This article relates an archaeological “culture” of northern New York to the Eastern Iroquois nations through the evidence of ceramic smoking pipes that are about 500 years old. After categorizing the objects on the basis of distinctive but thematically related imagery, I observe that their distribution is suggestive of an interaction sphere linking the St. Lawrence Iroquoians of Jefferson County with the Mohawks, Oneidas, and Onondagas elsewhere in present Upstate New York. Later historic descriptions imply that these pipes were connected with diplomatic ritual conducted by male representatives of those communities. The resulting geographical occurrence might be the archaeological footprint of alliances antedating the famous League of the Iroquois. Bearing remarkably elaborate designs, these objects are among the most iconographically complex compositions preserved in the Northeast. All depict themes of emergence, and some may illustrate a more extensive myth asserting the common origins of several groups. Fragments of similar stories survive to this day and are among the oldest oral narratives documented among the Iroquois. My interpretations of both the behavioral/social correlates and the meaning(s) of these pipes derive from applications of the direct historical method, an approach tapping the unsurpassed richness of the Iroquoian ethnographic and historic record.

Paleoethnobotanical perspectives are essential for understanding past lifeways yet continue to be underrepresented in Paleoindian research. We present new archaeobotanical and radiocarbon data from combustion features within stratified cultural components at Connley Caves, Oregon, that reaffirm the inclusion of plants in the diet of Paleoindian groups. Botanical remains from three features in Connley Cave 5 show that people foraged for diverse dryland taxa and a narrow range of wetland plants during the summer and fall months. These data add new taxa to the known Pleistocene food economy and support the idea that groups equipped with Western Stemmed Tradition toolkits had broad, flexible diets. When viewed continentally, this work contributes to a growing body of research indicating that regionally adapted subsistence strategies were in place by at least the Younger Dryas and that some foragers in the Far West may have incorporated a wider range of plants including small seeds, leafy greens, fruits, cacti, and geophytes into their diet earlier than did Paleoindian groups elsewhere in North America. The increasing appearance of diverse and seemingly low-ranked resources in the emerging Paleoindian plant-food economy suggests the need to explore a variety of nutritional variables to explain certain aspects of early foraging behavior.

Cape Espenberg is on the farthest southwestern extent of Kotzebue Sound, Alaska, just above the Arctic Circle, and is a peninsula composed of a series of dune-covered beach ridges. As part of a larger research initiative, extensive mapping to record all cultural features and characterize the topography of approximately 1 km2 on the southeastern terminus of the cape was undertaken in 2007 and 2010. The primary purpose of this mapping was to explore the use of the cape for the past 1,200 years using one of the unique aspects of beach-ridge archaeology: horizontal stratigraphy. There were 11 intervals of beach ridge/dune development, and with the exception of one truncated ridge and the modern ridge, Thule-Iñupiaq people built semi-subterranean winter houses on each ridge. A total of 117 house depressions along with related cache pits, artifact scatters, whale bone, and hearths were identified; distribution of house forms indicate that Cape Espenberg has had an unbroken stream of cultural continuity. However, in terms of house architecture and community patterning, it appears that there has been a reduction of certain architectural components over time. Houses also occur more frequently in isolated contexts. Both aspects are coincident with the onset of the Little Ice Age.

The field work on which this report is based was carried out during the summer of 1948 by a field unit of the Missouri Valley Project, River Basin Surveys, Smithsonian Institution. The unit consisted of Mr. J. M. Shippee and myself; we were assisted during part of the time by Messrs. H. F. Wilson, S. J. Phelps, and R. F. Worden of Hot Springs, South Dakota. Investigations covered the four-month period from June 1 through September 29.

Five proposed reservoir sites in the Cheyenne Basin were investigated more or less intensively. All are Bureau of Reclamation projects, in various stages of development, located in or near the Black Hills of western South Dakota and northeastern Wyoming. Angostura Reservoir received much more thorough exploration than the others; work at this site forms the basis for the present report. Edgemont and Keyhole reservoirs are omitted because the data from them have not yet been evaluated. Pactola and Johnson Siding reservoirs, alternate projects, were unproductive and require no discussion.

Glassow discusses several "problems" with the use of minimum number of individuals (MNI) in archaeological shellfish analysis, including the difficulty of identifying non-repetitive elements (NRE) to species level for several taxa. However, these problems, especially fragmentation, are more critical for the weight method than for MNI estimates. We have successfully identified thousands of NRE for all species common in southern California coastal archaeological sites. We also suggest that a measure, such as MNI, that provides estimates of numbers of individuals is a more reliable and valid measure with which to address most research questions. The weight method only provides a measure of the weight of some of the fragments from the shells of those individuals.

