A dead trunk, seasoned hard, is extremely resistant to the blows of a stone axe and fairly unyielding to a keen axe of steel. A high percentage of wood specimens from ruins in the Southwestern United States which furnish outer ring dates before A.D. 600, are parts of trees that were dead before they were felled; they are often weathered, and sometimes show signs of having been attacked by secondary insect pests.

In a prior paper I have described, from central New York, an archaeological instance of probable bear ceremonialism in the Owasco culture. A recent find in western New York, although of somewhat dissimilar character, strengthens the probability of the existence prehistorically in New York of a special and reverential attitude toward the bear, this time apparently among an Iroquois people. Briefly, the nature and circumstances of the new discovery are as follows.

The new age-dating method based on the radioactive carbon isotope C14 is now turning out absolute dates and promises to reorganize the chronological framework of American archaeology. The results demonstrate that conventional methods of determining relative and absolute age are often uncertain, and that a much more exact technique can in most cases be substituted for the type seriation of archaeology.

Of course the new technique still has its shortcomings, but that does not basically affect the argument. C14 agedating represents the first clear step towards making archaeology an exact science. As a result, a reorientation of the central emphasis in archaeology must sooner or later take place.

Actually, this situation makes it possible for the archaeologist to go one step further in his interpretation than has generally been the case till now. The temporal framework will soon be established with reasonable security, and when a fertile approach to the subject matter is adopted, generalizations of value to all in anthropology should be forthcoming.

In the January, 1949 number of American Antiquity T. L. Smiley presents a concise description of an early eighth century pithouse at Mesa Verde. He notes the occurrence of a similar pithouse excavated by Brew at Alkali Ridge in southeastern Utah, and a second similar structure described by Morris from the La Plata area. The purpose of this note is to broaden the comparative picture by indicating a third pithouse even more closely resembling the Mesa Verde one. This is Pithouse G, Site , excavated by Martin in 1938 in the Ackmen-Lowry area in southwestern Colorado, not far from Mesa Verde. The Ackmen-Lowry pithouse is nearly identical with the one described by Smiley. Tree-ring dates from the former structure range from A.D. 736 to 768, which make it some 60 years later than the Mesa Verde pithouse, though in the same Basket Maker III period.

In his recently published paper on “The Archaeology of Central California I: The Early Horizon” Robert F. Heizer writes “it is possible to anticipate at least in the later Southwestern horizons, for which we have dendrochronologic dates, a direct cross-chronology between the Southwest and California in terms of actual year dates.“

Fourteen Californian shell types from Anasazi sites, ranging from Basketmaker II to Pueblo IV, have been listed. Nine of these fourteen types come from Basketmaker III sites, one also from Basketmaker II, indicating that they were already being made in California contemporaneously and probably considerably earlier. These Basketmaker examples thus establish a minimum dating for the types in California.

In a recent paper Arden R. King notes that the occurrence of tripod vessels in pre-Expansionist Central Andean periods has not yet been definitely established. The Columbia University Virú Valley collection, however, contains two examples of conical legs belonging to the type Castillo, White, Red, Orange. This pottery type has a Middle Gallinazo distribution.

The two specimens are fragmentary; i.e., only the legs themselves rather than the whole vessel have been preserved. They are probably from tripod vessels. The scarcity of the tetrapod form in the Central Andes greatly reduces the possibility that the legs could be from tetrapod vessels.

The legs are hollow and pointed-conical in shape. The one whole specimen is 6.6 cm. high and is 5.5 cm. at the widest part across the top. I t then tapers to a point at the bottom. Both legs are straight walled, not bulging or rounded.

Clam shells, particularly species of Elliptio, considerably worn from use, were found by the late W. J. Wintemberg in a number of comparatively recent archaeological sites in Ontario, such as Roebuck, Lawson, Uren, and Sidey-Mackay. He suggested that some of these had been used as knives, as scrapers, and as tools for shaping pottery vessels.

Among the specimens collected were several which showed attrition in the middle of the longer side, as shown in Figure 26. Wintemberg was apparently unable to suggest to what use these might have been put.

The following extract from Memoirs of Odd Adventures, Strange Deliverances, etc. in the Captivity of John Giles,Esq.…may afford an explanation: “To dry corn when in the milk, they gather it in large kettles and boil it on the ears, till it is pretty hard, then shell it from the cob with clam-shells, and dry it on bark in the sun.“

Despite the remarkable progress manifest in the archaeology of the Southeast, there remains an appreciable gap in our historical perspective between ethnological horizons and late period archaeological material. Pottery is one highly important time-indicator that persisted into historic times, yet for one of the major Southeastern tribes— the Creeks—pottery in ethnological museum collections is rare. For this reason, the authors here describe the single Creek pot in the Southeastern ethnological collection of the Chicago Natural History Museum. To our knowledge, this piece of pottery has not been described in print before.

