It is argued that the methodology most appropriate for the task of isolating and studying processes of cultural change and evolution is one which is regional in scope and executed with the aid of research designs based on the principles of probability sampling. The various types of observational populations which archaeologists must study are discussed, together with an evaluation of the methodological differences attendant upon adequate and reliable investigation of each. Two basic sampling universes are discussed, the region and the site, together with their methodological and research-design peculiarities. These are used as a basis for discussion and past and current research programs are evaluated in terms of what are believed to be major limitations in obtaining the "facts" pertinent to studies of cultural processes.

The Maya imagined both the visible and the conceptual in three-dimensional form. Thus their painters had to represent the third dimension on flat surfaces. Seven ways of showing solid form were invented: combined front and profile views, overlapping, foreshortening, “half-view,” variations in line weight, arbitrary shading, and detached contour lines. Two ways of showing spatial depth were invented: overlapping and raising the level in the composition. Pottery painters never attained perfect command of space representation. Representation of space and form in art is a product of the same kind of speculation and experimentation which produces geometry and philosophical conceptions of space. The Maya lacked the conception of dimensions and never formulated the relationship between even length and width. This restricted their arts; in painting, for example, representations of space and form could not be formulated but had to be reinvented each time they were used.

The site of Las Madres near Galisteo, New Mexico, has yielded a provocative array of culture traits, each deviating from recognized Anasazi norms. Regional types of black-on-white sherds were encountered, accompanied by variants. Few Glaze I Red sherds appeared on the surface, but excavations revealed them in considerable quantity from top to bottom; there are fewer Glaze I Yellow and Polychrome representations. Tree-ring dates and ceramic materials indicate occupation from the late 1200's to about 1370. A transitional situation is suggested by bird bones, pottery variations, absence of formalized building plan, eclectic burial practices, and lithic artifacts. There is no evidence of direct migration of Mesa Verde people into the Galisteo region.

The ring vessel (or “doughnut jar”) and the stirrup spout-handle concepts probably diffused together, not only from Peru to Mesoamerica during the pre-Classic, but also from Mesoamerica to the southwestern and eastern United States. In the Southwest they first appeared in the San Juan area around A.D. 500; later they were accepted by other Anasazi and Anasazi-influenced cultures and persisted to the historic period. The apparent interest of the early Anasazi in odd vessel shapes may account for the acceptance of these two shape concepts by the Anasazi rather than by the Hohokam or Mogollon. The ring vessels and stirrup tubes may have continued into the historic period because, unlike most of the other odd forms, these had come to be traditional in certain persisting ceremonial contexts. However, before these suggestions can be adequately evaluated, more information from the Southwest is needed, and the meanings and associations of the two forms in Mesoamerica must be analyzed.

This paper analyzes archaeological remains from Verkholenskaia Gora in Cis-Baikal and discusses the placement of this culture in the archaeological sequence of the Baikal region. The tools are classified on the basis of manufacturing technique and technological function. The discovery of a bone arrowpoint at this site may increase the antiquity of the bow by several millennia. A comparison of the materials from Verkholenskaia Gora with materials from other regional archaeological assemblages suggests that the site was occupied at the end of the transitional period that extends from the Palaeolithic of the Mal'ta stage to the Neolithic. Verkholenskaia Gora is therefore assigned to the Siberian Mesolithic.

When sherd collections are enormous, it is extremely desirable to have procedures for discarding portions of the material which minimize risks of losing useful information and are easy to apply. It is suggested that sherd lots be made the sampling units. Lots from each provenience category relevant for a given problem can be listed, and then a random sample of lots from each category included in the sample. Since the value of a sample depends more on its absolute size than on the proportion of the population it represents, it is suggested that ceramic categories be roughly ranked according to their scarcity. A relatively small number of lots from each provenience category will provide an adequate sample of common ceramic categories, while a larger number of lots are needed for rare categories. This procedure insures that certain lots will be preserved in their entirety, while common sherd categories may be discarded from other lots if they do not add much to any sample of interest.

A newly defined pottery named the Sandy Lake ware is described. This ware extends from northwestern Wisconsin westward across east-central Minnesota into the extreme Mississippi River headwaters region. It is associated with Clam River focus pottery in Wisconsin and in Minnesota. It has a beginning association with Blackduck focus pottery but has a temporal duration beyond Blackduck to the latest prehistoric and perhaps protohistoric period.

A desire to increase efficiency in the description and typological study of stone artifacts led to a conference of ten archaeologists in Santa Fe, New Mexico. This conference concentrated on the delineation of attributes of specimens rather than on the creation of a typological system. It attempted to meet the requirements of this phase of archaeology on a continental rather than a regional scale. Considerable attention was given to the various sorts of punched cards and to data-processing equipment. A glossary of definitions and an attribute form sheet for recording specimens were compiled and issued to the attending members for use in pilot studies of regional collections. The form sheets were laid out with a view to transferring the data to standard IBM cards and determining significant clusters of attributes. The testing of the definitions of attributes and the form sheet through actual use is intended to reveal possible improvements and to evaluate the practicality of rapid-processing methods in typological studies of this nature.

