An earlier article in this journal suggested that Tayasal, the island capital of the late Postclassic and historic period Itza Maya, was located at Topoxte on Lake Yaxha in the Department of Peten, Guatemala. Study of ethnohistorical sources for the Peten Itza and their neighbors leads us to conclude, however, that Tayasal was in fact in Lake Peten Itza, the location long favored by earlier writers. These sources are reviewed here, and Tayasal is positively located on the island of Flores; tentative locations for other contemporary settlements in the central lakes region of Peten are offered. The current status of Postclassic period central Peten archaeological research is reviewed in light of the known ethnohistory of the region. The need for continuing interaction between archaeological and ethnohistorical research is stressed.

Two small shell middens, containing numerous Poverty Point objects and associated with a 4000-year-old subdelta of the Mississippi River, have been located in the Pontchartrain Basin. Dated by the radiocarbon method at approximately 1740 B.C., the sites have been established as a separate phase of the Poverty Point horizon. A third site, characterized by abundant imported stone and a well-developed microflint industry, is believed to be contemporaneous with the Poverty Point and Jaketown sites.

Few archaeologists would dispute the suggestion that the introduction of 14C dating into archaeological research has had a profound influence on the way in which prehistoric studies are conducted. Glyn Daniel, for example, has gone so far as to rank the development of the 14C method in the twentieth-century with the discovery of the antiquity of the human species in the nineteenth-century (Daniel 1967:266). Despite the widespread acknowledgment of the significant role played by the 14C method in contemporary archaeological investigations, no comprehensive, critical, historical review of the specific intellectual history and substantive characteristics of this impact, particularly in American archaeology, has been published.

The hypothesis presented by Jones and Klar (2005) that elements of prehistoric Chumash technology and language arrived from East Polynesia is considered. Trans-oceanic diffusion in general should not be rejected out of hand, but in this case it is improbable that it involved East Polynesia. There are substantial differences in the sewn-plank canoes at issue and the compound hooks are of a general form that is not confined to Polynesia. The chronology of East Polynesian colonization is probably too late for diffusion to southern California before A.D. 700. East Polynesian seafaring may have been inadequate to reach the Californian coast. If the explanation is diffusionary, then a source in East Asia is more plausible.

The Driftless Area of the Upper Midwestern United States offers a case study for the transition from hunter-gatherer (Late Woodland Effigy Mound) to agricultural (Oneota) societies between ca. A.D. 950 and 1150, a period that coincided with northward expansion of Middle Mississippian cultures from the American Bottom. Previous studies have not adequately explained the regional disappearance of Effigy Mound cultures, the appearance of Oneota cultures, or the cultural changes that occurred during this period. Our analysis considers ecological (deer and firewood) and cultural (population packing, community organization, hunting technology, and warfare) factors to develop a testable model applicable to broader regions. We propose that increasing Late Woodland populations reached the region's “packing threshold,” disrupting a flexible seasonal round based on residential mobility and triggering shortages of two essential resources, white-tailed deer and firewood, which in turn led Late Woodland groups to abandon vast portions of the Driftless Area. The intrusion of Middle Mississippian peoples from the south created additional disruption and conflict. Remnant Woodland and Mississippian peoples amalgamated briefly in the region's first villages, which were palisaded. After A.D. 1150, Oneota cultures emerged, reoccupying specific localities in clustered settlements.

The Jim Pitts site is a multicomponent Paleoindian locality in the Black Hills of South Dakota, with a rare Goshen residential occupation. All Paleoindian components were comprised in the Leonard paleosol. The deepest component at the site is a Goshen level dated to 10,185 ± 25 B.P. It correlates with a late fall-early winter camp site. Over the course of its use parts of at least five bison were procured and introduced to the site. Above this level an array of point styles, including Goshen, Folsom, Agate Basin, several Fishtail points, James Allen, Cody, and Alberta, have also been found. The following study provides a typological and technological description of the point assemblage and weighs the implications of the chrono-cultural stratigraphy for reconstructing the Paleoindian cultural landscape. It questions the validity of some types, particularly Goshen, as cultural and chronological markers. Ultimately, the evidence presented here reinforces a model in which multiple Paleoindian point types occur simultaneously on the central and northern Great Plains. This in turn challenges a unilineal view of Paleoindian culture history.

