Data from United States General Land Office Surveys are commonly used to create vegetation models for the American Pioneer period. These models are then used as baselines for understanding past biotic change. It should be realized that many of these surveys were made near the end of a climatic episode (the Neo-Boreal or "Little Ice Age") when world temperatures were much lower than at the present time. These baselines therefore do not represent vegetational responses to a climatic regime like that of the present, and the vegetation models must be interpreted accordingly.

Thermoluminescent dates for the Julsrud collection, excavated near Acambaro, Guanajuato, Mexico, are shown to be invalid. Evidence is offered showing that these figurines were fired shortly before they were found.

Certain enigmatic prehistoric constructions in the eastern United States were possibly designed partly as barriers to restrict the movement of spirits or to protect the enclosed area from unwanted supernatural influences. Ethnographic accounts indicate that in historic times the belief was widely held in the United States that ghosts could not pass through water and that the geometry of a circle was effective in countering magic or supernatural forces. Some implications for archaeology are explored.

The need to teach archaeological field techniques and the obligation to conserve the resources of the past often involve conflicting priorities. On-site instruction ought to be compatible with the accountability of archaeologists under recent provisions for public archaeology and historic preservation. The author presents a viable tested alternative to the indiscriminate exploitation of archaeological sites for the purpose of student practice in field methodology.

Many archaeologists continue to assume that spear thrower adjuncts were intended to serve some practical purpose related to the performance of the weapon despite the inconclusive results of the experimental use of the “weighted” spear thrower. Contrary to popular opinion, there is little evidence to substantiate the claim that atlatl weights increase the range or velocity of projectiles to any significant degree. A new approach to the problem is suggested by referring back to the original descriptions of archaeologically recovered spear throwers from the American Southwest. The fact that Basket Maker II atlatls were described as being characteristically flat in cross-section with surprisingly flexible shafts as well as reference to the former use of flexible spear throwers by A boriginal tribes of north A ustralia suggests that spear thrower adjuncts may have been intended as a means of exploiting the potential of such a weapon.

Problems involved in the application of probability sampling strategies to woodland environments are discussed and illustrated by example. The results of the sample and the field tactics employed in its implementation are appraised. Some directions for the development of specialized field tactics in woodland environments, including the reduction of transect intervals, the use of test-pitting, and the generation of explicit means for survey strategy alteration, are suggested.

Excavations at the Airport site, Springfield, Illinois, recently provided a rare opportunity to examine lateral displacement that has occurred due to plowing. Measurements of relative displacement of sections of reconstructed bifaces are given. These measurements suggest that plow drag may not be as great as is sometimes supposed.

A tendency for many precolumbian buildings to align east of north is examined for possible astronomical motives. Stellar and solar phenomena are suggested as possible influences. The importance of clearly establishing the relative positions of observer and point of reference in any archaeo-astronomical analysis is emphasized. Certain misconceptions concerning chronological correlations of alignments and a new dimension in establishing orientations are discussed.

A series of experiments to replicate prismatic blades with use of direct percussion, indirect percussion, and pressure techniques are discussed. Similar prismatic blades can be produced by a number of techniques and comparison is made with blades from some archaeological sites in Texas. It is suggested that Paleoindian blade technology employed direct percussion exclusively, and later small blade technologies used other techniques as well.

Disagreements among archaeologists about whether inductive or deductive methods are appropriate for establishing archaeological hypotheses are often founded in a misunderstanding of the nature of inductive reasoning. In this paper several cases of confirmation of archaeological hypotheses are examined in order to expose the logical structure of the reasoning involved. In all these cases the structure is basically inductive. In actual practice the methodology adopted by archaeologists is far more sophisticated than the account of this methodology presented by archaeologists.

Archaeological explanations of Hohokam canal design have stressed the importance of preventing seepage and evaporation. These features are shown to be less important to flow than is the shape of the ditch (ceteris paribus). Models which accurately reflect prehistoric irrigation practices must be based on accurate assumptions about water delivery systems.