Social-group competition and cooperation are critical elements of models of cultural evolution. Despite the presumed significance of such interactions, archaeologists find it difficult to measure these forms of behavior. An Illinois cemetery consisting of 264 burials dating to ca. A.D. 1300 illustrates the unique information that only mortuary sites can provide on the characteristics and intensity of prehistoric intergroup conflict. In this instance, violent death was indicated by several forms of bone damage. Chronic warfare caused a heavy loss of life (at least one-third of all adult deaths) and contributed to considerable hardship. Available evidence indicates that this conflict was part of a broader pattern of volatile Precontact-era social relationships that featured intergroup cooperation coupled with antagonism.

Settlement patterns recovered by archaeologists differ fundamentally from synchronic settlement patterns analyzed by geographers since they are a static record of occupations that may often have had differing periods of use in the past. Many maps of the “settlement pattern” of prehistoric phases show more occupations than were ever simultaneously occupied. After discussing some of the problems this can cause, I describe a way of characterizing past settlement dynamics and a method for estimating (1) the mean number of likely simultaneous occupations for a region and (2) phase-to-phase differences in mean occupation span. The method is illustrated by the analysis of settlement data from the Ixtapalapa region in the Basin of Mexico.

Disagreements about methodology in archaeology are often located in terms of the middle-range-theory approach of Lewis Binford and the hermeneutic, contextual archaeology of Ian Hodder. These positions are usually presented in opposition to each other, but here they are shown to present very much the same methodological picture of archaeology. This specific analysis is more generally informative of the methodological relation between the natural and social sciences.

The availability both of documentary data on the history of the Hopi pueblo of Walpi and of tree-ring dates from the village provides a rare opportunity to evaluate tree-ring interpretations in the light of independent chronological evidence. Three major events in the history of the community are reflected in the village's overall tree-ring date distribution: the initial settlement around A.D. 1400 of the site of Koechaptevela, located on the flank of First Mesa, the movement of the community around A.D. 1690 to the present location of Walpi on top of First Mesa, and the reconstruction of much of the village between A.D. 1880 and 1940. Analysis of the overall date distribution and of dates from individual rooms shows that many timbers in the village have been reused, sometimes more than once. For this reason, interpretation must rely on date clusters, though even they can be misleading when beams procured at the same time have been reused as a group. The significance of beam reuse to the interpretation of Walpi's tree-ring dates is a function, first, of the relocation of the village over a short distance around 1690 and, second, of the village's survival for almost 600 years. Because of Walpi's size and longevity, patterning in the pueblo's tree-ring evidence is most relevant to the interpretation of large, long-lived prehistoric and protohistoric sites in the Southwest. Historical details provided by tree-ring evidence are also likely to be of special interest to Native Americans, such as the Hopi, who live in these pueblos still.

Most zooarchaeologists estimate limb-bone abundance from limb ends. Researchers have provided detailed documentation of the preferential destruction by carnivores of limb ends (Binford 1981; Binford et al. 1988; Blumenschine 1988; Brain 1981; Marean et al. 1990; Orloff and Marean 1990; Sutcliffe 1970). Others have observed differences between limb abundances calculated on limb shafts vs. ends, suggesting shaft pieces may provide more accurate estimates of original element abundance in carnivore-ravaged assemblages (Bunn 1986; Bunn and Kroll 1986; Blumenschine 1988; Klein 1975; Marean et al. 1990; Orloff and Marean 1990). However, the exact quantitative effect of carnivore ravaging on measures of element abundance has never been investigated. We provide an experimental test of the accuracy of different bone portions for estimating the original element abundance after carnivore ravaging. Spotted hyenas were allowed to ravage 33 simulated archaeological sites of known element abundance. Estimates of abundance calculated on limb ends differ greatly from original bone abundance, and estimates based on proximal/distal-shaft pieces are also inaccurate. Estimates from middle-shaft fragments, however, are uniquely accurate. These experimental data mandate reanalysis of assemblages where limb frequencies were calculated from limb ends and carnivore ravaging is implicated, and experimentally vindicate observations originally provided by Klein (1975).

