Traditional cultural ecology, with its "geocentric" perspective, is most concerned with technological and related social aspects of economic adaptation to the material world. To supplement and qualify this view, an "anthropocentric" perspective with an emphasis on symbolic systems and modes of adaptation to the world as perceived by humans is offered. The cognitive core of culture is expressed in behavior that embodies certain principles underlying figurative expression in language and aspects of magic and taboo, curing practices, mythology, ritual, art, and innovation. An example of the cognitive approach is provided by an analysis of the symbolic systems in which the calumet, atlatl survivals, initiation weapons, and kinnikinnick functioned in historic times. This analysis suggests the possible origin and function of the Hopewellian platform pipe and offers insights into other prehistoric ceremonialism and the process of innovation.

The concepts underlying numerical taxonomy and factor analysis are examined in relation to the goals and requirements of archaeological classification. Numerical taxonomy, represented in the archaeological literature most commonly by cluster analysis on raw data, is found to be inappropriate for those goals. In contrast, the technique of r-mode factor analysis fits very well with the nature of archaeological data and the general aims of archaeological classification. The results of three experiments are presented which illustrate the drastically different interpretations that can be engendered by the two procedures from the same data.

There are two competing views regarding the nature of human adaptation in the Great Basin. One, proposed by Jennings, is that the adaptation was based on the intensive use of all available resources, and remained essentially static from 8000 B.C. to the present, being unaffected by climatic changes. The other view, proposed by Heizer and others, suggests that the regional adaptation varied through time and space, being affected by local resource availability and climatic changes. The validity of these two views was tested by regional surface sampling in Owens Valley, eastern California. Survey data were analyzed by a variety of quantitative and qualitative techniques, revealing a complex sequence of changes in subsistence-settlement patterns. These data tend to support the view that prehistoric adaptation in the Great Basin was variable, rather than static, through time.

Most investigators of Maya chronology consider that the Maya measured time intervals by a modified vigesimal count of days or, alternatively, by a tun count in which the uinal and the kin were fractions of the tun. The claim is made that neither of these interpretations is satisfactory and that the Maya perceived their time count to be a composite count comprised of three distinct counts whose respective units are the tun, the uinal and the kin. Support for this contention is found in the early post-Conquest writings as well as in the representations of time counts in the inscriptions and codices. Adoption of this interpretation leads to a clearer understanding of the Maya use of positional notation and also serves to explain some peculiar epigraphic features present in several chronological counts.

My object here is to list and briefly discuss the themes which seem most important and most valuable in Albert Spaulding's contributions to archaeological method and theory. I have not attempted to be biographical, to deal with his substantive contributions to North American prehistory, or to be exhaustive in mentioning every good idea and useful suggestion he has put into print. My discussion is also incomplete because the flow of major contributions has not ceased. Al is still busy trying new things (Spaulding 1976) and assessing current archaeological fashions with clarity, vigor, and reason (Spaulding 1973,1974).

The contributions of the earth sciences, particularly geomorphology and sedimentary petrography, to the interpretation and environmental reconstruction of archaeological contexts is called "geoarchaeology." The physical context provides a palaeo-environmental legacy liable to patterning and interpretation just as artifacts imply prehistoric cultural activity. Through field study and laboratory analyses, the geoarchaeologist elaborates the micro-, meso-, and macro-environments of a site, and provides input for erecting prehistoric human activity patterns in time and space. The categories of information that must be examined in the field, the range of interpretive problems that confront the field worker, and the laboratory techniques which corroborate field interpretations can be illustrated by examining archaeology in an alluvial site. These considerations emphasize the need to involve the geomorphologist in all aspects of the design and execution of an archaeological excavation.

Three passages in the hieroglyphic inscriptions of the Maya city of Tikal in Guatemala indicate inaugurations to the throne of three rulers at A.D. 682, 734, and 768. The distribution of the rulers' name-glyphs in the inscriptions, as well as differences in the art and architecture of the time-periods thus marked, support the validity of the three inaugural dates. The parentage of the rulers and the likelihood that the three rulers were members of the same family is discussed. The author suggests that personality differences among the three rulers can be discerned.

