To understand the effects of European contact on the organization, size, and mobility of Pueblo populations in the Southwest requires detailed knowledge of the occupational histories of the aggregated settlements that typify the late prehistoric and early historic record. Unfortunately, such understanding is generally lacking because the methods used to document occupational histories of settlements tend to either obscure fine-grained temporal distinctions or necessitate costly, and politically objectionable, large-scale excavations. To overcome these difficulties, we use surface expressions to analyze the occupational and population history of San Marcos Pueblo (LA98), an aggregated, late prehistoric site in the Galisteo Basin of New Mexico that persisted to the Pueblo Revolt of 1680. Field methods include detailed mapping of the settlement and systematic surface collections of middens. Frequency seriation, correspondence analysis, and mean ceramic dates of decorated ceramic rims comprise our principal analytic methods and demonstrate that the pueblo was abandoned four times before 1680. Causes of abandonment are discussed. Relative scale measures of population show demographic fluctuations with maximum aggregation during the fifteenth century. Despite demographic pulses, the pueblo remained vital until the terminal abandonment.

The chronology of shell-tempered pottery in the eastern United States is poorly understood, preventing any resolution to the question of how this pottery came to dominate ceramic assemblages in the late prehistoric period. Part of the problem lies in traditional dating methods that either provide only average dates that suppress variation or address depositional rather than manufacturing events. Better resolution can be obtained by dating individual artifacts. Luminescence dates for 67 ceramics from several sites in the mid-South show variation in age of ceramics from a single assemblage, strong chronological overlap between shell- and grog-tempered pottery, and suggest that shell-tempered pottery may have been present in low frequencies earlier than generally assumed and before it rose in frequency sometime after A.D. 900.

It is often unclear whether an archaeological animal bonebed was formed by a mass kill of individuals from a single prey population or through the accumulation of a number of separate kills which occurred over a long time period or at multiple locations. The isotope ratio variation within animals from an archaeological bonebed can be used to investigate this question by comparing the isotope ratio variation within an archaeological assemblage to the variation within modern populations. If the archaeological variation exceeds that expected within a single population, then an accumulation is indicated. Otherwise, a single mass kill or a series of kills from a single population over a fairly short time period is more likely. This technique is demonstrated using carbon, oxygen, and strontium isotope ratios to characterize the amount of variation within pronghorn tooth enamel from six archaeological sites in southwestern Wyoming. The results indicate that the Austin Wash and Trappers Point sites are the result of an accumulation of pronghorn from multiple populations, while the Firehole Basin, Gailiun, and Boars Tusk sites do not show evidence of accumulation and therefore may be the result of mass kills. The Eden-Farson site formation characteristics are currently indeterminate.

The Jim Pitts site is a multicomponent Paleoindian locality in the Black Hills of South Dakota, with a rare Goshen residential occupation. All Paleoindian components were comprised in the Leonard paleosol. The deepest component at the site is a Goshen level dated to 10,185 ± 25 B.P. It correlates with a late fall-early winter camp site. Over the course of its use parts of at least five bison were procured and introduced to the site. Above this level an array of point styles, including Goshen, Folsom, Agate Basin, several Fishtail points, James Allen, Cody, and Alberta, have also been found. The following study provides a typological and technological description of the point assemblage and weighs the implications of the chrono-cultural stratigraphy for reconstructing the Paleoindian cultural landscape. It questions the validity of some types, particularly Goshen, as cultural and chronological markers. Ultimately, the evidence presented here reinforces a model in which multiple Paleoindian point types occur simultaneously on the central and northern Great Plains. This in turn challenges a unilineal view of Paleoindian culture history.

The ceramic evidence from 10 sites in the lower Salt River valley, Arizona, represents the entire temporal interval defined as the pre-Classic era of Hohokam prehistory. These data indicate that nearly all of the clay pots consumed in the valley over a period lasting six centuries were manufactured by just a few potter groups. The uninterrupted duration, high volume, and the large variety of vessel forms and wares produced for exchange may have been unparalleled in the prehistoric Southwest. A temporally comprehensive model of pottery manufacture in the Phoenix basin is presented, its implications for the origins of specialization, and the influence of intensive irrigation are discussed. In addition, the implications are considered for a previously published model of the Hohokam economy centered on marketplace transactions (Abbott, Smith, and Gallaga 2007).

Lichenometry—a method developed by geologists for dating Holocene moraines and other landforms—has many potential applications in archaeology. Maximum-diameter lichenometry can suggest ages for features that were initially lichen-free, such as the moai of Easter Island, and rock surfaces exposed by toolstone quarrying. Size-frequency analysis can provide dates for structures built of lichen-covered rocks, such as game-drive walls and blinds, meat caches, and tent rings. Both methods require local calibration curves, best constructed by measuring lichens on substrata of known exposure age. Most lichenometric studies have involved yellow members of the crustose genus Rhizocarpon, which grow slowly and can live for as long as 10,000 years. Lichenometry has been particularly successful on siliceous rock types in arctic, subarctic, and alpine-tundra environments. The effects of wildfire and of competition from foliose lichens make the technique less well suited for forested terrain. Few data are available for tropical or desert environments or for calcareous substrata. The reliability of a lichenometric date will depend on the quality of the calibration curve, the size of the sample, the nature and postoccupational history of the substratum, and the ability of the archaeologist to recognize potential disturbance factors. An ecological perspective is essential. Known archaeological applications and problems are discussed.

