An analysis of the archaeology of two coastal areas of Central California gives strong support to the sequence of three culture periods proposed in 1939 for the prehistoric archaeology of the lower and middle Sacramento River Valley. For one area, the ocean coast of Marin County just north of San Francisco Bay, the first intensive excavations were made by archaeological field parties from the University of California during the summers of 1940 and 1941 ;.the data and conclusions have not been published previously. For the second area, around the shores of San Francisco Bay, few additions have been made to the artifact collections and field data since the latest full site report was made in 1926.3 However, the interpretation presented here comes from reappraisal of the original artifacts and notes from the limited number of published sites, and from study of museum collections from a greater number of smaller sites which have not yet been described in print.

Two years ago, in the April, 1947 issue of American Antiquity, appeared a series of papers concerned with the River Basin Survey archaeological program (Brew and others, 1947). As the published record of a symposium sponsored by the Committee for Recovery of Archaeological Remains, those papers set forth the objectives and plans for a major program of scientific salvage. This undertaking stems from the nation-wide Federal water-control developments, whereby hundreds of dams, reservoirs, irrigation facilities, and other works are contemplated. Inasmuch as these developments will necessarily involve large sections of many of our stream valleys, where also exists a great proportion of our archaeological material, it was pointed out that immediate steps were necessary to forestall complete destruction of many of our basic data on American prehistory.

As a result of possibilities seen during a canoe trip from the Ottawa River through Grand Lake Victoria and down the Harricanaw River during the season of 1946, the authors, in 1947, completed a second trip to James Bay by way of Lakes Mistassini and Albanel and the Rupert River (Fig. 11). This trip would not have been possible and certainly we would have missed many pleasures if it had not been for the cooperation of the Hudson's Bay Company. We remember with pleasure our contacts with Messrs. McLeod, Jeffreys, and Duncan and we are particularly grateful to Mr. and Mrs. Parson, Mr. Glenn Speers, and Mr. and Mrs. Archy Michiel for their unparalleled hospitality. Space does not permit acknowledgment of the assistance of many who took an interest in our journey but we must mention Mr. Carrier, the personnel of the Department of Transport, and Dr. Watson of the Dome Exploration Limited.

For the past nine years the Museum of Archaeology of the Western State College of Colorado, at Gunnison, has been engaged in archaeological excavations in central and western Montrose County. This county adjoins the Utah line and lies in the northwest part of the southwest quarter of the state of Colorado.

Six sites have been excavated during the course of this work. The following is a brief summary of the excavations, presented as a background for discussion of a corn cache found in one of the sites during the summer of 1947.

An early eighth century pithouse was accidentally discovered in Mesa Verde National Park during the spring of 1939 when workmen were digging a trench for a new pipe line. Before the trench was dug the area was thoroughly examined so that the digging would not cut through any prehistoric structure. There were no surface indications of this pithouse. During the actual laying of the pipe line workmen discovered the floor levels of the pithouse visible on the sides of the trench. The Park Service authorities decided to excavate the structure to preserve anything of archaeological value.

The pithouse is located on Chapin Mesa, 108° 29′ 27˝ west, 37° 12′ 17˝ north, at an elevation of 7,200 feet. Today a thick forest of juniper and pinyon trees covers the entire area. The red topsoil is about 1.7 m. in depth and overlays a.layer of shale. The floor of the pithouse is 1.25 m. below present ground level and well within the limits of this topsoil layer.

Twenty-Six years of periodic reconnaissance along the Missouri River bluffs in western Missouri have revealed numerous archaeological sites on which repeated finds of long well-made blades, lanceolate in form, have occurred. These typical blades are not found in the artifact inventories of the reported manifestations of the region, but do seem to bear striking similarities to artifacts of the lithic cultures of the Great Plains. Brief mention of this complex has appeared (Shippee, 1940, p. 12; Wedel, 1943, p. 102) but it has not been fully characterized. Data now available will be presented here; they are tentative until supplemented by excavation.

The four sites which will be described are located in Clay County, Missouri, within a few miles of Kansas City (Fig. 4), in which area the Kansas River joins the Missouri. The prairies of eastern Kansas are relatively close by. The topographical locations and artifact inventories of these sites are practically identical.