Ethnographic accounts of animal pulverization using stone grinding implements have led archaeologists to believe that this same behavior took place in the past. This important subsistence activity can now be confirmed through the immunological analysis of archaeological materials. Small-mammal blood-protein residue has been identified immunologically for the first time on milling equipment from two archaeological sites in southern California. Immunoprotein trace analysis has the potential for a wide range of applications in the study of prehistory.

Prehistoric Native Americans hunted leporids (cottontails and hares) for food, clothing, and to obtain raw material for the manufacture of bone tools such as awls. Leporids are also favorite prey of various carnivores and raptors, hence many archaeological sites may contain leporid bones that were deposited by both human and nonhuman activities. This paper provides data to distinguish specific agents and processes that affected leporid bones in archaeological sites. Human behavior tends to create hare tibia diaphysis cylinders, cut-marked bones, unidentifiable burned bone fragments, and assemblages with predominantly adult leporid bone specimens. In contrast, raptor behavior creates more cottontail tibia diaphysis cylinders, bones with beak and talon punctures on only one side, shearing damage principally to innominates and femora, and high frequencies of forelimb and juvenile bones when leporid bones are deposited mainly in raptor pellets.

The contents of a bone-filled pit from a Late Prehistoric period site in the Bighorn Basin, Wyoming, are inferred to represent the remains of a meal originally cooked in a skin container. The residue remained in the container, outside of the pit, for at least three weeks. Subsequently, but within a few weeks of cooking, the residue was dumped upside down into a pit which was then sealed with a sandstone slab. Preparation of the food and its disposal took place between June and September. The temporal resolution made possible by the analysis of the insect remains permits the inference that the site assemblage accumulated during two separate occupations. Such an inference affects how the site assemblage may be interpreted within the context of a settlement system.

Eight desiccated human feces recovered from Big Bone Cave (40VB103) were analyzed for dietary contents and evidence of endoparasitic infection. Radiocarbon-dated materials from the cave indicated that it was a locus of human activity 2220 ± 135 years ago. The dietary contents were primarily composed of three domesticated plant species: Iva annua, Chenopodium berlandieri ssp. jonesianum, and Helianthus annuus. Endoparasitic species infecting the population using the cave were: Enterobius vermicularis, Ascaris lumbricoides, Giardia intestinalis, and a species tentatively identified to the superfamily Ancylostomoidea. The evidence of endoparasitic infection preserved in the Big Bone Cave paleofecal sample is the most complete record available for Eastern North America. This information is a new contribution to understanding the relative health status and living conditions of the emergent horticultural societies of prehistoric Eastern North America.

Magnetic surveys and electromagnetic conductivity surveys were conducted at several sites during the course of field work at the Richland/Chambers Reservoir in north-central Texas between 1982 and 1985. Much of this work was conducted at the Bird Point Island site (41FT201), which was used as a proving ground to test the effectiveness of various remote-sensing techniques. Two devices, a Geometrics proton precession magnetometer and a Geonics Limited EM-38 electromagnetic conductivity sensor were tested. The data produced by the EM-38, although initially successful for locating large archaeological features, were less useful for site interpretation than those yielded by the magnetometer.

Replicative experiments were conducted to test hypotheses related to feature function and to identify the sources of magnetism present in features. After an experimental hearth and a pit were created on an off-site area, a magnetic survey was conducted and the results were compared with the magnetic responses obtained from archaeological features. Remarkably similar magnetic responses were observed between the experimental features and certain classes of prehistoric archaeological features. Five-cracked rock, consisting of small fragments of iron-enriched sandstone and ironstone, was identified as the primary source of magnetism.

In addition to identifying locations of features, the magnetic data also provided information regarding whether or not features had been subjected to multiple episodes of disturbance and reuse. Episodes of recurrent use were indicated by irregular symmetry and unusual magnetic polarity. Several large pit features, which archaeological evidence indicated had been reused, exhibited anomalies with multiple peaks of strong magnetic highs surrounded in several directions by peaks of weak to moderate magnetic lows. In contrast, hearths and pits lacking archaeological evidence of major disturbance or reuse were associated with anomalies that exhibited the normal dipolar signature associated with cultural features—a strong magnetic high with a strong magnetic low immediately to the north. The results of this study demonstrate that the magnetometer has a great potential for aiding in the interpretation of archaeological features in addition to its traditional use as a tool for identifying feature locations.