The New Archaeology has been said to involve a new view of culture and a heightened appreciation of the way to do science. By way of examining these claims, a review is made of three well known studies in which archaeologists popularly assigned to that movement attempt to relate the distributions of archaeological materials to patterns of post-marital residence. One of the studies is found to be possibly successful, the others probably unsuccessful, and the conclusion is that no such relationship is demonstrated. Although the conceptual framework of the studies is impressive, at least two of them are found to suffer from an insufficiency of rigor in testing their hypotheses. It is suggested that the conceptual framework is not peculiar to the New Archaeology, and that the shortcomings in testing relate to a misapprehension of scientific method.

During the past five years rock painting researchers concluded that a means of cataloging and classifying rock paintings was necessary. Research at the University of Winnipeg has led to the development of a punch card code and card design for Canadian Shield rock paintings that may also be applicable to other forms of pictography within the region. This design went through many stages of development and many problems were encountered by the developers. Despite the problems a set of basic computer-oriented categories for the comparison and correlation of rock paintings has been developed.

Building upon the work of several other people, Clemency Coggins has recently presented a tentative reconstruction of Tikal dynastic history, complete with a proposed genealogy of the rulers themselves. These are important data for any attempt to reconstruct the social and political organization of Tikal, and this paper explores their implications. The data are consistent with models of ancient Maya sociopolitical organization in which patrilineal descent, stratification, and strong central political authority were important. At Tikal, this seems to have been the case from the first century A.D. until Terminal Classic times. A currently popular view that, in Early Classic times, positions of prestige, power, and authority were open to anyone who had the necessary talent, wealth, and support is probably untenable, at least for Tikal.

The analysis of the spatial distributions of artifacts on archaeological floors has potential for the recognition and interpretation of cultural patterns represented by prehistoric remains. This study emphasizes the use of multiple procedures for the separate problems of pattern detection, estimation, and prediction. Aggregative and segregative definitions are proposed for three artifact class associational modes. Definitions are also proposed for general and special pattern prediction problems. An application to the Mousterian site of Rosh Ein Mor in Israel, shows that multiple procedures can be extremely advantageous in the interpretation of general complex patterns.

The rationale of customary "null hypothesis testing" procedures of statistical inference is examined. This approach is not incorrect, but it is prone to misuse and misinterpretation, including neglect of "power" and inappropriate conclusions based on conventional significance levels. The estimation approach, which often seems preferable, is briefly described. The kind of reasoning involved in statistical inference is required whenever we wish to assess the evidence relevant for or against any general proposition, whether we make any formal computations or not, and whether or not we have observed all possible real instances of relevant evidence. Statistical inference is logically unproblematic if we interpret it as a way of assessing the evidence more clearly. But statistical results cannot be directly converted into probabilities of the truth of hypotheses. This requires additional assumptions about appropriate probabilities of the hypotheses prior to consideration of the research evidence.

A total of 383 obsidian hydration measurements are reported for highland Ecuador. Specifically, hydration rim measurements have been used to test the reliability of five radiocarbon dates from the site of El Inga, and three of them are shown to be too young.

Excavations by the BYU-New World Archaeological Foundation at the site of Tzutzuculi on the Chiapas coast of Mexico, revealed two engraved monuments flanking a central stairway of a late Middle Preclassic period pyramidal platform. This report focuses on these two monuments, discussing their context, dating, and style. The context at its most general level involves the corresponding platform complex, which in its layout has a general resemblance to the Olmec site of La Venta. As for the monuments-one a were-jaguar representation, the other a serpent-dragon figure-they too, in their style, are identified as being Olmec. Moreover, their combined imagery, possibly expressing a dualistic viewpoint, is consistent with other Olmec iconographic examples. At Tzutzuculi, however, this imagery has for the first time in Olmec form been found in direct association with platform building.

In 1974, a sweathouse was discovered in the Postclassic site of Los Cimientos-Chustum, department of El Quiché, Guatemala. It is rectangular, provided with an interior hearth, a drainage canal, and a large water reservoir. It is, thus, quite different from the El Paraiso sweathouse, the only Precolumbian structure of this type known today in the Highlands of Guatemala. The Los Cimientos arrangement is similar, although on a more modest scale, to the Lowlands sweathouses, especially those of Piedras Negras.