Bituminous coal, previously suspected as a contaminant in radiocarbon samples, has now been demonstrated to be a source of dating error in archaeological and geological samples. Standard laboratory procedures are inadequate to recognize or remove coal from samples, but techniques for identifying coal particles include paleo-botanical and reflectance analyses, and possibly accelerator dating.

San Juan Red ware pottery was distributed across the northern Southwest from the eighth through tenth centuries A.D., though made only in the northern San Juan region. This paper investigates the concentration (Costin 1991) of San Juan Red ware production through neutron activation analysis of the pottery and raw materials. Production was concentrated in the area of southeast Utah, and within that area it appears to have been produced at only a limited number of sources, possibly by specialized pottery-making communities. These results have implications regarding economic organization, exchange, and mobility.

Age-at-death data on over 2,000 burials from two pueblo sites in New Mexico are subjected to demographic analysis. Prior studies are reviewed to illustrate deficiencies and qualifications in the data base and the analytical method. The skeletal assemblage is subdivided into seven samples by chronological phase, and life tables are constructed. Aspects such as mortality and life expectancy are then examined for each phase and a diachronic model of demographic structure is developed for Pecos Indians between A.D. 1150 and 1700.

Remote sensing has revolutionized procedures for locating buried features at archaeological sites in eastern North America. However, the potential of instruments such as gradiometers to shape innovative research in ways that move beyond survey and testing is not always realized in practice. At the Mississippian site of Moundville, Alabama, we conducted a landscape-scale geophysical survey to serve as the guiding method of community settlement analysis. First, we mapped the distribution of magnetic anomalies across the site. Next, we defined the variability of anomalies and selected a sample for test excavations to correlate specific anomaly shapes and amplitudes with specific cultural features. Once confirmed as cultural features, we extrapolated sample results to identify unexcavated anomalies as specific building forms and other features with a higher degree of probability than would have been possible without confirmation by test excavation. Results include the identification and mapping of over 450 unexcavated probable buildings, nearly five times the number previously discovered in decades of traditional excavation. Because the buried probable buildings have different forms, sizes, distributions, and chronological spans, the interpreted gradiometer map is transformed through interpretation from a static palimpsest of anomalies to a picture of changing community settlement organization.

The elaborate symbolism painted around wall niches in Rio Grande Pueblo IV kivas ca. A.D. 1370-1600 at Pottery Mound and Kuaua describe a cosmological paradigm of layered worlds accessed by supernatural passageways. This paper examines the niche iconography at these sites and the associated metaphors represented in the surrounding murals. Equivalent to the sípàapuni and symbolic of the landscape cave, the niche as a portal to the watery and fecund underworld is often the organizing principle for west wall murals or entire kiva scenes. In addition to the prevalent stepped cloud and rainbow, these scenes frequently feature female figures and composite supernatural beings symbolic of abundance. This analysis provides insight into the focus of prehistoric kiva rituals conducted at Kuaua and Pottery Mound and the worldview with which they engaged. Finally, it is proposed that the synthesizing powers of both the simple stepped cloud and the niche itself raise these elements to the status of "nuclear ritual symbols" (Turner 1967) fundamental to Pueblo cosmology.

Recent excavations in south-central British Columbia have revealed a 7,500 year sequence which indicates cultural relationships with the subarctic and the Canadian Prairie Provinces, but few similarities with Columbia River sites until after A.D. 1000. South-central British Columbia and the Columbia Plateau are considered to have participated in different cultural traditions until the damming of the Columbia River about A.D. 1250 allowed the upriver passage of salmon. The similarities noted between British Columbia and Columbia River sites in late prehistoric times may be attributable to the sudden increase in the resource potential of the Columbia River.

Radiocarbon dates for samples from three buildings at Tikal, Guatemala, the lintel beams of which bear Maya hieroglyphs, are presented. These include dates recently determined at the University of California at Los Angeles and two UCLA and University of Pennsylvania inter-laboratory cross-checks. Two dates from the inner and outer portions of a sapote log have been determined in order to assess the growth rates of the logs from which the temple beams were fashioned and thereby help to explain some of the differences among radiocarbon dates which were previously determined. The dates for samples considered to be reliable continue to support the Goodman-Thompson-Martinez “Correlation B” hypothesis for Temples IV and I, but they also indicate that the previous chronological interpretation of the hieroglyphs of Structure 10 should be revised.

