Kinship theory is argued to be an important aspect of social dynamics in past societies. However, archaeological critiques of kinship have suggested that descent and residence models are ideological constructs not associated with socioeconomic behavior, that social anthropologists believe normative kinship rules are rarely practiced, and that the models are biased by Western assumptions of biological relatedness. These critiques ignore the past several decades of kinship research. A review of kinship theory demonstrates sophisticated holistic approaches to socioeconomic behavior and ideology that are not based on biological assumptions, and that historic and ongoing social disruptions and political economic transformations have significantly altered kinship behavior. Furthermore, empirical data demonstrate adherence to kinship rules prior to historic transformations. The fact that kinship changes is argued to be the source of confusion leading to the critiques in archaeological literature but is also argued to present an opportunity for archaeologists to explain social transformations in the deep past.

It has been proposed that Paleolithic studies should abandon their focus on groups and turn instead to the individual. If individuals are to emerge from the lithics-dominated Middle Paleolithic record, the best chance of success is to identify the products of learner knappers from those of their mentors. To do so we need a framework of knapping standards by which to measure Middle Paleolithic skill level. Selected measurements on a sequence of 100 subcircular Levallois tortoise core reductions by a knapper of intermediate skill were compared with 25 reductions by his highly experienced instructor. Four measures emerge as potential markers of skill level: total stone consumption during initial core preparation, consumption from the upper and lower core surface, symmetry of the first detached Levallois flake, and failure rate of that detachment by overshooting the core's rim. These markers allow us to discriminate between the work of a modern learner and his mentor, but > 30 percent were misclassified. The learning trajectory is more complex than the mere honing of skills through practice and is punctuated by increasing numbers of mentor-like reductions. It follows that skill-level measures on their own are imperfect discriminators. Personal markers other than those of skill level must be found by which to seek individuals in the Middle Paleolithic record.

This study describes the symmetrical structure of hatched patterns in two ceramic types, Gallup Black-on-white and Chaco Black-on-white, made and used during the heyday of the Chaco network, A. D. 1050-1150. This design system represents a discontinuity in pattern, pattern formation, and structural symmetry from the previous decorative styles in the region. It consists of a limited repertoire of patterns formed by the continuous-line construction technique organized by a limited number of two-dimensional symmetries. These patterns are repeatedly painted on three specific vessel forms found especially in burials and storage rooms at Pueblo Bonito. Identical patterns from this Bonito repertoire are found at other great houses and small sites in great house communities throughout the San Juan Basin. The widespread distribution of this uniform design system is new evidence for the existence of institutionalized sociopolitical ties between Pueblo Bonito and the other great houses and small sites in the Chaco network. The implications of the homogeneous nature of this system and its sudden appearance without precedent will be addressed.

Archaeological models of Clovis adaptations are divided between those that argue for a single hunting adaptation characterized by high residential mobility without fixed territories and those that argue for a diversity of environment-specific adaptations and settlement systems. The Dietz site (35LK1529), the largest Clovis site in the Pacific Northwest, is composed of many overlapping, spatially coherent artifact clusters from which 75 whole and fragmentary fluted points have been recovered. The artifact assemblage is inconsistent with use of the site as a kill, camp, or quarry site. Geoarchaeological data show that the site area during the Clovis occupation was a sparsely vegetated, seasonal playa that is unlikely to have supported large herds of game animals. However, the site sits astride what was probably a major transportation corridor linking highly productive ecosystems in the adjoining basins, and Clovis foragers appear to have camped at Dietz repeatedly while traveling between these nearby basins. The systematic and redundant use of a geographically small landscape by Clovis foragers is inconsistent with expectations based on a model of residentially mobile foragers occupying new territories.

Two of the most salient anthropological questions regarding southeastern shell ring sites are related to the season(s) that they were occupied and whether or not the deposits represent monumental constructions and/or feasting remains. This paper addresses these questions through the analysis of growth band of clams (Mercenaria spp.) (N = 620) and stable oxygen isotope ratios of clam and oyster shells (Crassostrea virginica) (N = 58) at the Sapelo Island Shell Ring complex located on the Georgia coast, USA. The season of death and the samples' position in the shell matrix at Sapelo provide important information on the rate of shell deposition and the season(s) the site was occupied. These data support the view that at least some portion of the human population at Sapelo occupied the site year-round. Additionally, while it appears that two shell rings at the site formed through the gradual deposition and accumulation of daily subsistence, other areas evidence short term, large-scale, shellfish processing and may lend credence to the view that at some point shell rings become monuments, commemorating rituals and gatherings.

Large effigy pipes made of limestone are found at Mississippian sites across much of the American South. Here we examine a sample of these pipes with the goal of identifying their geological sources, which are inferred from the fossils visible in the rock. All but one of the pipes in our sample are made of Glendon limestone, a distinctive material that outcrops most abundantly near Vicksburg, Mississippi. Based on the geological and distributional evidence, we argue that these Glendon limestone pipes were crafted in the Lower Mississippi Valley. Our study also demonstrates the efficacy of using fossils as a nondestructive way of determining the provenance of limestone artifacts.

This paper presents the results of a gradiometer survey conducted on the summit of Etowah's largest mound, Mound A, which stands some 19 m tall. Those results are compared to limited excavation data from the summit of Mound A as well as information from the wider region on mound summit architecture. The gradiometer results reveal the presence of as many as four buildings and an open-ended portico that are arranged around an open space and obscured from view below in the plaza. We argue that decisions about the kinds of buildings constructed and their arrangement reveal the interplay between agency and structure at a point of ambiguity in the history of Etowah. The buildings located on the summit of Mound A were built after the site had been abandoned and reoccupied. With that reoccupation, agents and their followers both connected to local traditions and attempted to reformulate them.

Using x-ray fluorescence (XRF) analysis from nearly 2,300 sourced obsidian artifacts in western Wyoming, southwestern Montana, and eastern Idaho, we demonstrate regional diachronic changes in access to and preference for particular obsidian sources throughout the West. We focus on both (I) long-term patterns of obsidian use that may inform us about the timing of precontact migrations of Numic (Shoshone) speakers into the Rocky Mountains and (2) the extent to which later contact among Native inhabitants and European immigrants was a mechanism for reducing elements of precontact mobility and exchange in the postcontact era. We view indigenous responses to contact in the study area as an active, strategic process with measurable material consequences. Despite a well-documented increase in mobility among local Native groups as a result of the introduction of the horse, our study demonstrates a restriction and reduction in Historic period source use in western Wyoming. We propose that changes in obsidian source use are a reflection of ethnogenesis and development of ethnographic bands as a response to culture contact among indigenous inhabitants and with Europeans.