Illicit excavation of archaeological materials for sale to collectors and museums is widespread and damaging. Details on the scale of this activity in Costa Rica are discussed, as well as various ways in which it affects the economy and life-style of the contemporary population.

A statistical procedure for the analysis of patterns of spatial distribution of artifacts over occupation areas is outlined. This procedure envisions 3 steps: the testing for non-randomness of spatial concentrations in the distribution of each class of artifacts, the reorganization of the data so as to best reflect such concentrations in the analysis of intercorrelation among those artifact classes which exhibit significant spatial patterning, and finally the analysis of spatial intercorrelations among these artifact classes and the definition of clusters of classes of artifacts based on their similarity of distribution over the area concerned. A new statistical method called dimensional analysis of variance is presented as a method with which to begin this series of steps. Dimensional analysis of variance works with data in the form of counts per grid unit, thus making it applicable in many archaeological situations for which no other statistical methods are available for spatial analysis. The procedure of spatial analysis, based on dimensional analysis of variance, is illustrated with the analysis of a preceramic occupation floor in a small cave in the valley of Oaxaca, Mexico.

This paper examines the spatial distribution of prehistoric Maya sites in Corozal District, northern British Honduras (Belize). Central to the analysis is the proposition that sites were located so as to minimize the effort expended in acquiring critical resources. The method is to isolate characteristics of the environment and to test their correlation with settlement distribution. The analysis includes both bivariate and multivariate tests. By using both kinds of tests, it is possible to suggest not only which characteristics were relevant to the selection of a location for settlement but also the relative importance of these characteristics. The analysis indicates that variables of soil, vegetation, and distance from navigable water are significantly associated with settlement. Also, the analysis brings out the phenomenon of settlement clusterings as it occurs in this region.

Two hitherto unrelated Teotihuacan mural paintings, no longer in situ, probably are companion pieces from upper and lower walls in the same portico or room or in related porticos or rooms of the same compound. The tassel headdresses worn by the figures in the paintings appear to be insignia of "Rain God"-related social units or institutions, signifying leadership and authority, with military associations. The contexts in which the tassel headdresses occur, both within the ancient city and outside its borders, suggest that persons with rights to the headdress may have been members of or attached to the ruling establishment or the bureaucracy of the Teotihuacan state. The unique two-part notation on the upper wall painting appears to be hierarchically ordered, corresponding to a ranking either of the social units to which the figures belong, or of institutions which they represent, or of places associated with them.

The pillaging of archaeological sites throughout the world for salable items is increasing at an alarming rate. Recent information on looting in Mesoamerica, North America, and the Mediterranean area is summarized, and the weaknesses of the UNESCO and U.S.-Mexico treaties are outlined. Also described is a new and extremely destructive form of looting in Mesoamerica. It involves amassing many thousands of dollars from private investors for a project to decimate a chosen site, using explosives and power equipment, and then subdividing the loot among the sponsors. It is time for the SAA to act to stop the wanton destruction of the prehistoric record.

Maps showing the locations of end-scrapers, carinated scrapers, and burins at the Sde Divshon site of the Avdat area are examined by statistical tests for evidence of spatial association in the co-occurrences of pairs of tool types. Contingency table and contiguity ratio tests do not detect the presence of spatial association. Substantial detail is provided on the application of these tests.

Iron fragments located during 1969 by the Northwest Hudson Bay Thule Project at the Thuleage site of Silumiut have been subjected to spectrographic, microscopic, microprobe, and neutron activation analyses to determine their origin. Both meteoritic and terrestrial iron are represented and are presumed to have been traded from north-western Greenland. Meteoritic iron is widely spread around Melville Bay, and Norse iron was available from the same area by at least the twelfth century A.D. Norse iron from the Silumiut site is the most southerly known and the earliest radiocarbon dated in the central area. This iron and that from Naujan, Repulse Bay, indicate that native and European metal was an integral, albeit low frequency, part of the central Eskimo tool kit at least 400 yr before Hudson"s discovery of his bay.

This is a preliminary report on a quantitative method for grouping prehistoric pottery using x-ray diffraction techniques. Of the various analytical methods that have been applied to the analysis of pottery, x-ray diffraction techniques have been among the least used, and then usually to obtain qualitative information. Most analytic methods measure the relative abundance of chemical elements, but diffraction patterns give information on the crystalline substances in the pottery. In this study, attention is directed to the crystalline components of the temper rather than the clays or their derivatives. The method groups pottery according to the relative concentrations of such minerals as quartz, calcite, and the feldspars. Thus, success depends on reasonable consistency in the use of tempering materials by pottery makers at one time and place. I have examined a number of sherds from different sites in Iowa and Missouri supplied by Dale R. Henning, University of Nebraska. The results so far indicate that it is possible to group prehistoric pottery by a quantitative analysis of the x-ray diffraction pattern of the temper in the pottery.

The potential contributions which imitative experiments can make to archaeology are far greater in scope, complexity, and overall "value" than is commonly realized. A sketch of some of these potential contributions is given and, in support of the claims advanced, a method of measuring the efficiency of hand operated implements is described and then applied in a comparison of different agricultural practices. The results show that experiments can provide important data unobtainable by traditional research methods and aid in the analysis of past subsistence and technological systems.

Kautz has criticized the author's "oversimplified" use of ethnological models in the interpretation of data from a salvaged California cemetery. The author argues that this criticism reflects a misunderstanding of the uses to which archaeological data and models drawn from outside archaeology can appropriately be put.

Archaeologists rely upon the sherd count to quantify creamic data. A simple method for counting rim sherds uses the percentage of a vessel's orifice represented by each sherd. This technique can be used to estimate the minimum number of vessels represented by the sherds in any specific category.