In a recent paper, Marcus (1983) provides a timely synthesis of the rapidly accumulating body of data from various projects in the Maya Lowlands. One of the specific problems discussed by Marcus is that of temporal and cultural definition of the Swasey phase at the sites of Cuello and Colha, and its relationship to other early components. Our comment presents new data from Colha that were not available to Marcus. These data have significantly expanded our understanding of the earliest occupations at the site and have important implications for intersite comparisons.

Comments are offered on heat treating experiments and archaeological studies by Schindler, Hatch, Hay and Bradt concerning Bald Eagle Jasper from central Pennsylvania. Their conclusions concerning aboriginal patterns of use of Bald Eagle Jasper are critiqued. Their explanations for the effects of thermal alteration on jasper fracture properties are also questioned.

In the transfer of surface mining regulatory authority from the federal government to state governments, significant archaeological and historic sites have been, and continue to be, jeopardized. In the Commonwealth of Kentucky, primacy in this regulatory function has meant an almost total disregard for the effect of mining on cultural resources and thus the cultural impoverishment of the state and the nation at large. The Lands Unsuitable for Mining petition process offers concerned citizens a vehicle by which such inadequacies may be addressed. Lands Unsuitable for Mining Petition 83–1, the first petition to be filed in Kentucky and the first such petition in the nation to be filed solely on the grounds of potential impacts of mining on significant archaeological sites, successfully forced the issue for a 166 km2 area in the Big Bend region of Kentucky's Green River. It must be acknowledged that use of the lands unsuitable petition process leads inevitably to a potentially volatile confrontation between archaeologists and coal operators and therefore, it represents an abysmal preservation tool. Nevertheless, in states such as Kentucky it remains the only regulatory option available to insure that significant sites are adequately considered in the permitting process.

The federal government is engaged in large scale archaeological surveys in the western United States that demonstrate an apparent disregard for the techniques of probability sampling. In addition, federal advocacy of “cookbook” predictive models based on inadequate samples may constitute a threat to archaeological sites.

Wheeler's review, while concentrating on key topics, uses inapplicable ecological data, misinterprets important issues, and makes incorrect statements about the book's contents.