Hunter-gatherer subsistence-settlement strategies are discussed in terms of differing organizational components, "mapping-on" and "logistics," and the consequences of each for archaeological intersite variability are discussed. It is further suggested that the differing strategies are responsive to different security problems presented by the environments in which hunter-gatherers live. Therefore, given the beginnings of a theory of adaptation, it is possible to anticipate both differences in settlement-subsistence strategies and patterning in the archaeological record through a more detailed knowledge of the distribution of environmental variables.

Galena artifacts from Middle Woodland Copena burial mounds have been analyzed by means of atomic absorption spectrophotometry in order to determine their trace element compositions. These results are compared to trace element characteristics of galena sources in eastern North America. Analysis to date suggests the Upper Mississippi Valley galena district as the source for these artifacts. Implications concerning Middle Woodland exchange systems are also offered.

An Epiclassic period (ca. A.D. 800-1000) Mexican-influenced archaeological pattern is delineated for the Río Negro and Río Motagua basins, the two principal arteries of highland Guatemala, which flow to the Gulf and Caribbean lowlands. This pattern is argued to have originated along the Mexican-Mayan cultural frontier of the Gulf coast. A subsequent Toltec pattern in these same river basins parallels Chichén Itzá and Mayapán and also can be seen to have originated in the same general Gulf lowlands. Such Mexican/Toltec patterns in archaeology show that ethnohistorical claims by the later Quiche and Cakchiquel peoples for having introduced Toltec cultural forms into the highlands actually predate their stated migratory movement and a threshold of "history" (A.D. 1200s) by centuries.

A permutation test for assessing intrasite patterning of artifact distributions in archaeological space is presented. This test requires none of the usual assumptions about the data; permits either exact locational or counts/grid data in one-, two-, or three-dimensional space; and provides an exact method for testing any hypothesis concerning the nonrandom allocation of artifacts into classes within a site.

It is shown that by means of an X-ray diffractometer that in bone diaphyses of dog (Canis familiaris L.), wolf (Canis lupus L.), ox (Bos taurus L.), aurochs (Bos primigenius Boj.), domestic pig (Sus domesticus L.), and wild boar (Sus scrofa L.), the hydroxyapatite crystals are in all probability oriented with the basal pinacoid (002) at right angles to the long axes of the bones, although in some areas of the distal epihyses they parallel the long axes of the bones. No difference is found in the orientation of the crystals either between domestic and wild animals or between carnivores, ruminants and omnivores.

The origin and dating of the bow and arrow in the Great Basin has been a key issue in a recent debate concerning a cultural hiatus between Archaic and Fremont. New stratigraphic and chronometric data from Dry Creek Rockshelter are presented to support previous evidence for an Archaic rather than a Fremont origin for this new weapon.

Rock clusters are among the most ubiquitous features found in prehistoric sites and, at the same time, those receiving the most casual treatment. There are at least twelve attributes that all such clusters share, including depth, dimensions, shape, density, rock size, fill, placement, and association. The differences between one cluster and the next can be explained in terms of different uses or functions, different types of sites, different groups (geographically or temporally), or differential availability of resources and/or preferential collection. Despite the wealth of information potentially attainable from these features, a literature search reveals that very few archaeologists deal with more than just a few of these attributes. The argument is made that such neglect ought to be corrected.

Recent ethnohistorical investigations by the authors as part of a larger research effort focusing on Highland Maya ethnohistory have produced information on settlement patterns and subsistence activities for the Maya of the Alta Verapaz region. The environmentally transitional nature of this area—from tropical highlands to lowlands—makes this information of potential interest to Mayanists concerned with lowland civilization. Parallel subsistence activities known ethnographically from the present-day Itza of the Peten strengthens the applicability of this ethnohistorical information.

Counts of mosaic facade elements, doors, steps, and colonnettes of the East, West, and North Buildings of the Nunnery Quadrangle at the Maya site of Uxmal suggest that these features, taken together, preserve knowledge of eight facts about the sun, moon, and Venus: the moon's synodic period is 29.53 + days; the lunar sidereal period lasts nearly 27.33 days; the Venus synodic mean is almost 584 days; the observed Venus synodic can vary between 581 and 587 days; any five consecutive Venus synodics equal or come to within one day of eight vague years of 365 days each; one sun-moon correlation has five short years and three long ones together equal to eight vague years or eight true solar years or 99 lunations; the Venus sidereal period is nearly 224 days long; and, finally, 13 Venus sidereals virtually equal five Venus synodics. Cheek glyphs, flanking birdserpents, and plumed-snake headbands all suggest that most of the masks on the East Building, West Building, and Governor's Palace represent not Chac but Kukulcan-Venus. It is therefore suggested that at least some Pure Florescent facades contain astronomical, calendrical, and ritual information, not just attractively arranged mosaic stones, and that other features, such as doors, steps, and colonnettes, should also be considered as potentially informative.