Supplementing Part I of this report, by Weyer, Part II is concerned with certain vital needs in American archaeology for a central facility in which high-speed methods of data analysis can be applied to the determination of types of stone artifacts on a broad scale, the distribution of these types can be mapped wherever they occur in the New World, manuals can be prepared for general research, and related functions can be performed. It is held that our individualistic approaches to these problems in various areas, rather than producing strictly comparable results, are causing greater confusion than ever; that distributional studies based on noncomparable “types” are superficial and misleading; and that there are already on hand such great amounts of material that their analysis can never be accomplished comprehensively by “hand” methods. The advantages and disadvantages of edge-punch and IBM cards are discussed in relation to several purposes, such as catalog records, sorting for attributes (singly and in combinations), and computer treatment. The project's steering committee has decided to proceed with IBM cards, but before disseminating its recommendations, will conduct pilot studies to achieve the most efficient codification of attributes as well as a standard form on which data must be recorded before an operator can proceed with the punching of cards.

Geologic evidence from Anaktuvuk Pass indicates that the latest ice advance during the Itkillik glaciation reached its maximum stand between 8000 and 9000 years ago. Archaeological sites at the pass lie behind a terminal moraine built during this advance and therefore must postdate it. In view of the probable time involved for deglaciation, habitable ice-free areas near the axis of the valley could not have been available for campsites until an advanced stage of ice wastage. Radiocarbon dates indicate that deglaciated areas existed near the present drainage divide as early as 7200 years ago, but prior to that time the valley floor was largely buried under stagnant ice. Although certain archaeological complexes have been interpreted on the basis of typology as evidencing considerable antiquity, the geologic relationships between the sites and radiocarbon-dated, late-glacial sediments places a maximum limiting age of about 7000 years on the oldest cultural materials.

A striking morphological resemblance between projectile point types suggests a connection between two early preceramic complexes, one in the Southeast, the other in the Southwest. The point types compared are Dalton (Southeast) and San José (Southwest).

A corroded white-metal lip plug from Guerrero was shown by wet-chemical and spectrographic analyses to have originally contained over 99% lead. After reviewing 16th-century eyewitness accounts, linguistic evidence, the mineral resources of Mexico, the technological problems involved in the primitive extraction of lead from its most common ore, galena (PbS), and the few early lead artifacts reported from Mexico, the authors state their opinion that the smelting of lead ore and use of metallic lead were known before the arrival of the Spaniards and that there is no valid reason to doubt that this object was made before the Conquest.

A well-preserved carved wooden ax handle was recently found on the Chiltepe Peninsula, Lake Managua, Nicaragua. The upper portion is in the form of a king vulture. The specimen is unique, since wooden objects in this area are rarely preserved. It was probably the work of the pre-Columbian Mangue Indians.

Reinvestigation of terraces first reported by Haury and Cubillos indicates that they were made by man, although some natural formations exist that resemble terraces. The terraces near Tocancipá and Facatativá are probably prehistoric, but those at the Chocontá, Tunja, and Soacha localities are of a different type, consisting of ridges designed to carry drainage ditches. Such ditchridges have been built in recent years and thus far have no prehistoric associations.

Pictographs in southern California, while spectacular, are of little interpretive value to the archaeologist unless they can be assigned a date and a cultural affiliation. The nature of most pictograph sites has precluded any normal archaeological dating, such as through portable art found in stratified cave fill. A sandstone slab recovered from a historic Chumash site in 1961 bears recognizable pictographs which make it possible to assign at least some of the cave pictographs to the Chumash during the late 18th century. Although it is still not possible to determine the function of pictographic art in Chumash culture, its presence in villages suggests a somewhat different distribution of these paintings than was formerly suspected.

Recent excavations of fireplace hearths at the Revolutionary campsites of General Washington's army at the National Historical Park at Morristown, New Jersey, and at the State Park at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, have been responsible for the recovery of a quantity of bones of food animals (Bos taurus). These remains are discussed and compared with the dietary reports made by soldiers of the time. A crudely made strap-iron grill, used by the men at Morristown in 1778, is figured.

This site, which is on a low bluff overlooking Lake Assawompsett in southeastern Massachusetts, has yielded both fluted and Archaic projectile points, as well as other artifacts. The stratigraphy is complex, and a mixture of Paleo-Indian and Archaic artifacts is indicated. Two charcoal samples have been radiocarbon-dated at 1948 B.C. ± 100 years and 2758 ± 140 years B.C. These dates agree with the age of similar Archaic sites in the area.