This paper is a brief statement of my interpretation of the cultural relationships of Siouan archaeological material recently excavated in North Carolina. It was written in December, 1940. Some of the pottery is now in the Ceramic Repository, but the great majority is in the Laboratory of Anthropology and Archaeology at the University of North Carolina. A short visit to Chapel Hill during the first week in November, 1940, enabled me to obtain a bird’s-eye view of North Carolina archaeology. This was possible because of Mr. Coe's familiarity with the area and because there is sufficient material at Chapel Hill to provide a sample of the diverse archaeological units found in the state. While Mr. Coe supplied me with much of the information contained herein, he is not responsible for any errors of commission or sins of omission.

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.

During three field seasons spent at Palenque under the auspices of the Institute Nacional de Antropología e Historia of Mexico in 1940, 1941, and 1942, I had an opportunity to compare some inscriptions at that great Maya city with interpretations of them published by various students. This convinced me that these interpretations are not always in harmony with the real and actual reading of the inscriptions.

This paper deals with the confusion of a certain anomalous condition of the human skull with one type of trepanation. Evidence is presented to show that many specimens exhibited as examples of a certain type of trepanning are clear-cut cases of this congenital bilateral fenestra in the parietal bones. As is generally known, trephining was performed by ancient man to relieve certain maladies such as headaches caused by “demons kicking up a fuss” inside the skull. The excruciatingly painful operation was performed with a crude knife, piece of glass, or sharp-edged stone. Trephining probably flourished in Neolithic times, especially in Bohemia and western Europe. Trephined skulls have been, reported from Bolivia,, Central America, Mexico, Peru, and various other localities.

One day, in the spring of 1937, while looking at some Indian artifacts in Peabody Museum at Harvard University, I saw a card of flaked stone objects that had been made by Mr. F. R. Whitney of Tacoma, Washington. The card stated that more information concerning these pieces might be obtained in the Museum Library. I promptly went to the Librarian and asked about them. She told me that if I were interested in the manufacture of stone arrow points I should get in touch with Mr. Charles E. Snow, who was then a student of anthropology at the University.

From the time early in the nineteenth century when the ruins now known as Gran Quivira National Monument were rediscovered, speculation as to the source of the water supply has been rife. Many are the theories to account for the presence of this pueblo ruin in the midst of an expansive waterless region. These theories range from an assumption of the former existence of springs, now long dried up, to tales of marvelous aqueducts which brought water from a spring in the Gallinas Mountains to the east, a distance of fifteen miles. Recently, researches have brought to light new data in explanation of this apparent condition. It is, therefore, the purpose of this paper to assemble all of the available evidence, to evaluate and present it.

Severe, occasionally disastrous, erosion of the bases of adobe walls in the arid and semiarid regions of the Southwest is a phenomenon which has long been observed and commented upon. In historic times, erosion of this type has caused collapse of adobe buildings in the Rio Grande Valley of New Mexico; about Tucson, Arizona, it is serious, as it is in the Salt River Valley. Evidence of similar erosion has been noticed in excavations of prehistoric massive adobe or caliche walls of Hohokam and Salado structures of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries A.D. in the Salt and Gila River valleys of Arizona. Repair to check erosion and prevent collapse of walls was the primary purpose of Cosmos Mindeleff's stay at Casa Grande in the 1890's. Fewkes noticed similar cutting of standing walls at the nearby Adamsville site.

In a recent issue of American Antiquity, Donald E. Wray and Hale Smith have offered an “entirely hypothetical and tentative reconstruction” concerning the relationship of tribes of the Illinois Confederacy to late Woodland, Middle Mississippi, and Oneota manifestations in the state of Illinois. This paper appears to be a condensed version of a somewhat more elaborate one published in the Transactions of the Illinois State Academy of Science. The authors concede that their reconstruction may be “wrong in some of its assumptions and conclusions,” but express the opinion that “it seems to be in accord with every type of evidence we can find….”

In his recent study of the Fort Ancient aspect, J. B. Griffin has described two unique vessels from the Madisonville site as follows:

Two of the most unusual vessels from the site have pedestal bases. One of them was recovered relatively intact from the right side of the skull of an extended adult male. This jar is entirely typical of the Madisonville Cord-marked jars with the exception of the stand, which is an anomaly in any cultural group in the eastern United States. The vessel and the stand are 19 cm. high, and the stand alone is 6.5 cm. This unique piece is in the Cincinnati Art Museum. On the other jar the pedestal has been broken off, but there is no doubt but that such a base was formerly attached. This jar does not have any handles, but in its other traits it is a representative Madisonville Cord-marked jar.

Four legends of subterranean passages in as many parts of Middle America have recently been reported or cited by J. Eric S. Thompson (Apuntes Sobre Las Super sticiones de Los Mayas de Socotz, Honduras Britanica, in Los Mayas Antiguos, Mexico, 1941). They range in time from the present back to 1580, and in space from Zapotecan to eastern Maya country. He concludes that they were general among Mexican Indians and mixed bloods and may have been carried to New Mexico by Spanish-speakers, citing Kidder as authority for existence of a local belief in a passage connecting the ruins of Pecos with Taos.

There are different methods of interpreting Maya time counts. The Tun-Ahau method means that the Ahau element of an inscription refers to the tun; the Katun-Ahau method means that the Ahau element of an inscription refers to the katun.

The Initial Series inscription at Chichen Itza has been interpreted by a Tun Ahau method.

While there has been a great deal of archaeological excavation in the area now included in the Boulder Dam National Recreational Area in southern Nevada and northwestern Arizona, comparatively little of this material has been written and published. Within this area, which encompasses about 2,700 square miles of desert and mountain land, there has been extensive occupation by various peoples throughout most of the past two thousand and more years.