One is forced to admire Quimby's enterprise (1954, American Antiquity, Vol. 19, No. 4, pp. 317-31) in attempting not only a characterization but a mapping of the paleogeography of North America at 7 stages between 8500 B.C. and 500 B.C. Among other things it shows a healthful awareness that the physical environment cannot be considered a constant even in the relatively short time span generally accepted for the New World archaeological record. Fruitful investigations can be pursued through coordinating the geological, climatological, paleoecological, and archaeological evidence over extensive regions, and this tentative essay may provide a needed impetus.

On the other hand, certain of the hypotheses presented in this paper seem to me to demand immediate examination before they become established dogma to burden subsequent investigations. I shall not question the eclectic use of 2 main chronological frameworks, those provided by Antevs and by radiocarbon dating, though the former, at least, is hardly established fact (Burma 1950).

In a recent issue of American Antiquity Douglas S. Byers, in “Bull Brook — a Fluted Point Site in Ipswich, Massachusetts ” (Vol. 19, No. 4, pp. 343-51), pointedly raises the question of how the stone artifacts at this site have become buried rather deeply in the soil. To quote Mr. Byers: “Not the least of the problems is that having to do with the means by which the implements became buried. The surface of the land shows differences in elevation that could not have amounted to more than 5 feet over the entire area. There is no sign of an old land surface at the depth at which the fluted point complex occurs. Neither slope wash, wind action, nor frost action seem to offer satisfactory media for burying the objects. The matter remains a puzzle until further study may uncover new evidence.”

This particular dilemma, is one that I am sure will be encountered in the study of any old site, such as the fluted point sites.

Some archaeologists make a partial or total confusion of Quiché and Maya culture and history during the Classic period. The historic developments of these two peoples are completely different. Borhegyi's criticism reveals the contradiction that may arise from this confusion. His review is primarily concerned with three paragraphs of my book and is refuted by citation of pertinent archaeological data.

Webster's (1979) thesis that the Huron were prepared to hunt deer at a considerable energetic loss is vitiated by a serious factual error.

During the academic year 1948-49 an archaeological survey of the central Florida region was initiated by the writer and carried out with the aid of University of Florida students. As a result a large number of sites have been located, many of which have no pottery on the surface but are characterized by an abundance of flint chips and chipped stone artifacts. Most of the stone points are not distinctive although a few, known as Suwannee points, are suggestive of fluted points and Plainview forms found elsewhere. With a hope of determining the cultural position of this type of point, and of defining possible lithic complexes in the region, a program of test excavations was planned. These have resulted in the recognition of a new lithic entity, the Santa Fe complex.

The common assumption that Maya stelae record contemporaneity of carving, style, erection, and calendar date is challenged by evidence that shows instances in which (1) stylistic inconsistencies have been caused by alterations of a monument during different periods of time; (2) the latest recorded glyphic date is not the date of erection but rather the date of the latest completed alteration of the monument; (3) the practice of recarving and the associated innovations served as determinants of change in stylistic development. Physical evidence of the removal of carved elements and recarving is reviewed for carved wooden lintels at Tikal and stelae at Xultún, Yaxchilán, Uaxactún, Quiriguá Tikal, Naranjo, Piedras Negras, and Copán. Details of substela chambers, the placement of caches, the presence of multiple floors, and the condition of stela bases at Copán, Quiriguá, and Uaxactún indicate that stelae were raised in position as well as recarved. It is suggested that the period of the original erection of a monument is most closely related to the earliest date present, while the latest date present refers only to the latest completed alteration of the monument.

Since publication in 1955 of a comment by R. F. Heizer and the present author concerning fired clay figurines in California (Heizer and Pendergast 1955), some additional data have come to light which are suggestive of a need for revision of views on the distributional pattern of this trait on the Pacific Coast.

In March of 1956 Roscoe Barkhurst of Tulelake, California, submitted to the author for analysis 2 fragmentary figurines which had been collected at a site near Sara, Washington, in 1932.