The ubiquity and durability of lithic artifacts inform archaeologists about important dimensions of human behavioral variability. Despite their importance, lithic artifacts can be problematic to study because lithic analysts differ widely in their theoretical approaches and the data they collect. The extent to which differences in lithic data relate to prehistoric behavioral variability or differences between archaeologists today remains incompletely known. We address this issue with the most extensive lithic replicability study yet, involving 11 analysts, 100 unmodified flakes, and 38 ratio, discrete, and nominal attributes. We use mixture models to show strong inter-analyst replicability scores on several attributes, making them well suited to comparative lithic analyses. Based on our results, we highlight 17 attributes that we consider reliable for compiling datasets collected by different individuals for comparative studies. Demonstrating this replicability is a crucial first step in tackling more general problems of data comparability in lithic analysis and lithic analyst's ability to conduct large-scale meta-analyses.

Mesoamerican masons have used an extract from the bark of such trees as the chucum, chacte, chacah, and jabin in the preparation of lime plaster since prehistoric times, reportedly to increase the workability or strength of the lime and to reduce cracking in the plaster. Experiments involving the use of plasters prepared with these high tannin-content extracts show that the extracts have an effect on the properties of lime plater probably by stabilizing the system during drying.

Antiquarians of the nineteenth century referred to the largest monumental constructions in eastern North America as pyramids, but this usage faded among archaeologists by the mid-twentieth century. Pauketat (2007) has reintroduced the term pyramid to describe the larger, Mississippian-period (A.D. 1050 to 1550) mounds of the interior of the continent, recognizing recent studies that demonstrate the complexity of their construction. Such recognition is lacking for earlier mounds and for those constructed of shell. We describe the recent identification of stepped pyramids of shell from the Roberts Island Complex, located on the central Gulf Coast of Florida and dating to the terminal Late Woodland period, A.D. 800 to 1050, thus recognizing the sophistication of monument construction in an earlier time frame, using a different construction material, and taking an alternative form.

In the Department of Beni, northeastern Bolivia, there are remnants of cultivated fields, roadways, and canals that are distributed over an area of 15,000 square miles. These features are interpreted as indicating the former existence of a highly organized, populous, agrarian society that antedates the culture of the Indian tribes now in the area.

Several articles describing the ancient Chicama-Moche Intervalley Canal in northern coastal Peru are criticized. Tectonic uplift was probably not the primary cause of the abandonment of the canal construction project. The Chimu were skilled engineers. The Intervalley Canal did function in a limited manner. It is proposed that the canal was built as a political response to social pressures in the Moche Valley caused by environmental stress (drought). Abandonment of the canal construction project took place when drought ended.

The Middle East has had considerable experience ingesting western cultural influence. The Hellenism of Alexander (fourth century B.C.) slowly metamorphosed into the Byzantinism of Justinian (seventh century A.D.). Two conclusions are suggested. Western cultural seed on eastern soil matures slowly and best in selected locations, and eventually a distinctive new style emerges, accommodating the needs and incorporating the traditions of the Middle East.

Stein (1986) presents a very timely contribution on the history and utility of archaeological site coring that has major implications for the detection and retrieval of subsurface archaeological data. My purpose in this comment is threefold. First, I would extend her history of coring to include three periods instead of two. More importantly, in so doing, I would stress the need to modify Stein's observations to cultural-resource-management (CRM) settings. This would expand the applications of subsurface probing to broader sets of sedimentary environments and site contexts, specifically those where preservation conditions are less than ideal. Finally, I propose a versatile coring strategy that is amenable to both research and applied cultural-resource-management (CRM) situations in a cost-efficient manner.

