This study examines the variability in Ocmulgee Fields ceramics from 2 nearly contemporaneous Upper Creek Indian sites at Horseshoe Bend National Military Park in central Alabama. The intent is to demonstrate that differences between the 2 pottery assemblages reflect differences in the social settings at the 2 sites. Frequencies of ceramic types and of selected attributes are tested for statistical significance using chi-square, and the strength of the assumed relationships are evaluated using 1 or more measures of association. The tests support a contention that ceramic vessels in use at the temporary, warrier-refugee settlement of Tohopeka were more frequently of utility forms and were generally larger and less decorated than vessels in use at the permanent, family-structured settlement of Nuyaka. It is suggested that similar studies of ceramics from sites for which the historical record is not as complete as it is for the Horseshoe Bend sites might reveal potential distinctions in social structure and behavioral patterning that would be developed primarily from the archaeological record.

It is well known that the term slip, as used among archaeologists, has no uniform connotation; nor has it been defined satisfactorily either by archaeologists or by technologists. The loose and indiscriminate practice of subjective “slip reckoning” has produced numerous fallacies and untenable “classifications” in literature. The purpose of this note is to consider the properties and functions of a slip with respect to archaeological pottery. Any concern with historical retrospects of cogent nomenclature, or with individual instances illustrating misconceptions and confusions, lies outside my present scope. Nor is it my intention to settle any “problem.”

Discussion of various models of sociocultural evolution and their applicability to the explanation of archaeological data is certainly in order in reference to my recent article on the subject. Intemperate and unproductive remarks that miss the point of the article, however, deserve less attention. Here I shall simply respond to specific charges raised by Peters and then use the remainder of this reply to place my argument within the scope of some recent and larger considerations of archaeological model building.

Previously I have attempted to show that we lack, almost completely, archaeological data from large and apparently significant areas in New England. It is true also that the excavation and research which has been done to date is very incomplete. I regret to say, in addition, that a number of inaccuracies and important omissions have produced results, particularly in the development of theories, which are extremely untrustworthy. A reworking of the available data and an investigation of the foundations of the various theories have brought to light a number of important facts and have made necessary several radical changes in the theoretical history of the region.

Data from United States General Land Office Surveys are commonly used to create vegetation models for the American Pioneer period. These models are then used as baselines for understanding past biotic change. It should be realized that many of these surveys were made near the end of a climatic episode (the Neo-Boreal or "Little Ice Age") when world temperatures were much lower than at the present time. These baselines therefore do not represent vegetational responses to a climatic regime like that of the present, and the vegetation models must be interpreted accordingly.

There is little doubt that the archaeologist in marginal areas who attempts to interpret his finds may be led to false conclusions if he accepts at face value statements concerning ranges of species whose remains he discovers in village refuse. He should remember that in nature living beings are not subject to marshalling behind sharply defined limits, but will almost inevitably be found outside the accepted “range,” either because of migration or isolated occurrence which has not been recorded.

The Codices Porfirio Diaz and Fernandez Leal have not been satisfactorily analyzed as to content, nor have their origins been explained. New data relevant to their history are presented, establishing a definite Cuicatec origin and content. They were utilized in a court case (ca. 1562) concerning nobility succession rights. Historical sections contain dates of founding and conquest of Cuicatec towns. Toponymics written in hieroglyphics, in Spanish, and in Cuicatec using the Latin alphabet mark Cuicatec district landscape features still called by the same names. The codices cover approximately 260 years and correlate with a written document. Where, how, and why the codices were created and multilated is discussed, and evidence is presented which corrects previous analyses.

The conventional carbon-14 method relies on the accurate measurement of a beta-ray decay rate to determine the age of the sample. The new method instead uses an ultrasensitive mass spectrometer to count the individual carbon-14 atoms in a sample. The advantages of this approach are many. The problem of cosmic ray background does not arise. Shorter counting times on samples 1,000 times smaller will be possible. One result will be the production of more accurate age determinations. The new method will permit a great expansion in the types of archaeological materials that can be dated because only milligram samples will be required. Research on the design of a dedicated carbon-14 atom counting machine is presently in progress.

