Brazil can be divided into two geographical areas: the Coastal Strip and the Amazon Basin. Coordinated systematic survey and testing on the Coastal Strip between 1965-68 shows the Preceramic period to have lasted until about A.D. 500 except in an enclave on the Bahia Coast, where the Periperi ceramic tradition dates from the ninth century B.C. Although a variety of preceramic complexes has been recognized, particularly in the south, primary attention has been placed on the ceramic period. Seven regional ceramic traditions have been identified, and these appear to be generally contemporary with the area-wide Tupiguarani tradition. The latter is divisible into three subtraditions: the earliest emphasizes painted decoration; the second, corrugation; and the most recent, brushing. Subsequent to European contact, a Neo-Brazilian ceramic tradition developed, in which aboriginal and European traits are amalgamated.

Although the archaeology of the Amazon Basin is more poorly known, none of the existing data shows any evidence of contact with the occupants of the Coastal Strip, or vice versa. The strength of the ecological barrier between the two areas is reflected in the affiliation of complexes on the upper Rio Xingú, on the ecological border, with the Amazonian Incised and Punctate tradition, and in the total lack of any features suggesting contact with cultures of the Coastal Strip.

Information concerning tool types and other artifacts of seven major early complexes is presented. Thirty-four principal types are defined. These are then used to contrast and compare the assemblages and to show major changes in the period of approximately 9000 through 6000 B.C. Quantitative data are presented by means of percentages of major groups and cumulative graphs of all of the types.

The proposition is advanced that archaeologists are not justified in considering pollen analysis a technique of investigation restricted to the biological or earth scientist. This is shown not to be true in theory because of the nature of the technique itself. Comparison of pollen studies of samples from archaeological proveniences on the Colorado Plateau serves to illustrate the fact that research designs in pollen analysis do actually allow collection of cultural data and directly serve the purposes of cultural reconstruction. The comparison also serves to summarize the nature of the archaeological and nonarchaeological pollen research carried on to date in this region. A second portion of the paper synthesizes much of the available information for the presentation of a reconstruction of effective moisture variation on the Colorado Plateau over the past 1,500 years. This reconstruction was designed to serve the purposes of archaeological chronology and cultural ecology in the region. It also illustrates the flexibility of pollen analytic research as a technique of archaeology.

Student members of the Arizona State University Walnut Creek Archaeological Field Camp excavated six pit houses and located several more at Walnut Creek Village, located 10 mi. southeast of Young, Arizona, during the summer of 1967. Three of the pit houses were Hohokam and three were Anasazi; one of the latter was a subcircular kiva with sipapu-resonator complex of distinctive western Pueblo style. The occurrence, during the ninth century, of these two archaeological groups, side-by-side, in an ecological setting which is unusual for the Hohokam contributes to our knowledge of them and permits inferences concerning the Hohokam community at Roosevelt:9:6, 30 mi. away. Additionally, hypotheses concerning Hohokam ceremonial and communal houses at other sites can be evaluated.

In 1967, a mound at San Pablo, Morelos, was partially excavated for salvage reasons. The mound had at one time contained an estimated 150-250 burials, all associated with ceramics identical to certain vessels found at Tlatilco. In addition to being one of the earliest known mounds in central Mexico, the site is believed to be a burial mound, rare at any time period in Mesoamerica. Analysis of the burial ceramics in comparison to assemblages from other Middle Preclassic sites suggests that Tlatilco and other sites of its type are not one-period sites, but exhibit at least two phases, the earlier phase related to highland Olmec, the later to a localization of styles. The San Pablo Pantheon mound appears to represent only the later phase.

A recent surface survey was conducted at the site of Chan Chan, Peru, for purposes of investigating the nature of community settlement patterns. Previous writers have tended to view these in terms of the speculated sociological implications of specific largescale architectural features known as ciudadelas. In doing so they have neglected an extremely important body of information regarding the many small and inconspicuous building units that are closely associated with the ciudadelas. The present survey concentrated on the smaller complexes and provided data that were relevant to studying aspects of community settlement patterning such as house types, distribution of public buildings, street layouts, distribution of population types, population size and density. The results indicate that the range of social activities that were engaged in at Chan Chan during its flourish cannot possibly be understood in terms of the implications of large-scale architecture. It is suggested here that the overall community settlement pattern of Chan Chan is coincidental to the configuration described by Sjoberg (1965) for the typical preindustrial city. The hypotheses and suggestions generated by this study provide a base or foundation for future research at the site.