Despite increasing concern with the effects of archaeological data recovery methods on the types and quantity of objects extracted from the material record, archaeologists rarely discuss recovery biases attributable to the most basic excavation procedures. In this study I examine how several factors, including variable artifact identification skills, can affect artifact recovery rates in the field. Data from household-level investigations at the Stó:lō (Coast Salish) village of Welqámex (DiRi 15) are presented to show how interobserver variation can compromise interpretations of past behavior when opportunities for artifact recovery are limited to observations at the excavation unit and single-episode (field-only) sieving. Laboratory sorting of screen residue retained in 3.2-mm (one-eighth-inch) mesh sieves is shown to account for the recovery of as much as 87.5 percent of lithic artifacts and nearly 90 percent of archaeofaunal remains. Rates of artifact recovery in the field are highly variable among excavation crews working at Welqámex, and I argue that the application of correction factors is inappropriate unless the magnitude of recovery bias can be measured for specific excavation teams and particular depositional contexts. The results of this study further highlight the importance of documenting and mitigating the unintended effects of methodological decisions on archaeological assemblages.

Direct dating of artifacts is preferable to dating via association in most archaeological situations. In this article we describe and discuss the first application of accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) to directly date temper particles in shell-tempered pottery. This method can be applied to ceramics from around the world that are tempered with freshwater or marine shell. To assess the method, we examine 34 new or previously reported dates (AMS dates on shell temper, paired luminescence dates from the same ceramics, and associated radiocarbon dates on other biotic materials) from seven sites in a variety of geological settings in the state of Mississippi. The results show that a freshwater reservoir effect is present in most cases. Other potential complicating factors include variable carbon input and metabolic uptake rates over space and time and the effects of burning during temper preparation or pottery firing. Despite these problems, the method holds promise for dating surface materials, museum specimens, and burial accompaniments; for investigating settlement patterns; and for other areas of research.

Contemporaneity of people and the American mastodon (Mammut americanum) at Big Bone Lick, Kentucky, has been extensively debated for more than two hundred years. Newly interpreted stratigraphic excavations and direct AMS ¹⁴C measurements on mastodon bones from Big Bone Lick, Kentucky, indicate that the megafauna are a palimpsest of fossils spanning at least 1,200 calendar years (11,020 ± 30 to 12,210 ± 35 RC yr B.P.). The radiocarbon evidence indicates that mastodons and Clovis people overlapped in time; however, other than one fossil with a possible cut mark and Clovis artifacts that are physically associated with but dispersed within the bone-bearing deposits, there is no incontrovertible evidence that humans hunted Mammut americanum at the site.

The Crowfield site, excavated in 1981–82, would be a small typical Early Paleoindian campsite except for the added presence of a plough-truncated pit feature containing 182+ burned and destroyed stone artifacts. This paper reports on the latest insights into the feature contents based on continuing attempts to cross-mend fragments, as well as detailed analyses of the spatial distribution of artifact pieces within the feature itself. These results reinforce earlier conclusions that the items were burned where found, represent a cache of still functional tools and preforms, and were purposefully destroyed. They confirm that the site represents the best evidence to date for sacred ritual by eastern North American fluted point users. Contrasts with other reported early sacred and secular caches are documented that highlight the uniqueness of the assemblage. It is argued that these contrasts indicate the Crowfield feature assemblage more closely approximates a transported, functioning tool kit, as opposed to the surplus, seasonal and insurance gear, or offerings, that dominate other early caches.

In her recent article, "Credit Where Credit is Due: The History of the Chumash Oceangoing Plank Canoes," Jeanne Arnold questions our 2005 paper in which we suggested that a prehistoric contact event with Polynesians resulted in conveyance of the sewn-plank boat construction technique and a particular style of compound bone fishhook to the Chumash and Gabrielino of southern California. We agree with many of Arnold's views about the cascading effects of sewn-plank boat construction on Native societies of southern California, but question her dismissal of certain aspects of the empirical record, particularly the linguistics, in portraying this invention as strictly autochthonous. Here we recast aspects of the linguistic evidence that Arnold overlooks, provide evidence from oral history which she says is lacking, and discuss chronological issues that are much less straightforward than she suggests. We also mention implications of recent findings from South America. Finally, we submit that we have not discredited the Chumash or any other Native society in developing this hypothesis.

Howey and O'Shea (2006) misrepresent one of my statements twice, attributing a position to me that I have argued against for two decades: they misrepresent the way that ethnography is used in the archaeology of religion and the manner in which rock art research is conducted; and, despite their claims to the contrary, their study illustrates the importance of the identification of meaning in the archaeology of religion.

Mason contends that we (Howey and O'Shea 2006) created a "chimera" of the Missaukee Earthworks site as a regional ceremonial center in Late Prehistoric Michigan (A.D. 1200-1600) by misinterpreting archaeological and ethnohistoric data. In considering Mason's critique, we re-emphasize the value, and methods, of studying ritual via material remains and show that Mason’s arguments simply serve to exemplify why the culture-historic approach has failed in its effort to understand the pre-contact Native cultures of the Great Lakes. Whitley contends we are misguided about the aims of archaeological studies of ritual and the place of "meaning" in these studies. In considering the "meaning" archaeologists seek in our studies of past ritual, we emphasize the problems we see in quests for what is ultimately immaterial and unrecoverable, the internal or emotive "meaning" of past ritual.