In the study of a material culture, it appears that the rarer, more striking or more elaborate objects are often given undue weight while the more common and hence more widely used articles are too frequently neglected. Although the bone point of the type to be considered is by far the most common artifact found in the shell-heaps of Maine and Nova Scotia, only casual and incomplete descriptions are available. There is no general recognition of it as a distinct type, and the interpretations of its usage which are offered are made without serious consideration of available evidence.

It is a very bold individual indeed who will suggest ideas concerning descriptive methods pointing toward a system for the simplification of classifications for archaeological artifacts. The chief difficulty in the way of arriving at simplified classifications lies in the great diversity of irregular forms. Consequently, the problem becomes so intricate, so full of pitfalls, that one is apt to become lost in a maze of detail out of which there is but slight possiblity of gathering together and properly grouping the essentials.

Whether the subject be axes, celts, gorgets, projectile points or any one of the many groups of artifacts, we must recognize at the very start that there are certain forms which almost defy description.

During years of painstaking work in the California Desert certain types of flint implements seem to have occurred again and again. Our work is now carried on with two main objectives: one to cover all likely areas where sites might be found, the other to try to discover if cultural groups follow certain geologic formations and if so, to place these types in their proper sequence, all of which is no very simple task. With these two main objectives in view, it is proposed to scour the more arid region of southern California, with the idea that any solution of the problems connected with this territory may prove a possible clew towards unraveling the story of prehistoric man in wider portions of the Great Basin, which we hope to explore in the future.

In December 1933, under the Civil Works Administration, a number of archaeological projects were organized with the primary purpose of reducing unemployment. The scientific direction of these particular emergency measures was given to the Smithsonian Institution which, since its founding in 1846, has carried on much important prehistoric research for the National Government. In the nature of the case it was the primary purpose of the C.W.A. to set a large number of unemployed persons to work with the least possible delay, while it was the duty and desire of the Smithsonian Institution to see that the scientific results attained might be as extensive and complete as the unusual opportunity warranted. The present article aims to sum up briefly the nature and results of these particular projects and their bearing on the wider problems of scientific archaeology as a channel for relief employment.