A recently published statement by Baumhoff and Heizer that the "large herbivores disappeared in the Great Basin before man’s entry into the area" is contrary to the facts in the case. The correct data are supplied.

BAUMHOFF AND HEIZER (1965: 699) in their discussion of "Climate and Archaeology in the Desert West" state:

In Ruin No. 2 of the Homolobi group near Winslow, Arizona, a square kiva was excavated in 1962. Paintings of two kachinas and a symbol were found on the west wall. White stripes were painted on the bench at one end of the room. The rest of the kiva exhibited characteristics typical of the region. Twenty bowls, two ladles, two ollas, and an arrow straightener were found inside the kiva. Some of the vessels were stacked with care in inverted positions, while others showed signs of blackening by fire after breakage. Most of the pottery is Jeddito Black-on-yellow of the Pueblo IV period.

Historical sources corroborated by archaeological research demonstrate that the Antillean area was inhabited by people of three cultural traditions. Puerto Rico, because of its intermediate position between the Greater and Lesser Antilles, is of great importance in determining the chronology and the distribution of West Indian aboriginal cultures. Recent radiocarbon dates demonstrate that Puerto Rico was first populated by a preceramic people who arrived before the Christian era. A relationship between these Indians and certain preceramic groups of Venezuela has been postulated, although neither the chronology of the sites nor their distribution correspond. Other radiocarbon dates from Puerto Rico establish a clear relationship between the different pottery styles of the island and those of the Lesser Antilles and Venezuela.

Early man lived in eastern United States 11,000 years ago when most of the now-submerged continental shelf was exposed. The shelf almost certainly was ranged by nomadic hunters and possibly by marine fish- and mollusk- eaters. As the sea level rose at the end of the latest glacial epoch, the advancing water disrupted and submerged any habitation sites.

The oldest radiocarbon dates for kitchen middens of marine refuse along the present shore appear to be younger than the oldest dates for kitchen middens of non-marine content. Older marine middens may be deeply submerged far out on the continental shelf. Greatest success in future exploration for these sites is likely in areas of the shelf which have received little or no cover of postglacial sediment and where rivers formerly crossed the shelf.

One of the eleven known colossal stone heads attributed to the Olmec culture of southeastern Mexico has not been previously published. It is now in the town of Santiago Tuxtla, Veracruz, and was brought there in 1951 from a locality about 2 mi. north of the village of Tres Zapotes. It is designated as Tres Zapotes Colossal Head No. 2, even though it is probably not associated directly with the Tres Zapotes site which produced Tres Zapotes Colossal Head No. 1. The sculpture weighs about 8.5 short tons and is made of a distinctive olivine-and augite-rich basalt from the Cerro el Vigia not more than 5 mi. away.

At the Ambo site, chips, splinters, cores, and broken or unfinished implements were spread along a terrace of the Huallaga River near the city of Ambo, Department of Huanuco, Peru. Most of the finds are obviously rejects abandoned near the source of the material from which they were made. Projectile points are abundant and were made by the percussion method, although some were retouched by the pressure method. Many of these resemble projectile points of Lauricocha II and Canario in Peru and of Ayampitin and Intihuasi in the Argentine sierra region, which are dated between 6000 and 4000 B.C.

Surface collections from three sites at Red Butte, near Grand Canyon in northern Arizona, produced small, concave-based Pinto points, as well as fragmentary Ventana-Amargosa forms. In addition, a wide range of lithic tools was found. Lateral and basal grinding on several points suggest that at least one preceramic component is represented. No points characteristic of the ceramic period were obtained, but a few potsherds dating A.D. 1000-1200 were found on two of the sites. The pottery, unexpectedly, is attributable to Kayenta Anasazi rather than Cohonina. Presumably, but not demonstrably, this pottery is not associated with the points mentioned above. Neither the projectile forms nor the pottery complex from these sites has been reported previously from this immediate region.

A series of radiocarbon dates from Younge Tradition sites in southwestern Michigan indicates that previous age estimates for the four suggested phases were too conservative. Corn agriculture was practiced throughout the Younge Tradition time range as indicated by an A.D. 700 date for the Sissung site (20 MR 5).

Recent investigations still yield no sign of preceramic or of Arawak occupation of Jamaica before early Period III in the Rouse chronology. Jamaican sites indicate a characteristically Arawakan culture, but they lack the ceremonial elaboration developed in Haiti. Jamaican pottery shows relatively little change through time and only minor local variation. Four distinct styles are present: (1) Little River from early Period III; (2) White Marl, the dominant style of the island; (3) Montego Bay, probably the latest in time; and (4) a little-known Red Ware whose chronological position is not clear. The closest stylistic affiliations are with Bani of Cuba and Meillac of Haiti. The late Carrier style of Haiti did not diffuse to Jamaica. Certain distinctive burial practices and features of village construction have been revealed by recent excavations at White Marl and other southern coast sites.

In a recent publication Evans and Meggers have accused me of reinterpreting their work in an erroneous manner on two separate occasions (Evans and Meggers 1964). In one instance (Lathrap 1963a), I suggested that the Machalilla complex of Coastal Ecuador might be a member of the same ceramic tradition which also gave rise to Early Tutishcainyo and Late Tutishcainyo in the central Ucayali Basin in Peru. In the other case (Lathrap 1964), I offered what appeared to me to be a more reasonable seriation of the excavated levels of the Mabaruma phase of northwestern British Guiana and suggested that the age of the Mabaruma phase had been underestimated by a large factor.

A silver bracelet exhibiting designs stamped with a steel die, recovered from an unmarked grave near Sandy, Nevada, in 1908, was sent to the Nevada State Museum for identification. This bracelet was probably made by a Navajo silversmith sometime between 1870 and 1907.

A 1962 survey of Mani revealed the existence of the pre-Columbian mounds last reported by John Lloyd Stephens in 1843. There is good reason to believe that the refuse deposits associated with these structures can provide the ceramic information essential for a better understanding of the time period after the fall of Mayapan and the ascendency of the Xius.

Petrographic analyses and a determination of manganese in pottery clay by the electron probe have clarified questions raised by the Bennyhoff and Heizer article on the results of analyses by neutron activation of Cuicuilco and Teotihuacan sherds.

Black-glass bottle fragments have been utilized by archaeologists to aid in the location of U.S. Army out-posts of the Seminole War period (1835-42) in Florida. The patent covering one type of liquor bottle is reported. The date of manufacture of these containers and the forts from which examples have been recovered are also recorded.

Most soil-survey reports published since about 1957 by the Soil Conservation Service portray the soils data on a series of photomap base sheets generally at a scale of 1:20,000. Since all or portions of many of the 203 counties for which the reports are available lack detailed topographic maps, the soil-survey reports help alleviate this deficiency and also provide an economical source of aerial photos for use in archaeological surveys. Moreover, the soil-survey data presented in the photomaps often provide valuable clues to the locations of sites and should not be overlooked in survey work.

Excavations in the Savannah River swamp in southeastern South Carolina have uncovered a shell midden believed to represent the accumulation of a single occupation by Savannah River Archaic peoples. Two radiocarbon dates from the basal portions of this shell midden suggest an age for the associated Stallings Plain pottery of 2505 B.C. and 2515 B.C. A third radiocarbon date — A.D. 1450 — from the upper levels of the shell midden clearly reflects contamination derived from later occupations of the site. Nothing in the field evidence provides a sound basis for refuting the two early dates, but in view of their antiquity, firm acceptance must await independent corroborative evidence from other Southeastern sites.

Three artifacts found in a cache in Marin County, California, are suggested as having functioned in a "musical" capacity. Information on the distribution of such artifacts is solicited.