In recent years, changes have occurred in the goals of archaeology due to recent advances in methodology, application of the rules of the logic of science, and the uses of sophisticated computer techniques. The author views these changes, placing them into historical context, and discusses not only the emergence of the new paradigm, but also its implications for the field.

The attempt to delineate the processes underlying cultural evolution has become a central problem for archaeology today. Yet, present attempts to explain prehistoric culture change are based on exceedingly fragmentary archeological evidence, a fact resulting partly from inappropriate research strategies and partly from the “one-man scholar” basis on which archaeological research has been traditionally organized.

This paper shows that certain long-held assumptions about the nature of culture which have governed excavation strategy and methods limit the value of currently existing data for attacking processual questions. The paper also examines both the quality of archaeological data required for discovering evolutionary process and the research strategies necessary for recovering these data. It argues that these research strategies cannot be put into effect unless the scale of archaeological staff, facilities, and funding increases greatly, and equally important, unless the concept of how research is organized changes.

The emic cultural categories of pottery materials used by the community of potters in Ticul, Yucatan, were compared to the etic mineralogical analysis of these materials. The study reveals that there is a definite relationship between the cognitive ethnomineralogical system used by the community of potters in Ticul and the verbal, non-verbal, and material aspects of the process of selecting and using raw materials for making pottery. This relationship indicates that the Ticul potter has a sophisticated understanding of his raw materials and suggests several implications for archaeology: (1) the cultural patterns which are manifested in the artifacts may be cognitive; (2) since potters’ discriminations are manifested in the physical world, it should be possible to reconstruct ancient emic categories from physical contrasts in the artifacts without the use of ethnographic analogy; (3) the definition of temper as nonplastics may eliminate important cultural information from archaeological consideration; and (4) the community of potters is the unit of population which uses a particular ethnomineralogical system and would be expected to produce a paste and slip combination which is relatively uniform. All of these data indicate that many of the notions of cognitive anthropology can be successfully applied to archaeological considerations.

Archaeologists have recently attempted to reconstruct the residence and descent systems of particular prehistoric communities. Based on a study of residence and descent theory and pertinent examples from the ethnographic literature, we conclude that unless extremely detailed historical data exists, the analysis of kinship is best left to the ethnographer. The paper was conceived of as an attempt by archaeologically oriented anthropologists to resolve some of the difficulties encountered by us in our review of the archaeological literature on kinship reconstruction. We have, therefore, limited the scope of this paper accordingly; that is, it has been written principally with the problems of the archaeologist not the ethnographer in mind. An abbreviated version of this paper was presented at the 64th Annual Meeting of the American Anthropological Association.

Arithmetical procedures, including addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and square root extraction, are demonstrated using the Maya numerals. All procedures can be carried out efficiently. The Maya system is relatively unique in that it combines properties of both place-value and non-place-value numerical systems. The Babylonian system, discussed briefly, also utilizes a mixture of properties from the two systems. In order to take into account the unique hybrid characteristics of these two systems, as well as the subtractive principle of the Roman numerals, we here define a third category of numerical systems designated as mixed-place-value in type. The three types of numerical systems are compared and the advantages and disadvantages of each are mentioned. The evolutionary development of numerical systems in relation to the mathematical needs of societies is discussed.

At the Mohr site, a Shenks Ferry Village on the lower Susquehanna River, 98 burials were excavated. These exhibited various features which are ascribed to cultural demands: location in the village, position of body, grave goods, etc. One of these features was the alignment of the body with the head to the east in such a manner as to suggest that the exact alignment was a function of season of interment. This paper completes the record of the mortuary patterns at this site based upon a description of the total population of the dead. Earlier descriptions, based upon incomplete materials, were presented at the VIIth International Congress of Prehistoric and Protohistoric Sciences in Prague in 1966 (Gruber 1970) and at the American Anthropological Association Meeting in 1966. The position of these burials conforms to scant ethnographic data on the basis of which a putative cultural identification with the Shenks Ferry component and the southeastern Siouan groups is strengthened.

The Ruby site, 48 CA 302, in the Powder River Basin of Wyoming, is a buffalo pound dating to late Middle Period with a radiocarbon age of 1670± 135 years: A.D. 280 GX-1157). The site was contained in steadily aggrading alluvial deposits allowing close stratigraphic control. Features included most of a buffalo pound, part of the drive lane, and an associated ceremonial structure.

An attempt to explain the operation of this pound is based on historical accounts for various north-western Plains tribes and on problems of buffalo handling encountered with modern herds, allowing for changes brought about by the introduction of the horse. The ceremonial structure is explained in the context of shamanistic activity occurring with communal hunts in ethnographic and historical accounts. Archaeological data from the same area and time period suggest this pound is a variant of other communal buffalo procurement methods, including buffalo jumps, that occurred yearly to provide food for winter use and that required consolidation of the society into larger groups than could effectively exploit the environment during the remainder of the year.

A large segment of the meat processing area remains intact and will eventually be used in an attempt to test hypotheses concerning butchering methods, tool use, and nature of social groups involved.

Quaternary sediments in the Ruby site area are of post-altithermal age. Two past alternating cycles of deposition and erosion are evident. The oldest depositional unit contains an archaeological site which yielded a radiocarbon date of A.D. 280 ± 135 years. This older formation was deposited in post-Kaycee-pre-Lightning time. A stratigraphic unit of this age has not been previously reported in the Powder River Basin and is herein named the South Butte formation. The youngest depositional unit in the area is the Lightning formation. Erosion and downcutting began about 1900 and has continued to the present.

A recently discovered stela in Guerrero represents the north-westernmost extension of monolithic sculpture in the Olmec style yet known in Mesoamerica. The stela depicts a standing human figure wearing a cloak and bird mask and holding a staff-like object. It is suggested that the theme is ceremonial or one of rank or rulership. The style of the carving and its association with Olmec style pottery confirms its colonial Olmec identity. The nature of the stela confirms our impression that Olmec presence in Guerrero and the central highlands represents more than a diffused art style. A tentative model for interpreting Olmec diffusion takes into account economic as well as socio-political factors, including possible motives bringing the Olmec into the highlands and the nature and pattern of relationships established with local culture groups. Trade and status borrowing are the basis of this model.

At the lowland Maya site of Altar de Sacrificios, two burials have been interpreted in such a way as to suggest: (1) that matrilineal principles of social organization may have been operative in some segments of Classic Maya society; and (2) that Maya political units may have been tied together by marriage alliances. These two hypotheses are examined here in the light of anthropological kinship theory. It is concluded that such marriage alliances are in the realm of possibility, but that matrilineality is unlikely.

Zoomorphic beads of carved and polished hard stone, most often red jasper, have been found in Late Archaic, Poverty Point or unknown context across the southern states from western Louisiana and Arkansas to western Alabama. These beads have features that resemble locusts, specifically the grasshopper and the cyclical cicada. The most regularly accentuated feature is a midbody disc or projecting plate that is thought to represent the auditory organs or vibrating membranes of these insects and which participate in production of a relatively tremendous volume of sound. It is proposed that the locust bead concept, involving an element of magic, spread across the southern states in multicultural context at a time level near 1000 B.C.

The article recently published by Sabloff and Smith (AMER. ANT. 34:278-286, 1969) adds little beyond elaboration to archaeological classification and further tends to perpetuate some common and basic errors. Some of these flaws are noted along with their manifestation in the type-variety system as propounded by Sabloff and Smith, and a direction to solution is indicated.