The specimen shown in Figures 82 and 83 was received by the museum from the Department of Ethnology, World's Columbian Exposition in 1893. I t forms part of a small accession of ethnological material collected among the Creeks in 1892 by George T. Shurtleff in, or in the immediate vicinity of, Muskogee, Creek Nation, Indian Territory. Although the documentation is scanty, the writers believe that the pot is of bona fide Creek manufacture.

In view of the vast number of spurious glass artifacts known, it is of interest to note a genuine example which came to light recently in excavations in Florida.

The scraper illustrated with this note (Fig. 27) is made of heavy green glass, and is a perfectly good aboriginal piece in form and workmanship. The length is 57 mm., the width 36 mm. The greatest thickness, 11 mm., lies near the steep nose at a point where original surfaces are present on both bottom and top. Undoubtedly, the material was derived from a heavy green glass bottle.

The artifact was found in test excavations at the site of San Luis de Talimali, several miles west of the city of Tallahassee, Florida. San Luis was the major Spanish settlement in the Apalachee area during the seventeenth century, and at the time of its abandonment and destruction in 1704 consisted of a fort and blockhouse, a mission, and a number of dwellings inhabited by both Spaniards and Indians.

Dr. K. A. Nowotny's note on the Xolotl figure in the Museum für Völkerkunde, Vienna raises some points of general interest. First, Xolotl is mentioned as related to Quetzalcoatl in a rather obscure way in the Codex Magliabecciano.

The writer, talking of Quetzalcoatl says: “este dizen que fue hijo de otro dios que llaman mictlan tecutli, que es sefior del lugar delos muertos. y es de otro ydolo que llaman xulutl que quiere dezir un modo de pan que ellos tienen hecho de bledos y mahiz.” In all the codices which contain the tonalpouhualli, Xolotl is given as Lord of the thirteen day period Ce Cozcaquahtli, associated with the sign of the setting sun entering the jaws of the earth. In Borbonicus, p. 26, one sees an excellent representation of Xolotl and Quetzalcoatl facing one another at a dance of the priests. In the mythological sections of Borgia, Quetzalcoatl is shown as a pair of beings descending through creation.

The hills of the barrio of Yaguajay in the municipality of Banes, Cuba have yielded a number of rich finds of archaeological material. To these was added in 1948 a gold figurine, which is of importance as the first such specimen to be reported from the Antilles.

The figurine measures 48 mm. in height, weighs 14.1 grams, and has been cast from 10-carat gold (Fig.111 , left.) It portrays a naked woman, standing and holding a small vessel at the height of the stomach. The head is adorned with three stylized tufts of feathers, and two disks project from the ears in the form of shell helices. The face, nose, eyes, and mouth are very similar to those of the clay, shell, bone, and stone figures of the Banes region (e.g., Fig.111 ,right). The two breasts stand out from the body and the legs are in the form of nodules; although provided with feet, they lack toes.

The spread of the Headwaters Lakes Aspect in a northwesterly direction through Manitoba, has been the subject of previous comment by the senior author. The manifestations of the aspect in this area, have a marked resemblance to the Black Duck Focus, and have been defined as the Manitoba Focus.

The factual data upon which this conclusion is based are derived from three controlled excavations in Manitoba. Hecker and Hlady excavated the Lockport site, north of the city of Winnipeg, in August, 1947. Hecker reports the presence of sherds that show a “close relationship” to the Black Duck Focus. During 1947 and 1948 the junior author conducted excavations on the Scott site near Brandon, Manitoba. This site is located on the S.W. Sec. 35, T. 10, R. 20, W. 1, and has yielded a good collection of Manitoba Focus sherds, with an associated artifact complex that closely corresponds to that outlined by Wilford for the Headwaters Lakes Aspect.

As a supplement to the recent review of H. V. Walter's book, The Prehistory of the Lagôa Santa Region, some additional information about the nature of his recent archaeological work is of interest. After the completion of our own year of archaeological field work in the Lower Amazon, three days were spent in the Lagôa Santa Region, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais with Mr. H. V. Walter studying his collections, and visiting and excavating with him some of the rock shelters and caves. Two sites, not mentioned in his report, are of such archaeological importance in the preceramic cultural history of South America that they should be brought to the attention of other archaeologists.