This report, a preliminary delineation of a new lithic complex from the Central Plains, is presented for the immediate purpose of aiding other archaeologists working in the area. Once one has left such easily recognizable markers as the Folsom complex, the details of the archaic horizons of the Great Plains are confused until we reach such lithic complexes as those found at Signal Butte (Strong, 1935), Ash Hollow Cave (Champe, 1946), and more recently, Nebo Hill (Shippee, 1948). The primary value of defining the Frontier Culture complex at this time is that it affords a “pure” and relatively complete lithic complex by means of which comparative typological work in the Plains Archaic can be furthered.

Edward and Murray Rogers have generously presented to the Peabody Foundation, Andover, the collection of stone tools obtained during the trips described in the preceding paper. It is my privilege to offer a description of these fascinating specimens together with some comments. In doing this I do not wish to divert attention from the task the Rogers' accomplished. The material and the accompanying information which they brought back is, and will remain, of considerable importance to the archaeology of the “Far Northeast.”

Few of us have the slightest conception of what the two men went through in order to make these data available to us. The region is difficult to travel in; even the Indians do not move around during the summer any more than they have to.

In 1932 and 1933 the Laboratory of Anthropology and the University of New Mexico started independently on research projects which involved certain provocative cultural manifestations in north central New Mexico. Dr. H. P. Mera published the results of his investigations in 1938 under the title, “Some Aspects of the Largo Cultural Phase, Northern New Mexico.” In the same year, the author reported on some preliminary work in the same area in an article entitled “The Gallina Phase.“ As the university has continued its work in the more easterly section of this area, the name “Gallina” is retained in this connection, although the two types of material are obviously referable to the same cultural horizon.

In the excavating seasons just prior to the war, sporadic excavations were carried on in this area and a survey of the whole cultural province was continued.

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.

The San Augustin Plains of south central New Mexico contain several pluvial lake basins, on the terraces of which are numerous blowout sites with remains of Early Man. The major portion of the Plains lies to the south of U.S. Highway 60, between Magdalena and Datil, New Mexico. This is the area of the basin of extinct Lake San Augustin. The small portion of the Plains to the north of the highway contains the basins of White Lake and North Lake. The Plains consist of a large basin some 60 miles long from northeast to southwest, varying in width from 20 miles at the northeast end to about 6 miles at the southwest. On three sides of the Plains are a series of mountain ranges, while on the west are the ranges that form the continental divide (Fig. 41).

Present-day knowledge of the Red Paint burial complex in Maine rests chiefly upon the work of Willoughby and of Moorehead, done in the latter part of the last, and the first quarter of the present, century. Without doubt, the most extensive report on the subject is Moorehead's Archaeology of Maine, in which summary accounts of excavations at twelve Red Paint sites were set forth. Unfortunately, certain details pertaining to the burials were obscure. In particular, more data were desirable upon the character of the deposit—whether burial or ceremonial offering—as well as upon the indications of age. With the purpose of securing this information, the authors in June, 1947, undertook limited excavations on the Hathaway farm at Passadumkeag, Maine. Here Moorehead had excavated seventeen graves; without exhausting the possibilities, we were able to uncover seven more.

The Medicine Creek Valley of south-central Nebraska has for many years been known to contain within its limits important archaeological materials representing various periods of man's occupancy in the Central Plains. The region is climatically near the western limits of successful general farming. While the yearly precipitation averages about 23 inches, records show a variation in total from 11 to 38 inches. (Bason and others, 1939, pp. 4–6). This wide fluctuation in precipitation, often combined with extremely high temperatures during the growing season, makes the area one of agricultural uncertainty. Early White settlement in the valley was often retarded and in some instances completely checked as a result of severe but usually short-period droughts. Prehistoric horticultural groups subsisting in this region were undoubtedly subjected to the same unfavorable conditions. They, like the early- White settlers who were to follow, may have been forced at times to abandon the area temporarily and withdraw to a more favorable one.

Several problems arising from the very interesting ceramic wares of the Gallina area have already appeared in print. H. P. Mera has admirably described the various potteries of this region and made certain suggestions concerning their origin. The utility vessels of the Gallina have attracted special comment and have figured more than any other one feature in discussions of the cultural origin of the whole complex. Several additional seasons of field work in this area have, however, added a number of new items to the picture sufficient, perhaps, to color final conclusions.

The pottery of the Gallina quite naturally divides itself into two major varieties. These are the utility wares and the decorated wares. The dichotomy between the two transcends the ordinary division of usage. The decorated ware and the utility pottery of this complex seem to derive from two separate origins and traditions.

Sufficient work has been done in eastern Massachusetts to permit the formulation of working hypotheses regarding temporal changes in certain traits of the material culture of the aborigines. While the present data seem to show reliable trends, modifications in interpretation will undoubtedly be necessary upon additional excavation.

