A cylinder seal, apparently from the Olmec occupation at Tlatilco, is inscribed with what may be the oldest writing known from Mesoamerica. The writing system is unlike any previously known and is typologically more advanced than other Mesoamerican systems.

Ellis’ first major criticism, that local variations on the regional precipitation patterns were ignored, is considered irrelevant, because of the local, random, and short-term nature of these variations and the essential homogeneity of the climate of the Plateau area. Ellis’ second criticism, that the regional differences in climate between the Plateau area and the Rio Grande region were not taken into account, is considered to have more relevance. These differences could conceivably account for a movement between a desiccated Mesa Verde and a little-affected Rio Grande, but precipitation at Mesa Verde would have to be considerably more than halved for this regional differential to be of importance. Regional climatic differences cannot explain population shifts within the relatively homogeneous Plateau region. Hack's theory of arroyo-cutting accompanying droughts as the direct cause of migrations is inadequate because a number of areas were manifestly unaffected by arroyo-cutting, and there is evidence to suggest that arroyo-cutting is not genetically associated with drought periods as minor as that of A.D. 1276–1299. Certain misquotations in Ellis' note are also corrected, as is a misrepresentation in Jett's article.

Recently, four burins have been found at three sites near Catahoula Lake in southern LaSalle Parish, Louisiana. Burin types present include the polyhedral-dihedral burin, dihedral-angle burin, and a burin on a break. These burins are different in form and in associations from burins from Texas. They appear to be associated with Archaic Period material.

A crude stone point from a gravel pit near Wichita Falls, Texas, is tentatively associated with a Wisconsin vertebrate fauna from the same locality on the basis of adhering cemented sand.

Davis has theorized that Paiute raids on the western peripheries of the Pueblo region caused withdrawals toward the central Anasazi areas, which in turn forced the Anasazi, who were also troubled by drought, to retreat eastward. Paiutes could have contributed to Puebloan migrations, but the evidence for movements toward the east is inconclusive. Contrary evidence, such as late Mesa Verde migrations to the south and west, the sequence of abandonments of Anasazi centers from east to west, and the probability that the Anasazi area was never populated to capacity argues against this theory.

A well-made Clovis point, found in October, 1964, in central Utah, is the first unequivocal specimen of this type reported from Utah.

The marks of Dutch pipemakers, unlike those of their English counterparts, could be passed from maker to maker in a variety of ways and thus occur or recur over a considerable length of time. Here the author describes a mark at present being used by a Dutch firm of pipemakers which has recently also been found in a mideighteenth century context in a colonial French site in Nova Scotia, Canada.

In 1964, a conference of American and French prehistorians explored the techniques of manufacture of chipped-stone artifacts. The conference was held at Les Eyzies, France, and included sessions in which implements were manufactured and discussion sessions in which artifact collections were evaluated in terms of observable evidences of manufacturing technique.

A quartzite cobble, excavated from a Late Prehistoric site on the Roanoke River, bears pecked designs on its two flat faces. These designs are circles with radiating grooves that extend to the edges of the stone. Information is requested on similar stones found elsewhere.