Since the Publication of Steward's interpretations of Great Basin prehistory, which were based upon field research ending about 1935, no attempt has been made in published form to collate and analyze currently available data on the full range of the prehistory of the area. Steward's conclusions are thoughtful and represent conservative, sound reasoning upon the basis of the data available and the theories current at the time. As might reasonably be expected, however, subsequent findings have cast doubt upon some of his interpretations and have made others unacceptable. This paper is a brief attempt, deliberately kept at a general level, to review both old and new data, with special reference to the cultural relationships between the Great Basin and San Juan Anasazi, and to call attention to current developments and problems.

In view of the considerable interest currently manifest in the role played by the northern Pacific area in the peopling of and spread of cultural traits to the New World, recent finds in the north of Japan should prove of interest to American archaeologists and students. While several excellent summaries of Japan's prehistory are available (Munro 1908; Groot 1951; Kraus 1947, 1953) it is felt that many students would appreciate an opportunity to read site reports in the original in order to draw their own conclusions. The scarcity of such reports outside the Japanese language is, to most Americans, an insurmountable obstacle. It is hoped that the present series of articles will, in a small way, help to ameliorate this condition. The explorations described in this series were made during the writer's stay in Japan during 1948 to 1950. Cultural materials collected are deposited in the U.S. National Museum, where additional notes, maps, sketches, and unpublished photographs are available.

Alaskan Pottery has received for the most part somewhat cursory treatment in archaeological reports, and consequently it is often difficult to obtain from published studies data on such basic characteristics as temper, paste, and in some cases, design. Outstanding exceptions to this general tendency are the works of Collins (1937) and de Laguna (1939, 1940, 1947). De Laguna, especially, not only has thoroughly reported upon excavated material but has published information on pottery from many museum collections. Since the publication of de Laguna's penetrating analyses, there have been numerous site reports in which new pottery types were added and old ones partially clarified (Larsen and Rainey 1948; Heizer 1949; Giddings 1949,1952; Oswalt 1952a, 1953a, b, c; Griffin 1953). A systematic approach to Alaskan pottery is needed now to arrange the chronological and geographical positions of various styles and facilitate reference to specific types.

Costa Rican jade ornaments have been known chiefly through collections made by Padre José Maria Valasco in the Nicoya peninsula, which forms the northwestern corner of the country, and through the subsequent publication of these specimens by C. V. Hartman (1907). The Velasco jade is now in the Museo Nacional at San José and the Carnegie Museum of Pittsburgh.

The term jade is loosely used by archaeologists. Hartman employed it to describe 3 minerals: a blue-green jadeite, saussurite, which in Costa Rica usually is blue-green with white spots, and a dark green bowenite. These shades are characteristic of Nicoya specimens but not of the jades of northern Central America and Mexico. More recently, W. F. Foshag has identified the principal minerals used for ornaments in Costa Rica as diopside-jadeite and chalcedony (Anonymous 1947, Specimens 1-7, 15-18).

Mrn 20, the site described in this report, is one of the 5 located on Strawberry Point, a peninsula which juts out into Richardson's Bay, an arm of San Francisco Bay, in southern Marin County (Fig. 22). Situated on a southwestern slope, Mrn 20 overlooks the bay and town of Marin City. It is of interest to note that most of the shellmounds on Strawberry Point are on the western side, even though this is buffeted by cold winds and rain during the fall and winter, while the less inhabited eastern side is more sheltered. The hills surrounding Mrn 20 are rather gentle and are covered with pasture grasses, with an occasional clump of scrubby, wind-blasted oaks and a few spotty buckeyes. The western face of the site is overgrown with poison oak; the remainder is clothed with a thick matting of grass. The surrounding soil is a yellow clay, which takes on a reddish appearance in some sterile areas beneath the midden.

In the Summer of 1953, archaeological investigations were again carried out by the National Museum of Canada on the early Sheguiandah site, Manitoulin Island. Previous work (Lee 1954a) showed that the hilltop had been occupied by at least 4 successive cultures. These were represented by: (1) a thin surface scattering of what is probably Point Peninsula; (2) a prolific level of materials closely related to George Lake 1 (Greenman 1943); (3) a thin level producing early projectile points; (4) a level of large blades not identified culturally. A number of problems demanded further examination. Insufficient charcoal had been found for radiocarbon dating. Professional archaeological and geological opinions on the dates had ranged so widely as to be almost useless. Two of the 4 cultural levels remained unexplained and the presence of another was suspected. The level of projectile points was too thinly represented. No bones had been found, although part of the site was regarded as a habitation area.

