Frequent theodolite and transit setups are time consuming. Two techniques are described which reduce time expenditures and improve setup efficiency. The first technique requires the use of a small bubble level, the second, pieces of a rubber tire.

The proposal by Myers, Reidhead, and Brouillard of Valdivia-Machalilla-related occupations in the northern highlands of Ecuador is challenged. Stratigraphy and radiocarbon dates from the La Chimba site do not support the concept of an Early Formative Espejo phase. Additional evidence from the Im 11 site reinforces this conclusion. In sum, the prehistoric chronology of the northern highlands appears to be quite distinct from that of the Ecuadorian coast.

Athens’ attack is based upon the fact that I did not cite an unpublished manuscript in my possession. In fact, the paper has little bearing upon the temporal argument. The radiocarbon dates which it contains should not be applied to the material in question. However, the paper does contain information which supports my hypothesis of contacts between the Coast and the Highlands. Such contacts help to account for the ceramic similarities between the two regions. New dates from the La Chimba site are internally inconsistent so that they cannot be used to support either point of view. However, the stratigraphic position of Espejo Phase ceramics beneath resist painted pottery is consistent with a Formative Period dating for the Espejo Phase.

The unexpectedly high proportion of gophers to other animal bone in the Tijeras Pueblo excavation may indicate boys’ trapping activities. Relative completeness of large animal skeletons suggests large game was killed nearby.

This paper examines some of the implications of Christenson and Read’s [1977] comments on the use of numerical taxonomic concepts in archaeological classification. While many of their comments are accurate, we feel that they have seriously misrepresented the nature of cluster analysis as a grouping technique by their association of cluster analysis with the theoretical and methodological goals of numerical taxonomy. The implications of their arguments are challenged.

Data reporting the relative amounts of PO4 in different forms will have limited value for archaeology if data for the undisturbed soil are not available.

Following suggestions of an occupational hiatus in the eastern Great Basin [Madsen and Berry 1975], a continuous-development concept was reiterated [Aikens 1976]. The controversy can only be resolved through the recovery of new data. Newly derived data from 7 sites support the concept of a hiatus.