There is no clear-cut consensus or reliable body of published data in the Andean literature indicating whether llamas were bred and herded on the prehistoric North Coast of Peru or periodically imported from the highlands. Based on four lines of evidence—ethnographic, archaeozoological, physiological, and ethnohistoric—we argue that llamas (and perhaps even alpacas) were successfully bred and maintained on the North Coast from the early Middle Horizon (ca. A.D. 600) and perhaps since the Early Horizon. More specifically, we discuss population structure, representation of body parts, climatic and dietary adaptability, and abundance of coastal forage. Both llamas and alpacas are physiologically well-adapted for the coastal environment and can efficiently process a wide range of forage. By the Middle Horizon, domestic camelids served a wide range of functions including transport, sacrifice, tools, and meat. Species identification, coastal herd management, effects of disease vectors, and other related issues are also discussed.

The microscopic and sequential analysis of an early nineteenth-century American Indian calendar stick documents the notation of a precise, non-arithmetic, observational lunar year of twelve months with the evidence for added, subsidiary months suggesting the use of a thirteenth intercalary month every three years to bring the calendar into phase with the solar tropical year. The calendar stick is the most complex astronomical-calendric, problem-solving device known from the Americas outside of the high Mesoamerican and Andean Civilizations, but it is not derived from these late traditions. The analysis suggests the presence of an underlying observational conceptual base that may have come into the Americas from Asia.

Archaic societies in the American midcontinent tend to be viewed as “archetypal” egalitarian, subsistence-oriented, gatherer–hunters. The strong techno-environmental orientation of most recent studies makes it hard to understand how and why increasingly socially differentiated gatherer-hunter societies emerged during the later Woodland period. In this article I attempt a social perspective on gatherer-hunters in general and those of the Archaic in particular. I suggest that alliance and exchange are universal hominid strategies and that, while they may have ecologically or biologically adaptive features, they are primarily about social relations and social reproduction.

Gatherer-hunter reciprocity has been stressed in the literature, but the opposite side of the coin is debt, and debt is about inequality, however slight or well masked. The internal social feedbacks embedded in alliance and exchange that might exacerbate social differentiation, and the feedback between social demand and productive intensification are explored. The divide between the midcontinental Archaic and Woodland begins to crumble.

Two complementary models illuminate the formation of artifact assemblages at one type of prehistoric hunter-gatherer campsite—the workshop/habitation site. One model posits three successive stages in the activity contributing to the distribution and composition of lithic artifact assemblages. The other describes the formation of assemblages near exterior hearths and similar features. These models are discussed with reference to the Peace Point site, a rapidly buried and deeply stratified workshop/habitation site in northern Alberta. The implications of these models for refining our understanding of formation processes at other types of hunter-gatherer campsites are noted.

After study of the murals recently discovered at Cacaxtla, Tlaxcala, Mexico, I conclude: (1) that the role played by the Late Classic Maya in the central Mexican highlands during the period A.D. 700—900 was much greater than previously assumed; (2) that a post-Teotihuacán art style and mythology was carried into the central Mexican highlands by conquering people from the Gulf Coast lowlands; and (3) that the term “Mexicanized Maya” can be reasonably rendered “Mayanized Mexican,” particularly in the context of later Toltec developments.

Carbon and nitrogen isotope ratios in collagen from bones of individuals who lived in the Tehuacan Valley during the period 8000–1000 years B.P. have been interpreted as indicating earlier use of maize and more utilization of legumes as food sources than is suggested by the occurrence of the remains of these plants in the coprolites and debris excavated along with the bones. Reassessment of the assumptions made in interpreting the bone collagen isotope ratios reduces some but not all of the discrepancy between the isotopic and archaeological reconstructions of diet. The original archaeological reconstruction relied entirely on remains from cave sites, thus introducing seasonal and locational biases into the dietary reconstruction. Using the bone collagen isotope ratios as a guide, we re-interpreted the archaeological data to produce a more complete picture of temporal changes in the overall diet. We suggest that heavy dependence on grains began in the Coxcatlan phase and then may have remained unchanged for the next 5,500–6,500 years. These conclusions, which are based on a relatively small isotopic data base, need to be verified by an extensive program of isotopic analysis of the floral, faunal, and human remains from Tehuacan.

Field surveys of lithic sites in Central Australia and experimental tests of materials from these sites permit evaluation of Binford's (1979) concept of embeddedness. While basically agreeing with Binford's view that raw material procurement by mobile hunter-gatherers occurred incidentally in relation to other subsistence activities, our results indicate that Binford's argument cannot account for patterning in raw material procurement based on the utilitarian properties of the materials themselves. In dealing with questions of raw material procurement, we propose that controlled efforts be made to evaluate the technological characteristics of materials vis-a-vis the mechanical forces involved in their known or presumed uses before assuming the degree to which their procurement was structured by subsistence factors.

Radiocarbon analyses by accelerator mass spectrometric (AMS) techniques on organic fractions of human bone from various North American localities previously assigned ages ranging from about 70,000 to 15,000 years B.P. now suggest that none of these skeletons is older than 11,000 C-14 years B.P.

Information regarding the order of natural disarticulation in a wider variety of ungulate species than previously studied emphasizes the need for caution in claiming that any particular pattern of dismemberment is uniquely distinctive of human activity. However, it also suggests possibly distinctive features of North American Indian butchery practices on prehistoric Bison.

Rapid shoreline regression and transgression along the western Gulf of Maine between 13,000 and 9000 years B.P. are inferred to have produced a nearshore marine environment low in biologic productivity. Paleo-Indians living near the coast of the Gulf were probably forced to rely on nonmarine resources landward of the late-glacial marine limit. Thus, Paleo-Indian sites of the time period in question may be restricted in the region between the marine limit and the postglacial low sea-level stand, or may be altogether absent.

A response is provided to Richard Gould's account of utilitarian variables in hunter-gatherer technology, especially his recent discussions of Binford's Nunamiut data.

Wiessner's analysis of stylistic variation in San arrows entails valuable ethnoarchaeological observation and insight. But her evidence contradicts the iconological theory she imposes upon it, whereby San artisans are thought to purposefully invest their products with ethnic symbolism in order to transmit social information to various target populations. However, an alternative view, according to which the arrows simply exhibit the ethnic style latent in all isochrestic behavior (see Sackett 1982), is consistent both with their formal variation and with the commonplace ethnic symbolism that the San themselves are reported to read into them. This view also provides a more reasonable explanation than does the iconological theory of why stylistic distinctions fail to emerge among San bands engaged in risk-sharing strategies. In any event, isochrestism is the basic source of ethnic style in material culture. Iconicism is a special case and ought not be invoked unless specific expectations are met by the evidence.

Isochrestic behavior as Sackett describes it is recognized to be one of the important sources of variation in material culture. The behavioral bases for isochrestic variation and for what I describe as stylistic variation are contrasted and some of their implications for variation in material culture are discussed. Kalahari San projectile points are then reexamined within the framework of isochrestic and stylistic behavior using both historical and contextual data. It is concluded that variation in San projectile points better fits the expectations of stylistic than isochrestic behavior, at least with our current understanding of isochrestic behavior.

The calculation of populations supported by relic raised fields in Mexico and the role of intensive agriculture by the Classic lowland Maya are clarified.

Acknowledgment is made of Healan's corrections of our previously published paper. Clarification of some of the differences noted is also presented.

Tainter and Lucas (1983) have given us a cogent and useful critique of the “significance concept” that is a fundamental part of historic preservation and “conservation archeology” as practiced in the United States. I have no real disagreement with their arguments or with their conclusions, although I am not sure they can be operationalized.