This paper examines a poorly understood scene in the Codex Vienna and is based on linguistic and ethnographic studies carried out in Oaxaca, Mexico. The Vienna is one of the few Precolumbian manuscripts to survive the conquest, and its extensive treatment of ritual and religious subjects makes it unique among the Mixtec codices. The scene in question is interpreted in terms of a myth current among present-day Mixtec speakers, which recounts the first sacrifice made by humans, and which links this sacrifice, and all subsequent ones, to agriculture and human death.

The Inka empire was supported by goods and services provided by both generalized and specialized labor. To gain insight into how goods were produced and distributed in the imperial economy, 173 sherds from Cuzco, Lake Titicaca, the upper Mantaro Valley, and Tarma were analyzed (INAA) for materials composition. Results show that production and consumption of Inka ceramics were focused within regions, although two plates probably made in Cuzco were among the Titicaca and Mantaro samples. Inka ceramics from the upper Mantaro were made from at least two sources of raw materials, both distinct from those used in local Wanka ceramics. Evidence suggests that the Inka provincial capital (Hatun Xauxa) and two Wanka towns obtained most of their Inka pots from either one or the other source. These results imply that the state controlled production of its ceramics regionally, starting at the source of the raw materials, and distributed the products of separate sources selectively.

Ever since the publication of the first of more than 50 internally consistent radiocarbon dates from Meadowcroft Rockshelter (36 WH297), controversy has been generated by frequent assertions that the dates older than 11,000 B.C. have suffered particulate or nonparticulate contamination. Data bearing on these assertions are assessed in the light of accelerator mass spectroscopy (AMS) dates provided by Oxford University. The weight of all data taken together suggests that this site still represents the best-dated evidence for the presence of human beings south of the glacial front in the Americas. That evidence indicates that Native Americans were present in southwestern Pennsylvania by 14,000–14,500 years ago.

This paper presents the results of a research project investigating the types, frequencies, and spatial distribution of small items of refuse on and in floors of a prehistoric structure–the Heartbreak Hotel–excavated in central Utah. Excavation and analytical procedures specifically were designed to recover microrefuse–refuse with a minimum dimension of less than .25 cm. There is strong empirical support for the proposition that microrefuse recovered from such contexts will be found in its area of production, and that patterning in its spatial distribution will, other things being equal, indicate spatial patterning in the performance of the activities that produced the microrefuse. We demonstrate that there is rather dramatic patterning in the types and frequencies of microrefuse between and within rooms of the structure and discuss possible explanations for the character of that patterning. We conclude with a discussion of the present limitations of our understanding of refuse disposal and suggest avenues of ethnoarchaeological inquiry likely to produce better archaeological and behavioral expectations relating to spatial patterning of microrefuse.

Results of chemical analyses on residues collected from ceramic vessels found in an Early Classic period Maya tomb revealed that certain of the residues contained theobromine and caffeine, a clear indication that the corresponding vessels once contained cacao in some form. One of the vessels yielding cacao residues is decorated with hieroglyphs, two of which we believe have the phonetic values for the word “cacao” in the Mayan language. These findings are significant for three reasons: (1) a new method for recognizing ancient cacao use is demonstrated, (2) a novel way of verifying glyph interpretations is presented, and (3) data are generated that indicate what contents certain Maya vessels actually held, thus permitting useful functional interpretations.

One goal of ethnoarchaeology is to strengthen archaeological inferences about the past. A fifteenth-century hunter-gatherer, open site in Utah is used to examine ethnoarchaeological contributions toward determining the use of space, duration of occupation, assemblage composition, and site function. Comparisons between macrorefuse and microrefuse patterning suggest that (1) the distribution of macrorefuse can help identify locations of ephemeral structures and household activity areas; (2) the distribution of microrefuse in this intermittently occupied open site is useful for assessing assemblage composition; (3) determining the characteristics of macro- and microrefuse improves hypotheses about duration of occupation; and (4) interpretation of plant remains can be improved by considering site-formation processes. The study points to the need for a closer linkage between ethnoarchaeology and the archaeology of the past.

A bottle gourd (Lagenaria siceraria) recovered from a burial context at the Windover site (8 BR246) in east-central Florida has been dated directly to 7,290 ± 120 radiocarbon years B.P. This provides the earliest documentation of bottle gourds north of Mexico and demonstrates approximate contemporaneity with other eastern United States Cucurbitacae. Investigations of wet sites such as Windover, while requiring substantially greater consideration of conservation than in typical dry sites, greatly expands the recovery of organic materials enabling broader insights to prehistoric processes.

Calibrated radiocarbon dates of 19 samples excavated since 1976 at the site of Cuello, in northern Belize, place the Swasey phase (11 dates) and Bladen phase (8 dates) in the Middle Formative period, rather than in the Early Formative, as 10 dates on charcoal excavated in 1975 and 1976 indicated. The post-1976 dates for both phases fall between about 1100 and 400 B.C., and the two sets do not appear to differ significantly. All except 3 of the 35 archaeologically acceptable dates from the later Lopez Mamom and Cocos Chicanel contexts fall within the conventionally accepted ranges for those phases. A mixture of old charcoal from the environment or from an unidentified pre-Swasey occupation with the 1975–1976 samples may explain their early radiocarbon ages, although why such mixing should have affected only the 1975–1976 samples is not known. This reassessment of the early Cuello sequence aligns it with comparable cultural developments elsewhere in the Maya area and suggests that the earliest farming communities of northern Belize perhaps derived from the highlands of Guatemala.

