The Sites of the Fort Ancient aspect of the Upper Mississippi Phase are located in southern and southwestern Ohio, northern and northeastern Kentucky and southeastern Indiana. It is the purpose of this paper to present the grouping of the individual components within the larger cultural unit; to state briefly the chronological position of the Fort Ancient aspect; and to discuss the possible ethnological connections.

The existence of many of these sites has been known for years, and their cultural similarity has been recognized since the beginning of the twentieth century.

The interest in American antiquities has increased in the last few years. One result of this increased interest has been the preparation of archaeological surveys of states and lesser areas. These surveys are of great value in organizing the available knowledge and in furnishing data for future studies and explorations.

In order for such publications to be of maximum usefulness, it is necessary that the locations of sites be fixed with accuracy. A description is not a survey. Such expressions as “near Springfield” or “six miles south of Jonesville” are entirely too vague.

The origin and culture of the older archaeological material taken from Ludlow Cave, Cave Hills, Harding County, South Dakota, in July, 1920, has been subjected to some discussion and speculation. The cave was named after William Ludlow, Chief Army Engineer of the Department of Dakota, who visited it in 1874 while accompanying the Custer Expedition from Fort Abraham Lincoln to the Black Hills.

The cave is located in the northeast quarter of section 12, township 21, range 5 W, in the extreme northwest corner of the state in the Sioux Forest Reserve. Geologically, it is in the Ludlow Division of the Laramie formation, Upper Cretaceous Period. It is irregular in shape, extends back thirty-nine feet, and is sixteen feet wide and ten feet high. The entrance was partially blocked by rocks, each weighing several tons, which had fallen from above.

Among the shells sent us for examination by Mr. Emil W. Haury, which were found in a Snaketown ruin of Hohokam culture (Gila River, Arizona), there is a partly-broken specimen of a west coast conch (Strombus galeatus Wood), No. 46,652. The only workmanship shown is the grinding down of the tip of the apex or spire of the shell, the hole thus formed permitting the blowing of the unbroken specimen (Figure 2). A slight sound still can be obtained upon blowing into the shell. The cracked condition of the porcelaneous texture of the shell with traces of blackened surface in places indicates its having passed through a conflagration. The pitted condition, due to sea-worm borings, clearly gives evidence that the shell was originally a “dead” or beach-worn specimen.

In the course of certain investigations on the identification of cloth ash, it became necessary to develop a technique whereby relatively large (5 to 15 cm.) fragments of ashed cloth of all types woven from vegetable fiber could be permanently preserved.

The requirements were that the preparations should be capable of withstanding the relatively rough handling of the laboratory. They should show the textile remains displayed flat with the yarns of the warp and weft in their original relations.

In the following simplified method for classifying projectile-points the use of the term arrowhead is purposely avoided. The term projectile point is used for all specimens commonly referred to as birdpoints, arrowheads, spearheads, and lance points. Relative sizes are necessarily disregarded, although unusually long or short specimens are given proper mention.

Most students of pottery types have met with difficulties in selecting descriptive terms which would convey the intended idea. Particularly is this true where varying degrees of differences or similarities were being discussed. Since description embraces all characters of pottery, relative terms are unavoidable. One important character of pottery, namely texture, even when description thereof has been attempted, has been inadequately described, the terms used being wholly meaningless to persons unfamiliar with the character in question, and having little value even to those more familiar with the pottery. This is because relative comparative terms have been used. A method is here submitted for standardizing the descriptive terms of texture so as to leave no doubt regarding the exact meaning of the term employed.

In the winter of 1934–35, a ball-court, analogous in many details with those of Central America, was discovered at Snaketown on the Gila River Indian Reservation in south-central Arizona, during excavations conducted by Gila Pueblo. The announcement of a ball-court 1500 miles from its supposed origin, and in a region where it was entirely unexpected, met with skepticism until the discovery was verified by men qualified to judge from first hand knowledge acquired in the Middle American field. A new angle to the problem of relationships of Southwestern, Mexican, and Central American cultures was thus brought to the fore. Now, to add to this discovery, comes another find in the form of a rubber ball. It, too, was found in south-central Arizona and may, indeed, have been used in the game for which the courts were built.