The use of jade by the ancient indigenous cultures of Mesoamerica was widespread and endured for a long time. The earliest jade objects from this region have been found in pre-Classic sites at Tlatilco, Zacatenco (Vaillant 1930), Ticoman (Vaillant 1930), Gualupita (Vaillant 1934), and El Arbollilo (Vaillant 1935) in Mexico; and Finca Arizona (Shook 1945) and Kaminaljuyii (Shook and Kidder 1952) in Guatemala. Radiocarbon dating of the Tlatilco site gave an age about 1500 B.C. (Libby 1952). The use of jade continued in Mexico until the early days of the Spanish colonial period when its use as a piedra de ijada or amulet for alleviating pain in the loins and for curing diseases of the kidney had a wide vogue. Fifty years after the Spanish conquest of Mexico, jade had become rare, largely because the supply obtainable from the nobles and chiefs was by then depleted (Monardes 1569), and very soon after the use and all knowledge of jade disappeared from Mesoamerica where but a short time before it was looked upon as the most precious of substances.

In the spring of 1948 during an archaeological survey of the headwaters of the Lake Norfork Reservoir Area on the North Fork of White River in Ozark County, Missouri, an unusual flint object was found. This artifact, illustrated as Figure 35A, was picked up on the surface of a prehistoric Indian village on the left bank of the North Fork of the White River about 1/4 mile below Tecumseh, Missouri. The only other object found on this site, other than flint chips, flakes, and spalls, was what appears to be a long slender projectile point, B in Figure 35. The owner of the land, since deceased, had picked up a fragment of a full-grooved limestone ax while cultivating the field many years before.

The problematical form appears to have been made from a short, stubby projectile point of quartzite, a stone commonly utilized by the prehistoric Indians of Ozark County.

The writer recently observed in a private collection an artifact that is of interest because it has been identified as a kiva bell, an object occasionally found archseologically and still used by the modern Pueblo Indians.

The artifact was found many years ago on the site of Rainbow House, Bandelier National Monument, New Mexico. It resembles a blade, being tapered and rounded on one end, squared on the other, with 2 notches set toward the squared end. It was apparently first percussion chipped and then polished on both sides, without any attempt being made to eliminate all traces of the chipping around the edges. The material is a finegrained black basalt. It is broken across the middle, but this is reported to have occurred after it was found. The dimensions are: length 24.5 cm., width 8.8 cm., and thickness about 1.3 cm.

The identification was made by a Cochiti Indian who said that there are others similar to it in use at Cochiti today.

Pollen grains have recently been found in quantities sufficient for statistical analysis in the sediments of Ramanote Cave, Santa Cruz County, Arizona (Arizona: DD:12:1 Amerind Survey System). At the suggestion of Terah L. Smiley of the University of Arizona the samples were collected by Charles C. DiPeso of the Amerind Foundation, Inc., in the summer of 1953. The author is indebted to Edwin B. Kurtz, Jr., and to the Botany Department, College of Agriculture, University of Arizona, for the use of laboratory facilities. Because many cultural materials have been found in cave deposits and many cave explorations are now in progress, this preliminary report is intended to point out the necessity of collecting samples for pollen analysis during the progress of archaeological investigations.

Peat bogs have long been known as ideal deposits for pollen studies due to high pollen frequencies and excellent conditions for preservation.

Occasionally it is desirable to remove archaeological material, such as burials, so that the relationship of the elements, one to another, will be maintained. For about 50 years paleontologists have been employing a technic of enclosing specimens in plaster jackets which, under some circumstances, should prove useful to archaeologists. This method has been fully described in a few publications but, in general, it has been passed along from one academic generation to the next by demonstration and instruction, and new modifications have been presented informally.

It is hoped that the present discussion will prove a satisfactory description of the technic and useful in most of the situations which archaeologists will encounter. Since most of the objects which the archaeologists will want to take out by the technic of casting will occur in unconsolidated material, the procedure discussed here is one most applicable to that type of matrix.

Materials. There are a number of materials, not normally carried by archaeologists, which are necessary for this method.