By way of introduction, it should be stated that Mr. Walter, the British Vice-Consul in Belo Horizonte, is primarily interested in paleontological data, a quest which for fifteen years has led him to extensive exploration at his own cost in the caves in and around the Lagôa Santa region.

Heavy and frequent rainfall is a serious obstacle to archaeological work on the North Pacific Coast. Exposure to many days and perhaps weeks of rain may impair the health of the field party and will inevitably dampen the morale of individual members. Rain causes delays, makes the midden material soggy and difficult to work, may collapse the trench walls, and brings numerous other major and minor headaches in its wake.

Last spring a group of anthropology students from the University of British Columbia, working under my direction at a site in the Vancouver area, tested the practicability of a simple shelter, designed to give adequate protection during wet weather and to admit sufficient light for all operations.

Among the Mexican antiquities in the Ethnographical Museum in Vienna dating from the time of the Conquest is a small wooden figure bearing the accession number 12,585. Though this object has received cursory attention in previous publications, it has never been fully described. Because of its unique design and the unusual complexity of its structure, the piece merits a full technical description.

In 1881 this figure was transferred from the then ”Imperial Cabinet of Coins and Antiquities“ to the then Anthropological- Ethnographical Division of the Imperial Museum of Natural History, which later became the present Ethnographical Museum (Museum für Volkerkunde). According to information supplied by Professor F. Eichler, Director of the Division of Antiquities in the Museum of Art, the object cannot be traced back farther than its entry under the number XIII/47 in the fifth volume of the ”New Inventory“ of the Cabinet of Coins and Antiquities. It is not known from what earlier collection it entered the “Cabinet.“ Possibly it came from the Imperial Treasure (Schatzkammer).

While the stone collars of Puerto Rico are well known none has been reported of other materials. The writer, however, has in his collection a collar of shell in the shape of a slender stone collar. I t has been made out of the top portion of one of the so-called giant conch shells, so common in this island. The shell is of the same kind as those from which shell cups were constructed.

The specimen measures 7¼ inches in height and 5¼ inches in its greater width. Its thickness varies from 1 inch to nearly ¼ inch, being thicker at the junction of the shoulder and the decorated panel, where the arch is almost round. It is pear-shaped in its general outline, with the central opening, also of pear shape, surrounded by an almost flat band, an inch wide, which forms the shoulder and the decorated and undecorated panels above it (Fig. 53).

The prehistory of northwestern California is yet largely unknown. Any information on archaeological types is therefore of interest. The following note constitutes the description of a unique flat steatite slab upon one of whose surfaces drilled conical pits and holes, together with some incised lines, occur (Fig. 85).

Steatite was locally abundant. Numerous outcrops were worked anciently as evidenced by the large number of prehistoric objects made of this material. Modern Indians know the location of some of these outcrops, and describe the methods of extracting the stone from the mass.1 For the most part steatite was employed in making grease dishes and bowls.

The specimen described here is in the private collection of Dr. H. H. Stuart of Eureka, and was recovered by him many years ago from the surface of the site of the village of Tsapekw which lies toward the northern end of Stone Lagoon on the ocean shore of Humboldt County.

A new material trait of the Adena Aspect has recently been discovered in two mound sites in Ross County, Ohio, viz., tubular pottery pipes with a constricted mouthpiece. Similar specimens in stone are diagnostic of the aspect but pipes made of pottery are unreported in either comprehensive analyses of Adena or the site reports in their bibliographies.

The Renick group of mounds are situated 0.4 mile southeast of Chillicothe on the second terrace overlooking the Scioto River, and are on the property of the Aluminum Company of America. Mound I was 9 feet 1 inch high, had a diameter of 74 feet, and contained 32 burials, 2 subfloor tombs, and a house site. The skeletal remains were generally in an extreme state of decay, in some cases being discernible only as a discoloration in the soil. Mound II, 80 feet to the northeast, was 15 inches high and 30 feet in diameter.

Baltasar Jaime Martiñez de Compañon, has been mentioned in anthropological literature for the past fifty years, albeit rather sporadically; but up to the present time the importance of his legacy has not been appreciated by those anthropologists in the Peruvian field, especially those who have dealt with the ethnology and archaeology of the North Coast. Although one of the purposes of this brief note is to call attention to the necessity of incorporating the valuable illustrative material of Martiñez de Compañon in future works, the primary purpose is to make known to the anthropological public that, except for an extremely rare edition of plates which is but a tiny fraction of the whole, the enormous fount of ethnological and archaeological information that Martiñez left remains unpublished.