This article relates an archaeological “culture” of northern New York to the Eastern Iroquois nations through the evidence of ceramic smoking pipes that are about 500 years old. After categorizing the objects on the basis of distinctive but thematically related imagery, I observe that their distribution is suggestive of an interaction sphere linking the St. Lawrence Iroquoians of Jefferson County with the Mohawks, Oneidas, and Onondagas elsewhere in present Upstate New York. Later historic descriptions imply that these pipes were connected with diplomatic ritual conducted by male representatives of those communities. The resulting geographical occurrence might be the archaeological footprint of alliances antedating the famous League of the Iroquois. Bearing remarkably elaborate designs, these objects are among the most iconographically complex compositions preserved in the Northeast. All depict themes of emergence, and some may illustrate a more extensive myth asserting the common origins of several groups. Fragments of similar stories survive to this day and are among the oldest oral narratives documented among the Iroquois. My interpretations of both the behavioral/social correlates and the meaning(s) of these pipes derive from applications of the direct historical method, an approach tapping the unsurpassed richness of the Iroquoian ethnographic and historic record.

Human stable isotope values and deer utility indices have been used to reconstruct Hopewell and Mississippian diets and subsistence practices, but seasonality studies are also needed to resolve debates about feasting and elite provisioning. Dispersed Hopewell tribes foraged for food and harvested native cultigens. Seasonal feasts at earthworks helped integrate the dispersed populations. Mississippian subsistence cycles are reflected in the seasonal abundance of deposited floral and faunal remains. Pits filled in spring/summer have many fish, but few deer bones. Deer remains are abundant, but fish are rare, in pits filled during the fall/winter. Finding few deer remains in some pits at Cahokia may not mean that deer were scarce but may mean that few deer were hunted during the seasons when those trash pits were filled. Stable isotope values in human burials, analyses of floral and faunal remains from pits and middens filled throughout the year, and diachronic studies of deer size and herd stability indicate that the Cahokia elite consumed a variety of foods including substantial amounts of fish and venison. Patterns in deer element distributions in “elite“” and “non-elite” contexts suggest that venison may have been part of the tribute that was presented to high-status Cahokians.

The Marpole phase of the Gulf of Georgia, SW British Columbia (2400–1200 cal B.P.) is recognized by many archaeologists as a significant period of culture change. Concurrent with this cultural phase is a climatic regime characterized by a substantial increase in forest fires associated with persistent summer drought: the Fraser Valley Fire Period (FVFP). Culturally, the Marpole phase is characterized by the widespread appearance of large houses, standardized art forms, and elaborate burials. Interactions among people of this region intensified and were, as today, economically, socially, and ideologically linked to the lower Fraser River system. Ecologically, the FVFP likely resulted in a regional decline in salmon abundance and/or predictability, especially in small streams and offshore areas, but also more berries and wildlife, and easier overland access via trail networks. The ecological diversity of the lower Fraser region, both terrestrial and riverine, resulted in both more abundant and more predictable resources than surrounding areas during this period of changing climate. We hypothesize that social and economic networks throughout the Gulf of Georgia were solidified during the Marpole phase to ensure access to Fraser resources and allow social buffering of resource uncertainty. We suggest that the differential availability of resources also allowed and encouraged individuals who had access to Fraser Valley resources to gain relatively greater prestige.

Ethnographic data indicate that historically, ceramic specialization is strongly correlated with agricultural and economic marginality. Where such specialization is concentrated geographically, it often is found in areas having agriculturally poor lands (Arnold 1985). Although this association is well established for modern-day and historic peasant communities, the degree to which this pattern extended into prehistory is unknown. In this paper, I evaluate the applicability of the agricultural marginality model to the prehistoric American Southwest by considering evidence from six areas where specialized pottery production is known to have occurred. The data from these areas suggest that, in the prehistoric Southwest, agricultural marginality was not the primary or sole factor leading to the adoption of part-time ceramic specializations. To understand why the ethnographic model does not apply to the prehistoric Southwest, attention must be focused on understanding the differing social and economic contexts within which prehistoric farmers and historic and modern-day peasants operated.

Discoveries of concentrated deposits of fragmentary human bone and their interpretation as evidence of cannibalism in the pre-Hispanic American Southwest have engaged archaeologists in a continuing debate. Forensic study of the victims in the historic Alferd [sic] Packer case from southern Colorado in the 1870s contributes to this discussion by providing detailed data regarding perimortem trauma, cut marks, and butchering patterns in a well-accepted case of mass murder and survival cannibalism. In particular, postmortem cut marks record a butchering strategy focused on filleting muscle tissue for immediate consumption; patterning of cut marks was structured by anatomy and also by cultural values. Contrasts between this historic case and the archaeological assemblages highlights the need for a more nuanced discussion of the cultural context and meaning of the archaeological cases. Interpretations of human skeletal remains arguably must begin with the view of “the body as artifact” and from a theoretical perspective defined largely by osteology and in comparison with zooarchaeological assemblages under various ecological conditions. At this point, however, the debate regarding Anasazi cannibalism would benefit from the addition of other anthropological perspectives, particularly those concerning the human body as a vehicle for the expression of cultural ideas and values.

Many of the discussions addressing the issue of the capabilities and significance of early watercraft forms or a regionally specific evolutionary sequence for craft such as the Southern California plank canoe have limited their range of analogies to those forms present among the ethnohistorically documented groups of Southern California. However, this article attempts to demonstrate the existence of at least one additional form of watercraft present on the Pacific coast of Baja California, as well as call attention to the greatly underrepresented capabilities of some long-recognized forms of watercraft. Inference, historic documents, contemporary environmental conditions, and archaeological data are used in an attempt to reconstruct a meaningful picture of Isla Cedros watercraft and their place within the repertoire of indigenous maritime culture and society. It is suggested that modern political boundaries have resulted in the exclusion of Baja California from discussions of North American archaeology. This discussion attempts to be a contribution to concepts of indigenous watercraft along the Pacific coast of North America and a vehicle to expand the research horizons of North American archaeology to include the underinvestigated regions of Baja California and northwestern Mexico.

Metric analyses of recently excavated maize (Zea mays, L.) cupules and cob fragments from Early Agricultural period (2000 B. C.-A.D. 50) sites in southern Arizona indicate that early maize cultivars produced small cobs with small cupules. Although it is risky to generalize about the yield potential of a plant that may have no compelling modern analogues, this work provides further support for the claim that ancient Tucson Basin maize plants provided relatively low yields as compared with more recent varieties.