in a clear manner—no reader can be expected to read with the report in one hand and a crystal ball zeroed in on the author's mind in the other. Consequently when, on re-reading Wauchope's recent (1950) stimulating attempt at coordinating the welter of data on Mesoamerican ceramics, I find myself in the unhappy situation of having been misunderstood, I cannot but feel embarrassed. Wauchope obviously cannot be blamed for not being able to guess what I had been thinking while writing on the stratigraphy of Tres Zapotes pottery. It seems important to clarify the matter in order to avoid perpetuation of my error.

A small sample of Fremont skeletal material was examined for antemortem tooth loss. Females were found to have a statistically significant higher antemortem tooth loss than males. Although the exact reasons for this finding are unknown at this time, it is hypothesized that an unidentified cultural factor put additional strain on the female masticatory system resulting in an increased tooth loss during life.

A dugout canoe, with a rounded stern configuration, flat bottom, and no thwarts or seats, is reported from the Ottawa Valley in eastern Ontario, Canada. Its existence since the earliest settlement of the nearby village of Beachburg makes it probable that construction was before A.D. 1900.

The paper “Grand Canyon Dam, Split-Twing Figurines, and ‘Hit-and-Run Archaeology,’ ” by Stephen C. Jett, which appeared in the July 1968 number of American Antiquity is replied to relative to the importance of “salvage” as opposed to “hit-and-run” archaeology, the fallacy of assuming archaeological knowledge on the basis of numbers of sites recorded in a region, and the value of proper popularization of archaeological data.

A recently published statement by Baumhoff and Heizer that the "large herbivores disappeared in the Great Basin before man’s entry into the area" is contrary to the facts in the case. The correct data are supplied.

BAUMHOFF AND HEIZER (1965: 699) in their discussion of "Climate and Archaeology in the Desert West" state:

The Tlingit Indians occupy all of Southeastern Alaska from Dixon's Entrance to Cape St. Elias except the southern half of Prince of Wales Island, which is Haida, and Annette Island, which is a Tsimshian reservation. Formerly all of this region was Tlingit.

Throughout this entire district and extending into the southern half of the Northwest Coast culture area, petroglyphs abound. These inscriptions in their simpler forms have much in common with those of widely separated regions of the earth. There are simple cups, rings, spirals, concentric circles, etc. But the typical petroglyphs of this area are as original as the well-known decorative art of the Northwest Coast and apparently closely affiliated with it in both form and meaning.

It is the goal of this article to present tangible evidence that these petroglyphs originated from (a) natural effects and (b) depressions worn in rock in the process of tool-making.

In view of the vast number of spurious glass artifacts known, it is of interest to note a genuine example which came to light recently in excavations in Florida.

The scraper illustrated with this note (Fig. 27) is made of heavy green glass, and is a perfectly good aboriginal piece in form and workmanship. The length is 57 mm., the width 36 mm. The greatest thickness, 11 mm., lies near the steep nose at a point where original surfaces are present on both bottom and top. Undoubtedly, the material was derived from a heavy green glass bottle.

The artifact was found in test excavations at the site of San Luis de Talimali, several miles west of the city of Tallahassee, Florida. San Luis was the major Spanish settlement in the Apalachee area during the seventeenth century, and at the time of its abandonment and destruction in 1704 consisted of a fort and blockhouse, a mission, and a number of dwellings inhabited by both Spaniards and Indians.

The San Diego Presidio, established in AD 1769, was the first European settlement in Upper California. Very little is known about chicken husbandry in colonial America, which makes this study the first comprehensive analysis of chicken remains in North America. Chickens are scarcely mentioned in historical accounts describing early California, and information on their sex, age, or management is rare. The faunal assemblage from the San Diego Presidio yielded 20 avian and 14 mammalian species. Chicken remains were studied through a wide range of zooarchaeological methods, including taphonomy, biometry, medullary bone, epiphyseal fusion, butchering, and body-part representation. Taphonomic analysis indicates good preservation of the bone assemblage. The biometric study points to two breeds of chickens: a smaller (bantam) breed alongside a standard-size chicken. The percentage of juvenile chickens (23%), the rooster/hen ratio (1:8.5), and high proportion of medullary bone point to on-site chicken husbandry focusing on meat and egg production. The historical record suggests that California presidios were not self-sufficient and that they relied on food provisioned from Mexico and nearby missions. We argue that small-scale poultry production, likely managed by women and children, provided California presidios with a form of subsistence independence.