The chronological framework of the scheme presented here has been built on the basis of variations in shape of the projectile points found in various stratigraphic zones in the ground. Although the number of specimens from any one zone of a site is small, repetition of the phenomena is significant. Larger artifacts have been used when available to supplement and check the chronology based upon projectile points. Unfortunately, such major artifacts are extremely rare. Pottery has been correlated with projectile points by formulating ceramic periods. The author alone is responsible for classification of specimens and for any conclusions and suggestions presented.

Within the past twenty-five years excavations and comparative research projects have revealed much concerning Central Andean prehistory. The result of this period of intensive research has been to bring about a systematic treatment of the geographical and chronological phases of the area. With such a large amount of data available it now becomes possible to follow certain detailed aspects of Central Andean prehistory in their development from one time period to another, and to designate their spatial position. The tripod pottery form offers such an opportunity, not only for the Central Andean area itself but also for immediately adjacent areas.

The tripod is a rare form in Peru and Bolivia and for this reason adapts itself to comparative study. It has been of great interest to archaeologists since Kroeber pointed it out as a distinct form and suggested North Andean, and possibly Central Amercan, relationships for the cursive tripod style (Kroeber, 1925, p. 212).

Our knowledge of the prehistory of interior Alaska is still very limited. Nearly all archaeological work in the territory has been in the Eskimo and Aleut regions. In the interior planned, systematic surveys have been conducted by Froelich Rainey, Frederica de Laguna, and Frederick Johnson, but most of these deal with relatively recent Athapascan sites. The only definitely pre-Athapascan site is the “Campus site” on the University of Alaska campus.

From time to time random specimens are found in connection with road work, farming, and mining. Artifacts discovered in the Tanana Valley muck deposits, often at great depths, suggest, but do not prove, that man was contemporaneous with mammoth and other now extinct animals of the Pleistocene. One specimen found in association with a mastodon jaw, but not actually embedded in the bone, adds to the circumstantial evidence that man was here in the late Pleistocene, if not earlier.

On November 15, 1947, Dr. George Grant MacCurdy was killed by an automobile while on his way to Florida. Although he was in his eighty-fifth year, his death came as a distinct shock to all who knew him. He had grown a little frail, perhaps, but he still had full possession of all his faculties and he retained to the full his enthusiasm for and his preoccupation with his chosen field of prehistory. There was a certain changeless quality about him which makes his loss all the more keenly felt.

Although originally a student of geology and biology, Dr. MacCurdy was so stimulated by the exhibit of the bones of Pithecanthropus at the International Zoological Congress held at Leyden in 1896 that he decided to devote himself exclusively to anthropology and prehistoric archaeology. During the following years his student days in the capitals of Europe channeled his major interests into the field of Old World archaeology, of which he became the leading exponent and authority outside of Europe.

White Cat Village, a newly-explored site of the Dismal River Aspect, is located on Prairie Dog Creek about 3 miles above the point where it joins the Republican River from the south. The greater part of the village is included within a 70-acre field just southwest of the center of Section 24, Township IN, Range 18W, some 6 miles southeast of Alma, Harlan County, Nebraska. The village occupies an area approximately 1000 feet long and 250 feet wide, lying along a 30-foot bluff which forms the north bank of Prairie Dog Creek at this point (Fig. 70, e). The terrace on which the site is located will be a few feet under the normal level of the Harlan County Reservoir, and nearly 20 feet below the maximum level.

A preliminary survey of the village was made in November, 1946, by Marvin F. Kivett and J. M. Shippee, for the Missouri River Basin Survey.

The following is a brief account of the partial excavation of a cave on the east side of Honey Lake Valley, near Wendel in Lassen County, California. Although the materials recovered are not extensive, these notes seem warranted by the fact that this is the only dry cave archaeology done south of Oregon on this extreme western periphery of the Great Basin. Ninety miles to the east, work has been done in Lovelock Cave and Humboldt Cave. Some 150 miles north of our area the University of Oregon, under the direction of L. S. Cressman, has devoted nearly seven years (1935–42) to excavating the dry caves of south-central Oregon.

Honey Lake is the remnant of the westernmost arm of extinct Lake Lahontan. Its surface is 3,950 feet above sea level at the present time. The lake is bounded on the northeastern corner by Hot Springs Peak, a mountain of Miocene volcanics. Tommy Tucker Cave, circa 200 feet above the valley floor, is a fissure on a fault line near the foot of this peak.