A conference of archaeologists interested in the ceramics of the Maya Lowlands was held in Guatemala City in August, 1965. The conference had as goals the substantive comparison of ceramic complexes and the consideration of theoretical and methodological problems associated with the use of the type-variety approach to ceramic analysis. Comparison produced an arrangement of ceramic complexes from 10 sites in terms of typological horizons established on the basis of horizon markers-chronologically specific traits shared by two or more complexes. Close historical connections between sites were given formal recognition by the definition of ceramic spheres composed of complexes from different sites demonstrating a high degree of content similarity for specific time intervals. Changes in the extent and nature of ceramic spheres through time suggest variations in the intensity of technological culture contact within the Maya Lowlands. The theoretical and practical implications of analytical tools such as type, ware, facet, sub-complex, complex, sphere, and phase were discussed with resultant modifications and clarifications of definitions and methodological procedures.

This paper presents an analysis of stature of the prehistoric population from the Maya site of Tikal, Guatemala. From this analysis, based on 55 skeletons from the Tikal burial series, three important conclusions emerge with respect to ancient Maya demography and social organization. (1) Tikal was settled by people of moderate stature, and this remained relatively stable over several centuries. A marked reduction in male stature in Late Classic times may be indicative of a situation of nutritional stress, which may have had something to do with the collapse of Classic Maya civilization. (2) Stature differences between those buried in tombs and others at Tikal suggest that, in the last century B.C., a distinct ruling class developed at Tikal. This simple class division of rulers and commoners may have become more complex in Late Classic times. (3) There was a marked sexual dimorphism in stature between males and females at Tikal. This is probably partially genetic and partially a reflection of relatively lower status for women as opposed to men in Maya society.

The streets of this Classic period city were laid out in a grid pattern. The axes of this grid were almost, but not exactly, perpendicular. There were a number of celestial bodies that in the period from A.D. 150 to A.D. 750 rose or set so as to markthe orientations of the streets. The Pleiades, Sirius, and the sun were the most probable orientation points. Two techniques which have been developed to test the more certain past existence of celestial references are described.

The 600-sq.-mi. volcanic area of the Sierra Pinacate, in the desert of far northwestern Sonora, Mexico, comprises a geologic and ecologic enclave in which archaeological remains have been undisturbed by erosion. Following a late pluvial occupation by people of the San Dieguito complex, Phase I, the area was abandoned during the Altithermal and later reoccupied by the Amargosans, whose culture pattern, diverging from that of adjacent regions, developed several unique traits through the Amargosa Phase I and Phase II periods. Ceramics were never made by the Amargosan Pinacateños, who traded for pottery almost exclusively with the Yumans of the Lower Colorado River, and later of the Gila River, from about A.D. 700 until early in the 20th century. In historic times, the occupants of the Pinacate spoke a Papago dialect but were hostile to other Papagos and associated almost exclusively with the Yumans. Survivors of the isolated Pinacate band, nearly wiped out in 1851 by yellow fever, joined their relatives and neighbors, the Areneños or Sand Papagos, who also used Yuman pottery. It is proposed that the Amargosan Pinacateños were Uto-Aztecan speakers, and that, therefore, the Papago proper are descendants of the early Amargosan occupants of Papagueria.

Also, Heizer questions the existence of a period of climate moister than that of today at the time when makers of the Lake Mohave lithic complex camped about high shorelines.

The following article attempts to do two things:

(1) Distinguish descriptively between sand-wear and wave-wear so that other archaeologists can use these criteria.

(2) Show that a widespread cultural co-tradition existed in the Inter-Montane West about 7000 B.C. during a period of moister climate. Artifact inventories are submitted. This co-tradition was characterized by sparsity or lack of stone-on-stone milling, by a number of unique implements, and by a practice of frequenting the shores of now-dry water sources. This widely distributed orientation toward fossil water implies a generally wetter climate at that time.

This co-tradition was characterized by sparsity or lack of stone-on-stone milling, by a number of unique implements, and by a practice of frequenting the shores of now-dry water sources. This widely distributed orientation toward fossil water implies a generally wetter climate at that time.

Archaeologists are constantly faced with the problem of estimating population numbers of the social units they study. After a brief survey of some of the methods used in population estimations, particularly in California, attention is focused, in this paper, on a population model proposed by Robert Ascher. Nine variables which comprise the basis of his model are considered individually, and as a result of this analysis the precision with which these variables can be controlled is seen as insufficient for purposes of population estimation. Alternatively, broader, more comprehensive, ecological studies are suggested for acquiring the necessary data for population estimation.

Excavations carried out at the site of Donnelly Ridge in central Alaska have led to the delineation of an early core and blade culture which includes the Campus site and two sites previously excavated on the Teklanika River to the west. Sites of the Denali complex are linked by distinctive microblade cores, core tablets and microblades derived from the latter, large blades, biconvex bifacial knives, certain end-scraper forms, a distinctive burin type, and other traits. The clearest affiliations of the Denali complex are with a series of late Upper Palaeolithic sites west of Lake Baikal, but relationships may be seen with sites in Hokkaido and Kamchatka as well. The bearers of this culture probably entered Alaska prior to the final submergence of the Bering land bridge.

Laboratory and experimental studies of glazed polish (corn gloss) on sickle edges, trillo teeth, hoe blades, and mealing stones indicate that this polish is analogous to modern lapidary polishes which are produced as submicroscopic frictional fusion zones by rubbing with soft powders. Frictional contact with opaline inclusions in grasses has produced corn gloss by fusion of flint surfaces and by fusion to them of dehydrated molecules of opal. The one-to-one equation of corn gloss to grasses has many implications to culture history. Among others, a previously unsuspected type of intense agriculture, closely adapted to conservation of prairie soils, is indicated for Hopewell, Middle Mississippi, and other American Indian cultures.

Aerial photographs have revealed a "moat-type" enclosure earthwork, probably pentagonal in shape, at the Hopwellian Ogden-Fettie site in the central Illinois River valley.

Exploratory excavation has confirmed the presence of a fortification system, first detected on aerial photographs, not reported heretofore.

The application of data processing techniques in the field of archaeology is relatively recent. Electronic computer research is rapidly developing equipment which has sufficient application for archaeology to render obsolete the currently employed manual systems. The prime advantage of computers is in the flexibility of data manipulation at both classificatory and analytical levels. It is the writer's opinion that such manual techniques as the Bordaz’ Inverted Data System are too limited in application for widespread utility in the field.

Seven tree-ring specimens from two Navajo archaeological sites in Arizona, reported by Gila Pueblo in 1941 to date from 1758 to 1770, have recently been reported by the Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research to date from 1794 to 1864. These new dates are more compatible with the structural remains at one of the sites.

Since effigy vessel forms and anthropomorphic and/or realistic designs on pottery are rare in the prehistoric northern Anasazi area, the Gallup Black-on-white vessel herein reported is extraordinary in that it combines a large so-called bird-form pitcher with both modeled and painted characteristics of Kokopelli, the Humpbacked Flute Player. The vessel, dating ca. A.D. 1000-1150, came from an unnamed Pueblo III site, southwest of the Chaco Canyon, near the McKinley-Sandoval County line, northwestern New Mexico.

An undated specimen, which consists of yarns prepared for being fixed to a loom and comes from the south coast of Peru, is reported. The unusual features of the specimen are its length of 107 ft. and some supplementary yarns which are interpreted as heddles in preparation, for which the possible steps are reconstructed.

A listing of archive locations for photographs of early work in the Southwest is given below.