Aerial photographs made with hand-held cameras and taken from small aircraft revealed soil discolorations on two sites in Illinois. The light and dark parallel lines were interpreted as evidence of prehistoric agricultural fields. Evidence of houses in the center of these fields was also noted. Ground reconnaissance, controlled surface collecting, and cross-trenching tended to confirm this interpretation. These data were compared with archaeological evidence from Macon Plateau in Georgia and historic records for the Great Lakes region. It is proposed that Mississippian agriculture was based upon a field system and a technique of ridge-furrow cultivation that made it possible to utilize low-lying river bottom land.

Recent developments in American archaeological theory are criticized with regard to inaccuracies in the use of the concepts of science, theory, and reality. The author argues that archaeology (like anthropology) is a discipline rather than a "hard" science dealing with large amounts of rigorously quantifiable, replicable data; thus attempts to "prove laws" through the use of statistical methods and models borrowed from the physical sciences are often spurious. He believes that theory is primarily explanatory rather than methodological, and hence should be presented as an explanation of a number of cases rather than of one or two selected examples. In addition, rigorous methods of data collection should not be sacrificed in the search for more "rigorous" theory, a search which too often seems to stem from a defensive desire to make archaeology a "hard" science. The author argues that objective reality is too commonly confused with both logical constructs abstracted from this reality and with constructs such as "cultural reality" which are in turn abstracted from these constructs. He feels models describing objective reality are simply utilitarian, explanatory abstractions not related to such concepts as absolute truth and absolute reality. Little is offered in the way of constructive conclusions save for the suggestions that there may be no need for a set of specifically archaeological theory, and that archaeological knowledge is neither power nor defensive justification but merely its own reward.

Six major hypotheses have been advanced to account for ground slate industries containing knives, lance heads, and projectile points, found on opposite sides of the North American continent. Certain of these hypotheses assume genetic connections; others postulate separate sources and developments for such artifacts in the Northeast and North Pacific areas.

A recent study of the cultures involved, chiefly Borden's (1962) Vancouver data, has indicated that: (1) ground slate artifacts made their initial appearance in both areas at about the same time; (2) the respective typologies are quite dissimilar; and (3) possible bone and/or chipped stone prototypes for certain of the specific ground slate forms exist in each area.

These data suggest independent origins and developmental histories.

Recent excavation and subsequent analysis have been undertaken for the express purpose of deriving quantitative techniques for the analysis of faunal remains from archaeological sites. Experiments were conducted which indicate that significant amounts of bones are lost through the various meshes of screen used by archaeologists. Factors were then calculated to alleviate this problem and to yield results amenable to rigorous quantitative treatment. Results obtained in this manner can add accuracy to most salvage operations and credibility to the more ideal excavation conditions. The proposed method was applied to data from Smoky Creek Cave, a Medithermal site approximately 40 mi. north of Gerlach, Washoe County, Nevada; results indicate a pattern of cottontail rabbit and mountain sheep hunting similar to the model which Flannery has proposed for the Tehuacán Valley, Mexico.

The geographical distribution of the Ananatuba phase has been extended to the eastern coast of Marajó by the discovery of J-26: Castanheira on the right bank of the middle Rio Camará. Two stratigraphic cuts were excavated, and the pottery obtained was classified into the types established by Meggers and Evans (1957). The resulting seriated sequence shows trends of ceramic change parallel to theirs and a similar intrusion of Mangueiras phase sherds in the upper levels of the deposit. Interdigitation of the J-26 levels into the seriated sequence for the Ananatuba phase shows the new site to occupy a relatively late position, supporting the earlier inference of expansion from the north coast toward the southeast during the history of the phase. A charcoal sample obtained from Cut 1, Level 40-50 cm., and correlating with the appearance of Mangueiras phase sherds in the refuse, gave the date of 980 B.C. ± 200 (SI-385), which places the initial occupation of Marajó by pottery-making groups within the Formative period.

The cambered rim jar is stylistically unique and should be especially useful as a time indicator if its place in Cahokia's ceramic history can be ascertained. On the basis of the broken-down interlocking scroll motif, a parallel line motif, and the scalloped rim found on some of these vessels, it is suggested that this vessel form occurs in periods III and IV of the basic ceramic sequence established for the Powell Tract section of the Cahokia site. It is further suggested that at Powell, late in period III and early in period IV, we have approximately the same time range as at the Mitchell site, whose radiocarbon dates cluster about A.D. 1000-1200.

Finally, the similarities between the cambered rim jar at Cahokia and the S-shaped rim types in the Cambria and Mill Creek manifestations to the northwest of Cahokia suggest not only a sharing of ceramic ideas, but also contemporaneity between these three cultural groups during late period III and early period IV times as reflected in the Powell Tract sequence. These relationships would date in calendric years ca. A.D. 1000-1200. Furthermore, this vessel form probably represents a borrowing of ceramic notions on the part of the potters of Cahokia because the form (the S-shaped rim) is both old and widespread in the Central Plains and Middle Missouri regions, while it is rare or missing in the widespread Middle Mississippian manifestations in the Southeast.

