Semi-micro methods have been devised for the identification of the metallic components comprising the pigments used in mesoamerican mural paintings. These methods are based upon samples of 10-15 mgfor each of the colors to be studied and include the reds, greens, blues, blacks and browns. The analyses are performed on individual samples for each color, thereby eliminating the need for long and tedious analytical procedures which are difficult to apply to the small amounts of material often available.

A three-sided female figurine body was found in Preclassic mound fill during excavations by the BYU-New World Archaeological Foundation at Izapa, Chiapas, Mexico. A suggested partial reconstruction is given. Stratigraphically the figurine dates from the Conchas 2-Mamom phase or earlier. Stylistically it seems best associated with the Conchas 2 figurines of La Victoria, Guatemala. Though double figures are well known from Mesoamerica, this example and a triple-sided Olmec figurine head from Veracruz are the only known triple-sided examples. The multiple figures show a wide spread in southern Mesoamerica, but few have been reported and their significance is unknown.

A review of problems in American archaeology is organized around the Lithic, Archaic, Formative, Classic, and Postclassic stages of Willey and Phillips. Among the problems raised and discussed are: the inadequacy of the Early Lithic or generalized gathering tool stage, the need for a better definition of the Archaic concept, the difficulty in extending the Archaic stage into South America, the dating and interpretation of the Peruvian Preceramic period, the origin of New World cotton, the possibility of trans-Pacific contacts and the feasibility of ocean travel, the Mesoamerican origin of the Formative stage, the dating of Valdivia culture and the Formative in general in South America, the relationship between Chavin and the comparable cultures in south coastal Peru, the inappropriateness of identifying most of the Mesoamerican centers as cities, the Aztec state as an empire, and the Classic stage as essentially urban, and the possibility of yet finding a Siberian origin for the pressure-flaked bifacial projectile points of the paleo-Indians.

In the course of certain investigations on the identification of cloth ash, it became necessary to develop a technique whereby relatively large (5 to 15 cm.) fragments of ashed cloth of all types woven from vegetable fiber could be permanently preserved.

The requirements were that the preparations should be capable of withstanding the relatively rough handling of the laboratory. They should show the textile remains displayed flat with the yarns of the warp and weft in their original relations.

On the 11th of September, 1948, a farmer was ploughing on his farm near Lac du Bonnet, roughly fifty miles northeast of Winnipeg, Manitoba. His ploughshare turned up a stone hammer and at the same time laid bare an object which, at first, he took for a piece of wood or a potato, because of its size, shape, and colour. A moment later he realized that no potato could be there, and, investigating further, discovered that the object was the end of a large bone which had been artificially shaped.

Wildrose Canyon, the site of the summer headquarters of the National Park Service for Death Valley National Monument, is on the west side of the Panamint Range in eastern California. The canyon, which runs in a roughly east-west direction, is about 13 miles long. Structurally, its width widens from its mouth where it measures less than 1/4 of a mile inland to a maximum of 11/2 miles and then narrows again in its upper reaches. There is a general upslope of the valley floor from about 4000 to over 8000 feet in elevation.

The valley is flanked on either side with rugged mountains which rise steeply above its floor. Their sides are furrowed with many gulches and narrow canyons and the lower slopes are piled high with rock debris. The uneven valley floor is covered with boulders, gravel, sand, and silt washed down from the surrounding heights. Branch canyons extend back into the mountains at many points, dwindling to narrow gorges in their upper reaches.

The Aleut burial cave described in this report was found by the authors during field work in July, 1952. As the site was left entirely undisturbed, the information may be useful to parties programming future work in the Aleutian Islands area. Further, it may be possible on the strength of this description alone to relate the burial occurrence to known cultural traits. At the very least it will point out the existence of an intensely interesting isolated feature. The cave is located at the base of a steep sea cliff on Kanaga Island at latitude 51° 43’ 44” N. and longitude 177° 31'10” W. (All locations are from the Army Map Service map of Kanaga Island, Sheet no. 3 of 5, scale 1:25,000.) A small kitchen midden was noted a short distance south of the cave.

At a Literary tea given by Robert Nathan's fictional firm of Laocoön Ltd., the company's imprint was thought by some to represent publishers struggling with a group of authors in the form of serpents. After a decade's editing of archaeological manuscripts, I have learned that this is what editors or publishers might think, but I also know how authors would interpret it. Thought of a blue pencil rises to apprehension as they submit a brainchild to the far from indulgent eye of a publisher-stepparent. But no manuscript is ever perfect, and by the constructive criticism of troublesome editors it is rescued from slips that escape the busy archaeologist.

Three marine-shell masks, one with a removable nose and two with nonremovable noses, were excavated by two local residents from a location in the Mississippi River Valley in Pike County, Illinois. These were found in association with other items. Information pertaining to the reported provenience of the artifacts is discussed, and the typological characteristics of the masks are described. It is suggested that the masks and associated materials were part of a ceremonial kit and that they date from the same time level as similar finds reported in the eastern United States.