Materials belonging to the Sulphur Spring stage of the Cochise culture previously were identified on the prominent 1,274 m shoreline of Pleistocene Lake Cochise in southeastern Arizona. Dated ca. 12,000 to 11,000 years ago, the remains were suggested to represent an early Archaic manifestation deposited in ancient beach gravels, possibly contemporary with Clovis levels at the Lehner and Naco sites. New data based on stratigraphic analysis, correlated radiocarbon dates, together with artifactual remains indicate that the association of Sulphur Spring stage artifacts with the shoreline of Lake Cochise is problematical.

The Scottsbluff and Lipscomb bison bonebeds initially were excavated in the 1930s. Although only brief, preliminary reports have been published on the two sites, they since have been cited widely in discussions of Paleoindian hunting practices on the western Plains. The Scottsbluff and Lipscomb sites both represent mass deaths associated with Cody Complex and Folsom artifacts respectively. Analysis of eruption and wear of the lower dentitions indicates that the Scottsbluff bison died during late spring to summer, and those at Lipscomb died only slightly later in the year (late summer to early fall). Thus, although often cited in the “yet-another-bison-bonebed” category, these two sites exhibit a pattern of seasonal mortality that is different from the generally reported tendency for Paleoindian kills to have taken place in the late fall or winter.

Obsidian sources, and the proportions of those sources represented in site collections, are known poorly in the southeast mesoamerican periphery. The Honduran sources of La Esperanza and Güinope are described and “fingerprinted” chemically, and their utilization is explored in selected sites in Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica. Although prehistoric Nicaraguans and Costa Ricans used obsidian from sources as far away as Honduras and Guatemala, most of their cutting tools were made from local materials, using informal manufacturing techniques. The analytical results indicate two sources of new types of obsidian have yet to be found; they may lie in western Nicaragua.

The reburial issue is often characterized as a problem in ethics. This paper points out that ethics are a cultural construct, and, as such, what is sometimes referred to as an ethical conflict is better understood as a conflict in cultural values. With this in mind, we consider mechanisms for the resolution of cultural conflict with particular focus on the nature of negotiation and the necessity of mutual respect. We also consider the ethics of archaeology as they pertain to reburial negotiations. Public education is rejected as a panacea for these problems. We conclude that archaeology must change the way it does business, and we present a prescription for such change.

This comment argues that Latta's (1987) recent interpretation of certain ceramic items on sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Ontario Iroquoian sites as imitations of Catholic chalices is contrary to the chronological distribution of the artifacts, is inconsistent with the nature of contemporaneous chalices, and ignores more-plausible alternative interpretations.

Odell and Cowan's (1987) experimental study largely confirms and extends results obtained by Lewarch and O'Brien (1981) on the effects of tillage on artifact distributions in the plow zone. In contrast to earlier studies, however, they find no relation between artifact size and lateral-displacement distance. The lack of relation between these two variables may be a consequence of defects in experimental design and analysis and should be considered suspect until better controlled data are available.

Maize is claimed to occur occasionally in preceramic deposits in Peru. Cobs, kernels, tassels, pollen, and plant parts have been reported to be associated with Cotton Preceramic period refuse (ca. 2500–1750 B.C., uncorrected) in several north-central coast sites. Maize has been found in some much earlier highland occupations that also have yielded a wide range of ancient dates. These samples represent many types, some with characteristics not found again until late in the first millennium A.D. This arouses suspicion. Checking of artifacts, ecofacts, and radiocarbon dates associated with the maize reveals some that are less than 100 years old and many that are less than 1,500 years old. It also reveals shallow deposits and/or much disturbed context.

Archaeologists commonly employ two-sample statistical tests in regional locational analyses that compare environmental measurements obtained at site locations against measurements taken at random locations from the background environment. One-sample tests that compare a site sample against a background standard are conceptually and statistically superior, but have been difficult to implement for continuous data types. This situation now is changed owing to a relatively new computer technology known as Geographic Information Systems (GIS). GIS can provide a complete description of the nature of the background environment of entire regions for categorical and continuous data types, thereby allowing the ready application of one-sample testing strategies. Examples of several GIS-based one-sample tests are given using data from east-central Arizona. Such conventional tests only should be applied, however, when the observations can be shown to be statistically independent through tests for spatial autocorrelation.

Ramsden and Fitzgerald (1990) offer no basis for altering the conclusions of the original article (Latta 1987), where I proposed that stemmed ceramic vessels in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Ontario Iroquoian sites appear to represent diffusion from European sources, probably through imitation of the Catholic chalice.

The needs of new analytic techniques that may be depleting or destructive, or which have requirements that may be at odds with other approaches, place new and different demands on curated archaeological research collections. Curatorial approaches and attitudes need to accomodate such changes in research environment and be aware of both the potentials of curated collections as well possible conflicts. A pilot study employing AMS dating of adhering residues on a curated ceramic collection is used to illustrate curatorial concerns and decisions associated with the use of modern techniques. It is argued that continued use of such collections is important, and that management decisions must keep pace with technological innovations.

The analysis of the results of Odell and Cowan's experiments on tillage-induced artifact movement is flawed. Their use of cumulative averages is defective and does not support the conclusions they have drawn. Their grouping of data for the analysis of the effect of artifact size on displacement is incorrect.