The naturally pantropical genus Canavalia is the source of four domesticated species, of which C. plagiosperma and C. ensiformis evidently evolved under aboriginal New World cultivation. Their exact origins are uncertain because the archaeological record is concentrated in dry regions where they arrived as irrigated crops. Prehistoric cultivation of C. plagiosperma is known only from coastal Peru where it has been grown continuously for at least 4,000 years. The earliest secure record of C. ensiformis is from about A.D. 900 in Oaxaca, but charred seeds from about 300 B.C. in Yucatan probably belong to this species. Later archaeological records of C. ensiformis are available from a few Arizona sites and from Peruvian sites occupied in the early Colonial period. Canavalia and Phaseolus beans are generally associated in prehistoric cultures. Since the latter are rated as superior food, the role of Canavalia is puzzling. Meager historical and ethnographic evidence offers few clues.

Human bones, found by the writer's geological field party in 1961, came from a cliff (Woodpecker Island Bluff) on the east side of Oldman River about 3 mi. north of Taber, Alberta. This paper discusses stratigraphy of the bluff and age of the bones, which have been described by Langston and Oschinsky (1963). The bones cannot be dated directly; however, they were found about 60 ft. below prairie level, in a sand unit lying beneath a till sheet. As the till was deposited by a Classical Wisconsin ice sheet that spread over the area more than 22,000 years ago, the bones are at least that old. Correlation with other bluffs along Oldman River indicates they are more than 32,000 years, and probably more than 37,000 years, old.

In 1965, the author of this paper published a preliminary population estimate of 10,000-11,000 persons for Tikal as then known. Since 1965, mapping and excavation on four radial strips which run up to 12 km. in the four cardinal directions from the center of Tikal have broadened our knowledge of settlement at this site. We now have a good idea of the actual size of Late Classic Tikal, as well as its demographic makeup. This permits a new estimate of its Late Classic population as, conservatively, 49,000 persons. It is suggested that Late Classic Tikal qualifies as an urban center, but of a different sort than the urban centers of Mexico.

The excavation of Structures 384, 385, and 386, and their associated platform in Dzibilchaltún, Yucatán, revealed an occupational sequence from late Phase I or early Phase II of the Early period up to and including the early Colonial period. The ceramic material analyzed pertains primarily to the Copo complex and, when combined with the architectural data and with 16th-century descriptions of Maya culture, made it possible to infer or suggest the use and function of each room within each building associated with the group and its lineage associations from its conception to the present. This analysis indicates that, although the primary function of the group was ceremonial during the early stages of occupation, all but one of the structures were later used more for domestic than ceremonial ends, until the vaults collapsed during the late Pure Florescent subperiod. During the later Decadent period, however, one of the earliest buildings was tunneled into and reused for ceremonial functions, possibly even after the 16th-century Spanish open chapel was erected less than 200 m. away in the central plaza of Dzibilchaltún.

Atlatl engaging spurs are recorded from most regions of California and are placed provisionally into three types. Type I, “Snake head,” is composed primarily of specimens made of stone and has Central California Early horizon, Martis complex, and Early-Transitional Lovelock affinities. Type II, “Acorn,” is composed primarily of bone or antler specimens with Central California Middle horizon affinities. Type III may be a variant of Type I and has, as yet, undefined cultural and temporal affinities.

An Olmec mask from northern Petén is a very rare witness to Olmec contact with the Maya lowlands (Central area).

Heizer suggests that the trinominal system of site designation be modified, making all published citation obsolete and necessitating a major conversion in permanent catalogs, site files, and other records throughout the country. No new information would be gained by such a conversion. A simpler alternative is proposed to take care of the minor discrepancy of alphabetical additions; this system would also keep the existing system intact.

Previously published descriptions of pottery styles known from the Mixteca Baja, Acatlán, Puebla area have been concerned with describing and interpreting the relief designs on the interiors of polychrome grater bowls. Attention is directed here to the observation that there are actually two forms of slab-legged, tripod vessels from Acatlán which co-occur in sets. One form is a food preparation bowl or molcajete, and the other is a raised tripod serving vessel or dish that also functioned as a lid or cover to the molcajete. These matching sets were probably high-status burial offerings and may have been used in part of the burial ritual of preparing food for the dead.

Analysis of two separate assemblages of lithic debris from Archaic sites in the Pecos River Drainage (New Mexico) has led to the discovery of what appears to be a noncultural bias affecting flake size, which is believed to be caused by the inherent properties of the flaking material. Graphs of the flake length/thickness ratio versus frequency of ratio occurrence coincide remarkably in their curve characteristics, indicating a nonrandom causal factor. This factor is attributed to the wave pattern created by the blow of the flaking implement and is governed by the physical properties of the medium through which it is passing.

On the coast of Peru farming in mahamaes or sunken gardens fed by ground water offers an alternative to canal irrigation. The possibility that mahamaes were influential during the early stages of farming is examined and rejected on theoretical and empirical grounds. The possible significance of farming in sunken gardens during later pre-Columbian times is briefly examined. It is suggested that mahamaes were important mainly as a supplemental form of farming in areas immediately adjacent to the coast.