Prehistoric shaft-like excavations which may have been aboriginal water wells were discovered in the fall of 1949 and the summer of 1950 at the well-known early man site 12 miles southwest of Clovis and 7 miles north of Portales, New Mexico. Work at this site is part of an extended program of geologic studies of Quaternary deposits on the High Plains of western Texas and eastern New Mexico being carried on by the Texas Memorial Museum. A report dealing with the geology and ancient archaeological horizons at the Clovis site will be ready for publication in the near future, but a separate description of the shafts or wells seems desirable at this time.

David I. Bushnell, Jr., first aroused wide interest in the fluted points found in Virginia. He accomplished this primarily by an article in the June 9, 1934 issue of the Literary Digest, in which he announced the discovery of “two Folsom points” in Virginia. This article and subsequent references to these two “points of recognized Folsom type” (Bushnell, 1935, pp. 35-6, 56) called special attention to the importance and possibilities of such finds in the East. In 1934, only one collector of Virginia projectile points, Arthur Robertson of Chase City, Virginia, could claim “five or more” of these fluted points (Wells, 1935, pp. 1, 14). However, the intense interest which Bushnell created stimulated a search in Virginia for this rare type of point, with the result that shortly after Bushnell's 1934 announcement, sporadic finds of fluted points having a resemblance to both the Folsom Fluted and the Clovis Fluted began to be noted in various parts of the State. Their occurrence seemed to indicate that there actually was a paleo-Indian in Virginia.

The tests made at the Emerald mound site (MAd-5; also known as the Selzertown site) located on the proposed right-of-way of Natchez Trace Parkway twelve miles north of Natchez, Mississippi, were performed in order to salvage archaeological information and cultural materials along the route of roadway construction. The work was confined to two stratigraphic tests and one area test, the former on the primary mound and the latter in the area to the south of the primary mound assumed to have been a village site. By the area test it was hoped to demonstrate or disprove the existence of a village site associated with the great mound and to salvage data in the path of Parkway construction which was projected immediately south of the base of the primary mound. By the stratigraphic tests it was hoped that the cultural identity of the builders of the primary mound and the adjoining village site could be established.

Human figurines in the Basketmaker III collections resulting from excavations in the Prayer Rock district of northeastern Arizona by the Bernheimer Expedition and Carnegie Institution of Washington are of two classes; those made of clay and those fashioned from vegetable substances. The former have been described from several localities. The latter have not been previously recorded. Of the clay variety there are, whole or fragmentary, 23 representatives; of the vegetal, 4.

The problem of the antiquity of man in early America has rapidly divided itself into a series of detailed researches, each one dealing with special facets of the matter. To date the greatest progress in the relationship between the various cultures of the paleo-Indian has been made with geologic methods by which the rhythm of climatic changes of the late Pleistocene and recent times has been tied in with deposits involving human materials. The radiocarbon method has now appeared to bolster and refine the time scale. From all of these activities there is rapidly emerging a clearing picture of early times in the Americas.

There is considerable divergence of opinion among authorities regarding the distribution of the practice of irrigation by the prehistoric Indians of the Southwest. Martin, Quimby, and Collier (1947, p. 168) write that the irrigation of the Hohokam of central and southern Arizona is the only known instance of canal irrigation in pre-Columbian North America. Thomas (1948, p. 10), however, writes that canal system irrigation was not limited to the area of the Hohokam but that “in many ravines and valleys in Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Utah and Southern California are found the remains of canal systems which tapped the natural streams and carried water to the numerous small farms.” Wittfogel (Wittfogel and Goldfrank, 1943), has assembled published evidences of irrigation in the Anasazi area, north of the Hohokam, such as its practice west of the Wasatch Mountains in the Great Basin portion of Utah, described by Steward.

A cursory survey of the archaeology of parts of the Endicott mountains was made by the writer during 1950. It served to confirm a belief that the mountain region is and in the past has been hospitable to small groups of people dependent on hunting and fishing. Ten sites near the Anaktuvuk and Killik rivers were examined, and the probable locations of several others were obtained from local Eskimos. Recognizable culture phases encountered include types comparable with the modern and recent-prehistoric Eskimo, and Denbigh Flint complex, as described by Giddings (J. L. Giddings, “Early Flint Horizons on the North Bering Sea Coast,” Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences, Vol. 39, No. 3, March 15, 1949, pp. 85-90). In addition, a number of flint implements which are not readily identifiable were found in the sand dunes along the Killik River (Fig. 34). No evidence of ground slate or jade was found anywhere, and implements of organic materials were preserved only in the most recent sites.

The possibility of a culture preceding that of the earliest paleo-Aleuts in the Aleutian Islands has been recognized for a long time. However, the researches of Jochelson and Hrdlicka provided no substantiation for such a possibility. Subsequent excavations carried out by the Peabody Museum of Harvard University in 1948, a party sponsored by the Arctic Institute of North America in 1949, and a party from the University of Oregon in 1950 have similarly failed to reveal any culture earlier than that of the paleo-Aleuts. Re-examination of an existing collection suggests the presence of such a culture in the Aleutian Islands

Several significant pre-Eskimo finds related to early aboriginal occupations in North America were made north of the Arctic Circle during the 1950 season in Alaska. These discoveries were made within and just bordering the northern side of the Brooks Range mountain province. Two of the more important finds were made by Milton C. Lachenbruch and Robert J. Hackman of the U.S. Geological Survey. Another important find was made by Irving, a student at the University of Alaska (Giddings, 1950, p. 20). Lachenbruch's and Hackman's specimens were submitted to the writer for study and are described summarily in this paper. It is reported that Irving found lithic cultural remains similar to those found by Hackman not far from the latter's station near Anaktuvuk Pass.

A metallographic study was made of certain large native copper implements to determine the methods of manufacture. Metallurgical knowledge of the diffusion of oxygen into copper, the recrystallization of copper, and the working characteristics of copper are used in this analysis. The artifacts analyzed are listed below. The Wisconsin Historical Museum catalog numbers of each specimen is also given.