The present weight of evidence indicates that the Sierra Pinacate, Sonora, was an enclave occupied continuously from the end of the Altithermal period by people of the Amargosa complex, who, as Areneños, spoke a dialect of Papago in historic times. It is proposed that the Amargosans spoke an ancestral Piman tongue and that the present range of Piman speakers, from the Gila River to the Río Santiago in Jalisco, represents the extent of the Amargosan occupation. At the extreme southern end of the range, Amargosans were in contact with Mesoamerican culture, and they acquired pottery making, canal irrigation, and other specialized traits from this contact. Given the corridor of Piman speakers from south to north, a group of these southern people is thought to have brought the Vahki phase of the Hohokam, en bloc, to Snaketown on the Gila River, about 300 B.C. There the culture developed and expanded until A.D. 1400, with varying rates of accretions of traits and immigrants from the homeland. At that time, Piman-speaking Sobaipuri from the east, belonging to the Sonoran Brownware tradition, invaded the Hohokam territory and conquered it. Descendants of captive Hohokam survive as the Buzzard and Red Ant moieties of the Papago and Pima. Yuman entry into the South-west is thought to be late, opposing Schroeder's Hakatayan theory. A redefinition of the term "Hohokam" is proposed. It is suggested that this term be confined to the culture pattern which developed in the Gila Valley and thus to separate the Hohokam from those Amargosans who developed in the Sonoran Brownware tradition, who might be called the "Ootam."

Radiocarbon dating of terrestrial snail shells is examined. Three groups of samples, two from archaeological sites of Venezuela and one from the state of Texas, were taken as examples. The true ages were determined from radiocarbon dates on associated charcoal, and measurements on the snail shells allowed the errors to be determined. The groups showed completely different characteristics: 15 samples from Texas all had ages falsely old, 12 specimens of one Venezuelan group produced all correct dates, and another Venezuelan type with five samples gave dates all too recent. This study defines the directions and extents of errors for each group of snail shells, permitting them to be used as relatively reliable datable objectives in excavations where better materials are not available.

The possibility of correcting the radiocarbon dates using carbon-13 concentrations is considered, and 24 measurements are presented. It is concluded that more than one factor can influence the stable isotope concentrations in each case, and, therefore, carbon-13 is not useful for the improvement of the accuracy of snail shell dates.

We have said that the cargo system integrates contemporary Maya communities and have suggested this interpretation as a model for interpretation of Classic Maya social organization. Haviland's arguments against this idea remain unsupported, especially because he misinterprets Cancian's study of Zinacantan and fails to use other studies of contemporary Maya communities.

Ritchie and Dragoo's hypothesis concerning Adena migration into the northeastern United States is examined and found lacking because of sample characteristics. An alternative, probabilistic explanation for the index pattern which they found is offered, and it is suggested that data on northeastern Adena are too scanty to allow any type of valid statistical analysis.

Scattered finds of Dalton, Quad, Plainview, and Scottsbluff projectile points in the Yazoo Basin of west-central Mississippi affirm the presence of an early Archaic occupation in at least that region of the Lower Mississippi Alluvial Valley. These finds are associated with present surfaces in the alluvial flood plain which are geologic relicts formed prior to the final stages of the post-Pleistocene filling of the valley.

Pottery was reported from the eastern Aleutian Islands in 1945. Recent petrographic examination of the supposed sherds reveals that they are fragments of carved stone vessels rather than tempered clay pots. The dissimilarity of the Aleutian specimens to well-documented southwestern and western Alaskan pottery, and negative evidence from the central and western parts of the chain suggest that the Aleutian cultural area lay beyond the prehistoric distribution limits of Alaskan pottery.

It is pointed out and stressed that, when dealing with botanical material, the investigator should be wary of listing the plant's name only in the local language or by the English common name. It is also stressed that one should not attempt to "translate" plants listed only by their common name into their appropriate scientific name without being aware of the dire consequences which may be produced.

A simple flexible tube-type carpenter's water level is applied to problems of intrasite leveling in archaeology. The construction and use of the level are discussed.