In 1954, nineteen years after the founding of the Society for American Archaeology and four years after President Harry S Truman signed its enabling legislation, the National Science Foundation (NSF) inaugurated a Program of support for ”Anthropology and Related Sciences,” which expended its entire research budget for that year on two awards. Dr. Gordon Willey of Harvard University received a one year grant of $11,500 to examine “Prehistoric Settlement Patterns in the Maya Area” and Dr. Robert Braidwood, University of Chicago, was provided with $23,500 to be expended over a three-year period to conduct “Human Population Studies in the Fertile Crescent.”

Previous 14C determinations obtained on two segments of a single mastodon bone recovered from Monte Verde, Chile, were highly discordant, differing by more than 5,000 years. Because of the significance of this site in discussions concerning the earliest peopling of the Western Hemisphere, additional 14C and new δ13C values have been obtained on organic fractions isolated from both segments. The constituent amino acid profiles indicate that both bone segments retain significant amounts of protein (mostly collagen) residues. Four accelerator mass spectrometry-based 14C values obtained on total amino acids and ultrafiltered gelatin fractions—two from each segment—are statistically identical and indicate an age of 12,460 (± 30) BP for the mastodon. This value is concordant with 14C values obtained on other culturally affiliated organics associated with the MV-II levels at this site.

Recent opinions as to the size and character of ancient Tiahuanaco, Bolivia, vary greatly. On the basis of published information, it is impossible to assess these important aspects of the site. A two-day survey during November, 1966, strongly suggests a true urban character for Middle horizon Tiahuanaco. At that time the urban core covered approximately 2.4 km2. A range of population between 5,200 and 10,500, and possibly up to 20,000 people, is suggested. Tiahuanaco’s strategic location with respect to three major environmental zones is regarded as a crucial factor in the site’s economic and political importance.

Excavations of colonial period sites in Maryland and Virginia have produced human remains dating to the seventeenth century. In this study, we analyze stable isotopes of carbon and nitrogen from these remains to explore aspects of the diets of the individuals represented. Analyses of both stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes were conducted on preserved protein while stable carbon isotope analysis was also conducted on preserved biological apatite. Carbon isotope values (δ13N‰) ranged from -10.5 to -20.5 for collagen and -5.1 to -12.5 for bioapatite. Nitrogen isotope values (δ15N‰) ranged from 9.9 to 14.4. The data suggest dietary diversity among the individuals examined. Three factors contribute to this diversity: the availability of maize, variation in immigration histories of the individuals, and the differing lengths of time they spent in the American colonies.

The role of Europe and Europeans in the archaeology of post-1500 history has recently been critiqued. Some research has been pejoratively labeled Eurocentrism. This paper addresses the problems with adopting an emotional understanding of Eurocentrism and argues instead for its archaeological examination within the framework of an explicit multiscalar modern-world (historical) archaeology. An example comes from seventeenth-century Dutch settlements located in and around present-day Albany, New York.

The shift from llama pastoralism to potato agriculture in the Jauja-Huancayo basin of highland Peru has previously been considered a result of the Wari conquest. An alternative hypothesis, based on population pressure, is suggested here. As an adjunct to the description of population distribution, the concepts of an exploitable territory threshold model and of site catchment as a part of central place theory are explored.

Direct dating of artifacts is preferable to dating via association in most archaeological situations. In this article we describe and discuss the first application of accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) to directly date temper particles in shell-tempered pottery. This method can be applied to ceramics from around the world that are tempered with freshwater or marine shell. To assess the method, we examine 34 new or previously reported dates (AMS dates on shell temper, paired luminescence dates from the same ceramics, and associated radiocarbon dates on other biotic materials) from seven sites in a variety of geological settings in the state of Mississippi. The results show that a freshwater reservoir effect is present in most cases. Other potential complicating factors include variable carbon input and metabolic uptake rates over space and time and the effects of burning during temper preparation or pottery firing. Despite these problems, the method holds promise for dating surface materials, museum specimens, and burial accompaniments; for investigating settlement patterns; and for other areas of research.

Through the use of the direct historical method and analysis of materials from more than 250 sites that indicate Southern Paiute occupation, a reconstruction of the culture history of this ethnic group is attempted. The data permit the following hypotheses: that the Southern Paiute were essentially a Desert culture people with the addition of agriculture in the south; that they entered the Southwest and the southern Great Basin about A.D. 1150 or slightly earlier from the north; that they did not develop from any of the Pueblo groups in the area; and that they maintained their maximum range until disrupted by European incursions between A.D. 1800 and 1860.