A long-term project to map and catalog all precontact Native American burial mounds in Iowa provides information about the number, location, form, survivorship, and rate of loss of mounds. This analysis reveals previously undocumented mound manifestations, including a large cluster of 200 linear mounds along the central Des Moines River valley. Historical records reveal that at least 7,762 mounds were identified at 1,551 sites in Iowa between 1840 and the present. About 47% of the mounds from these sites can be possibly seen in lidar, with 33% of the total clearly seen in lidar. Data show that mound loss over time is linear. Extrapolation of data suggests that at least 15,000–17,000 mounds stood in Iowa in the nineteenth century, but the actual number was likely higher.

Although the problem of stonecutting techniques is but one key to understanding the civilizations of the Middle American people, it is through their stonework that they left their greatest mark and in order to fully appreciate the organization and magnitude of their achievements, we must examine this aspect. To this end the author, who is by training and experience a mechanical engineer, attempted to check in various centers in Mexico on the feasibility of estimating the man years required to build various monuments in order to test hypotheses concerning techniques of construction.

The greater part of Larsen's paper is a restatement of the Ipiutak theory rather than a reply to my two specific criticisms. I feel that this theory is based on a series of questionable assumptions rather than facts, but as Larsen properly insists on “sound scientific documentation and not mere statements” I will not attempt to discuss the theory as a whole in the space available here but refer to a recent publication which gives my views (Collins, 1954, pp. 78-85). The second half of Larsen's paper deals for the most part with the second of the two points I raised, the relationship of the Ipiutak and Old Bering Sea cultures. This is a crucial point for the Ipiutak theory, for if I am correct the type culture of the “palae-Eskimo” complex, from the evidence of both archaeology and radiocarbon dating, is later than cultures assigned to the “neo-Eskimo” complex and also more closely related to them than to other “palae-Eskimo” cultures.

The Statewide Archeological Survey of the Department of Anthropology at the University of Utah was recently informed of a site 12 miles east of Ferron, Utah, which has yielded at least one fluted point. Homer Behunin, the local collector who reported the site, found the point (Fig. 137 a) protruding from the wall of Silverhorn Wash about 15 feet below the surface.

The Silverhorn Site (42EM8) proved, upon examination, to be a shallow rock shelter in a protected bend of the wash. The shelter contains at least 12 occupation levels separated by sterile alluvial deposits. The upper-most occupation level is covered by about 10 feet of hard, compact alluvium which reaches to within about a foot of the shelter roof. The occupation levels are easily detected through the presence of small pieces of charcoal which have been somewhat disturbed by the inundations which brought in the alluvial materials.

In December of 1954, Mr. and Mrs. Ruben Emrick of Conrad, Montana, found a broken sandstone object in an arroyo cut located 30 miles north of the town of Empalme near Ortiz in Sonora, Mexico (Fig. 1). They very graciously brought the artifact to the Amerind Museum for examination where it was repaired and studied. The object resembled the tubular stone pipes found in the Southwest (Figs. 2, 3). It had the exterior and inner proportions so characteristic of these pipes, which were produced by drilling out the pipe interior until it resembled a modern venturi tube having a constricted throat.

Invited by José García Payón of the Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia to map the central part of El Tajin and to excavate stratigraphic pits for a ceramic sequence, the authors were able also to make considerable progress toward understanding the settlement pattern of this large site. Based on surface survey, intimate knowledge of the mapped area, and the excavations, it is proposed that El Tajin was a city as well as a religious center, with a large stratified population that included skilled artisans, merchants, priests, and administrators. Judging by sherd cover and stratigraphy, the city occupied at least 5 km2 during its maximum period, probably between A.D. 600-900.