A detailed and critical review of the literature pertaining to Maya Blue led to the conclusion that the presence of indigo as an integral component of the pigment has not, as yet, been established by acceptable scientific criteria. A Maya Blue was prepared from indigo and attapulgite which had all the observed properties of the authentic pigment. Although the experiments performed in the present study can hardly be called scientific proof of the composition of the prehistoric material, they strongly suggest that the colorant was indigo, at least in one type of Maya Blue.

The strong emphasis usually placed upon the identification of attapulgite as the base mineral of Maya Blue seems to be an exercise in the use of identification equipment. The question of whether attapulgite, a clay of variable composition and available from widely separated sources, is the base of Maya Blue is immaterial. It appears that any clay containing palygorskite, sepiolite, montmorillonite, or possibly other minerals free of plate-like crystal structures can be converted to a Maya Blue pigment with all the observed chemical and physical properties of the authentic material.

The present experimental work and some reported observations regarding variations in shade and color of Maya Blue specimens suggest there may be more than one pigment so designated and that a blue mont-morillonite is one of the alternatives to an indigo-colored clay for post-firing decoration of pottery and mural painting.

The technical studies which form the basis for some of the conclusions reached will be found in the appendix to this report.

From 1973 to 1974, investigations were carried out at a series of Initial Period and Early Horizon sites known as the Caballo Muerto complex, located in the Moche Valley on the North Coast of Peru. One site, Huaca de los Reyes, contains numerous adobe friezes that are noted both for their wide variety and early date. The amount of labor investment and the degree of architectural planning of the site strongly imply ranked societal divisions of the people responsible for its construction. Differential frieze distribution also supports this contention.

Gravel, bone, carbonized seeds, and charcoal recovered from a 2,000 year old cereal pit were successfully separated by chemical flotation. Specific gravities of each material were determined experimentally, and then for each pair of materials to be separated (e.g., bone from gravel, seeds from charcoal), a solution with a specific gravity intermediate between those of the two materials was used for flotation. Optimal sample sizes and possible sources of error are discussed, as are criteria for selection of solutions. A procedure for evaluating the effect of solutions and flotation practices on test seeds is also presented.

The process of evaluating archaeological significance is dynamic and constantly changing. Factors affecting the significance evaluation process are considered, and an example of how the evaluation of significance at a central Texas rockshelter has changed over the last thirty years is offered.

The concept of a disembedded capital is viewed as a specious construct. The logical foundations of disembeddedness of political authority from local commerical hierarchies are viewed as largely untenable, at least in prehispanic Mesoamerica, and the close parallels between Monte Albán and Teotihuacán in terms of general site location, access to prime agricultural land, level of craft specialization required to meet local needs, and local market patterns suggest that both sites had similar roles with respect to local central-place support hierarchies. An alternative evolutionary model is then offered, one which relates developments manifest in the Basin of Mexico and in the Valley of Oaxaca to an economic and political strategy which seeks to minimize labor input and amount of systemic risk.

This is a response to Santley's criticisms of my suggestions concerning Monte Albán, the ancient Zapotec capital. It consists of first questioning his cultural ecological theoretical base, then showing that his interpretation of the nature of Monte Albán and its hinterland is faulty.

The implications of speculative "population pressure" models are checked against the archaeological record in the Valley of Oaxaca, Mexico, by means of a detailed comparison of maize potentials and ancient populations, as both change over time. There is virtually no fit. Santley's evolutionary model, inasmuch as it is operationalizable, should therefore be drastically rethought.

Bray's interpretation of an eighteenth century reference to a lithic implement in Guatemala as describing a fluted projectile point is challenged on the grounds that semantic variations of the translation may well fit the attributes of a late period-style obsidian prismatic blade. Problems in distinguishing between genuinely fluted points and "pseudofluted" points are also noted. The possibility of widespread pseudofluted points in Central and South America raises questions of their relationship to North American paleo-Indian industries.

Contrary to Rovner's assertion, an account by Francisco Ximénez in 1772 most probably refers to a fluted point, though other interpretations are possible. Surface finds admittedly have limitations, and it is possible that some individual specimens were made on flakes or blades rather than prepared blanks; nevertheless there seems to be a relationship between Isthmian points and paleo-Indian forms from North and South America.