Investigations at the Native American site complex of Stark Farms in Mississippi, USA, have yielded numerous examples of metal artifacts of European origin. Our study suggests that they derive from contact between the AD 1540–1541 winter encampment of the Spanish Hernando de Soto expedition and the local Indigenous polity. The artifacts display a wide range of modifications, uses, and depositional contexts congruent with hybrid practices. We argue that the early colonial setting of Stark Farms requires a different perspective on cultural mixing than is often applied in studies of European colonialism. This is highlighted by the strongly improvisational nature of the modification of the metal objects, embodying a political climate in which European incursions were precarious and in which hybridity and power were heterogeneous and fluid.

This article investigates the rise of social complexity of Cahokia's multiethnic city through a robust stylistic grammar analysis of early Caddo fine ware vessels at Cahokia's East St. Louis Precinct. We explore ceramic production and distribution to shed light on whether Caddo-like fine wares were produced by Caddo potters who lived and crafted at Cahokia, were produced by local Cahokia potters who copied Caddo motifs, or were imported to Cahokia from the southern Caddo area. This investigation helps us better understand the nature of Caddo connections at the beginning of Cahokia's development and provides a means of identifying and interpreting new levels of social interactions between the Caddo world and Cahokia. The stylistic grammar results show that the majority of the Caddo-like vessels at Cahokia have identical stylistic grammar as vessels from the Caddo world. This strongly suggests that Caddo craft specialists migrated to, lived, and crafted their homeland vessels at Cahokia and thus were key social actors in its development.

Taxonomic identification of archaeofauna relies on techniques and anatomical traits that should be valid, reliable, and usable, but which are rarely tested. Identification protocols (techniques and anatomical traits), particularly those used to distinguish taxa of similar size and morphology, should be rigorously tested to ensure a solid interpretive foundation. Blind testing of a protocol for identifying stylohyoid bones of North American artiodactyls was performed by three analysts who independently employed the protocol to identify 77 anatomically complete specimens of known taxonomic identity, representing 54 individuals and 11 species. Identifications were identical in 89% of cases and in conflict in 3% of cases. The remainder involved differences in resolution; two analysts identified specimens to species, whereas the third identified specimens to more general taxonomic groups. Inter-analyst variability in identification was a result of differences in protocol application. Identifications were consistent with known taxon in 92%–96% of cases. Results indicate that the protocol is valid, reliable, and usable, and it can be applied to archaeological specimens with confidence. Testing of other identification criteria employed by zooarchaeologists is encouraged.

In 2013, 36 Ancestors of African descent were identified in an unmarked eighteenth-century burial ground during construction in Charleston, South Carolina. The site, later referred to as the Anson Street African Burial Ground, was buried beneath the growing city and forgotten in the centuries that followed. The ethical treatment of these ancestral remains was of paramount importance to our community. Historically, narratives relating to the lives of African descendant people in Charleston have been inadequately documented and shared. For these reasons, we engaged the local African American community in a multifaceted memorialization process. Together, we sought to sensitively ensure that the Ancestors’ identities and lives were fully explored according to the collective descendant community's wishes. To this end, we involved the community in researching and celebrating the Ancestors’ lives through arts and education programs and analyzed their and community members’ DNA to elucidate their ancestry. Our engagement initiatives increased access for all ages to archaeological, historical, and genetic research and encouraged active participation in the design of a permanent memorial. The Anson Street African Burial Ground Project provides a successful example of community-engaged activist archaeology focused on honoring the Ancestors and their descendants.