The western, eastern, and northern limits of the main area of Adena occupation are rather well determined, but the southern limits are less precisely known. Typical Adena Plain sherds and wide, flat-base, stemmed projectile points and other artifacts from village midden material near a low conical mound in southwestern Madison County, Kentucky, indicate that the Adena cultural manifestation, at least in a late phase, extended south of the Kentucky River and about 30 miles farther south than has been previously reported.

During September of 1958 M. B. McKusick and C. N. Warren conducted archaeological excavations on San Clemente Island, California. In 1959 the result of their work was published. They delineate three cultural complexes for the island which are named “Milling Stone,” “Mortar and Pestle,” and “Big Dog.” The data presented by McKusick and Warren are examined and their three cultural complexes are rejected because these complexes are not adequately supported by the data.

The archaeological profession is currently faced with a shortage of trained personnel, primarily field archaeologists with experience in salvage archaeology. A training program is outlined whereby this shortage can be alleviated. The program recommended consists of a series of courses on the undergraduate level which specifically train the student to meet the demands of a professional position in salvage archaeology. It is anticipated that such a program will attract more students to consider archaeology as a career.

The interiors of two large Kentucky caves — Mammoth Cave and nearby Salts Cave, both within Mammoth Cave National Park — were much visited and utilized by prehistoric Indians. Large quantities of artifacts and numerous other evidences of human activity are still present in both caves, especially in undisturbed portions of Salts Cave. Most of the remains comprise perishable materials of vegetable fiber and wood, and plants or plant parts carried into the caves by the aboriginal inhabitants of the region. Several collections of artifacts gathered 40 or 50 years ago from the surface in the Mammoth Cave area have recently been examined by D. W. Schwartz of the University of Kentucky. One such collection hints at a village site of the late Archaic-Early Woodland time range somewhere near the entrance to Salts Cave. In 1961, specimens of the black-brown ceiling and wall deposits which are quite extensive in parts of both Salts and Mammoth caves were collected and analyzed. The deposits were found to be soot, presumably from aboriginal torches and hearths whose remains occur plentifully in some areas of the caves. A sample of soot from Salts Cave was submitted for radiocarbon determination; the resulting date is 3075 ± 140 B.P. Two dates had been previously obtained by the National Park Service from artifacts in Mammoth Cave: 2230 ± 40 B.P. and 2370 ± 60 B.P. These three dates support the suggestion of a late Archaic-Early Woodland placement for the prehistoric activity in Salts and Mammoth caves.

A recently located dugout canoe and a similar specimen reported by Kidd may be distinguished typologically from the few other dugouts known for Ontario, suggesting that they may be of some antiquity.

A cumulative graph which shows percentages of artifact types in assemblages is a useful tool for seriating large numbers of site samples when the chronological order of the appearance of types is known. This type of seriation has a distinct advantage over the bar-graph and Brainerd-Robinson techniques in speed and in the elimination of subjective judgment in ordering the assemblages.

The designation pot-hunter, as used by American archaeologists, is examined with respect to both its provenience in England and its relatively recent reinterpretation in the New World. Rather than being coined in American archaeology to designate “a hunter of pots,” this appellation, with its explicit derogatory connotation, clearly has its roots in various sporting events of 16th-century England. The essence of its meaning, then, does not relate to pots or vessels, per se, but to non-scientific attitudes and behavior toward antiquities. Pot-hunter has been reinterpreted in North America to signify the archaeological vandal or spoiler and, although specific definitions of the term often lack precision, there is a remarkable consensus among North American archaeologists as to its import. The functional utility of pot-hunter, in categorizing a segment of individuals interested in antiquities, is clearly demonstrated by its tenacious persistence in North American archaeology.

Amateur collecting of archaeological specimens is not new, but the great increase in the number of collectors since 1945 introduces a new, quantitative element into the rate of destruction of archaeological resources. The sociological forces operating in our own culture to produce great numbers of amateurs have become a factor for professionals to reckon with in an effort to save valuable sites from complete destruction.

A radiocarbon date of A.D. 398 ± 175 for the Davis site was published in 1951. The material dated was charred corn cobs from a submound house structure. A new radiocarbon date of A.D. 1307 ± 150 on corn cobs from the same structure would seem to be more accurate in view of certain archaeological interpretations and corn typology.

A group of small middens has yielded cultural materials that are characteristic of Cape Cod. A Middle Woodland stage having grit-tempered, dentate- and rocker-stamped pottery, stemmed and side-notched points was followed by a Late Woodland 1 stage using course shell-tempered, straight-sided vessels, and large triangular points. A late Woodland 2, or final, stage had fine shell-tempered, globular pots, to some extent suggestive of late Windsor pottery of the coastal section west of Cape Cod.

A revision of Great Lakes geologic history involving the temporal position of Glacial Lake Algonquin and some post-Algonquin lake stages requires corresponding revision of certain archaeological interpretations. Indications are that the Paleo-Indian occupations of the upper Great Lakes area are somewhat earlier than heretofore supposed.

Experimental work has demonstrated the practicality of extracting sufficient organic carbon for Carbon 14 dating from sherds tempered with crushed charcoal sponge spicules (cauixi), and siliceous bark (cariapé). The sherds were from ceramic complexes on the Napo, Orinoco, and Amazon Rivers that had been stratigraphically excavated and could be cross-checked.

Two carved stones depicting human heads are currently to be found at Huaylas in the Callejon de Huaylas, Peru. They represent a style so far unreported from the Callejon. The closest stylistic similarities are to be found in the Chavin style and in the unique monoliths at Cerro Sechin Temple in the Casma Valley.

Gunnerson's postulated reconstruction of Plateau Shoshonean prehistory, based on linguistic data and geographic correlations of prehistoric and historic groups, is questioned on the basis of archaeological evidence, which indicates that a complete replacement of the prehistoric culture pattern took place in the 1100's in the Virgin River area of Nevada.

A small bifacial foliate from the Solutrean of France suggests that fluted points, whether made accidentally or otherwise, may occur occasionally in the Old World. However, there seems to be no historic relationship with those of the New World.

The precise definition of “floor” as a building unit involving a lime aggregate or mortar (usually called fill) covered by a plaster (usually what is called the floor) the surface of which is treated by a wash coat makes possible detailed study of techniques of floor construction and the correlation of these with various cultural changes. A preliminary study of floors in Structures A–V, A–XVIII, B–XII at Uaxactún indicates that (1) floors improved in quality from Chicanel to Tepeu times, (2) post-Chicanel plasters were treated with a wash coat, especially the painted ones, and (3) the use of many small chips in Tzakol and Tepeu plasters implies extensive stone carving, because it is unlikely that stone would have been broken into such small pieces just for floor construction.

At variance with published opinion, worked flint sometimes shows pressure-flake scars two inches long, multiple eraillures, and hinge fractures curving as much as 180 degrees.