The potential interconnections between human settlement systems, subsistence practices, and rapid, high-magnitude transformation of the physical landscape (e.g., earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and landslides) is an important issue of discussion in archaeology. This paper critically examines the argument that prehistoric abandonment of Classic Lillooet pithouse villages of south-central British Columbia, Canada, at approximately 1200-1000 B.P., was linked to one or more catastrophic landslides at Texas Creek that blocked the Fraser River, destroyed salmon resources, and caused the abandonment of this area. Examination of the location and depositional condition of several excavated archaeological sites within the Fraser Valley, as well as reflection on the expected environmental and cultural responses to a catastrophic landslide, challenge previous interpretations of the existence, location, and magnitude of such a landslide event, and indicate that archaeologists need to reconsider deterministic environmental explanations for the abandonment of pithouse villages in the interior of British Columbia.

Tankersley and Munson (1992) reiterate that the early and, perhaps, some of the later Meadowcroft Rockshelter radiocarbon dates may be contaminated by anthropogenically derived coal or dissolved coal by-products. Their allegations are assessed in light of available data and rejected. Presently, there is no evidence whatsoever for particulate or nonparticulate contamination of any part of the Meadowcroft Rockshelter radiocarbon chronology.

Western archaeologists have almost unanimously shunned the term “Archaic” in describing their finds. In the few cases where the word has been used at all, it has generally been qualified by using quotation marks, a question mark, or some statement indicating the author’s belief that this is not a real Archaic culture. As a result, none of the described western cultures is conventionally labeled “Archaic.” Avoidance of the term has stemmed from two conditions: a) a desire to avoid confusing western cultures with those generally called Archaic in the East; and b) the temporal implications of the word “Archaic.”

Recent studies of sixteenth century Quiche-Maya society have resulted in a sociocultural reconstruction based on the integration of archaeological and ethnohistorical data sets. Certain aspects of the internal social system of two contemporaneous settlement centers are examined in the context of this model and correspondences are noted. Contradictions between data sets suggest the applicability of an explicitly dialectical perspective.

Shepard has described several principal types of temper used in pre-Hispanic ceramics in northern Yucatan. One of these, identified as “volcanic ash,” has long been a mineralogical problem because no unequivocal deposits of volcanic materials are known to exist in the area.

The possible indigenous materials that could have been identified as “volcanic ash” have been examined and the conclusion reached that the material in question is the mineral palygorskite. This mineral is widespread in the peninsula and is often associated with the mineral sepiolite. Palygorskite (also known as “attapulgite”) was known to the Maya as sak lu'um (white earth) and has been identified by high temperature studies as a constituent of Mayan ceramicware. Its origin, in Yucatan, is attributed to direct precipitation in shallow marine waters and in hypersaline, fringing lagoons. It is suggested that, unless ceramicware from Yucatan is found that actually contains true volcanic detritus (glass shards, grains of feldspar, amphibole, pyroxene, rutile, zircon, and so forth), reference to “ash temper” be avoided.

A basic, effective, water-conserving flotation system is described. Reference to this procedure's adaptability to various research goals and suggestions concerning the presentation of the material to the analyst are discussed.

Analyses of the assemblages from the floors of Upland Mogollon pithouses show that variation in artifact frequencies may be attributed to differences in the intensity of abandonment and post-abandonment formation processes, such as caching, scavenging and trash dumping. The proportion of pithouses that contain caches or de facto assemblages is provocatively constant across sites—roughly 18 percent. This observation may be useful for refining estimates of the populations of sites or regions, for recognizing the size of social groups, or for identifying the abandonment sequences of pithouse villages. Prior studies that attribute variation in the frequencies of different classes of artifacts to functional differences in the uses of pithouses are rejected on the grounds of methodological inadequacy.