Construction activities at Torrance County Beach in Los Angeles County, California, recently removed the last remnant of Hollywood Riviera, a once important archaeological site. Among the artifacts recovered during earth-moving operations and from earlier surface hunts are numerous handstones, milling stones, and cobble hammers. Also included in the collection are two mortars, a pestle, and a few rude choppers. Smaller stone-work consists of large, coarsely flaked projectile points, broken knife blades, simple flake scrapers, and an unusual chipped "crescent." The plentiful seed-grinding implements testify to a seed-collecting mode of subsistence for Hollywood Riviera's former inhabitants, whereas a near absence of molluscan remains in the archaeological deposit suggests that they were an inland people, recently moved to the seashore, who had not yet acquired a taste for shellfish. Occupation at the site appears to have occurred entirely within the Early Milling Stone horizon of the southern California coast, dated roughly between 5000 and 2000 B.C., and presumably during an early phase of it.

Copper artifacts from Manitoba are compared with types established in Wisconsin. Wittry's typology is confirmed and further clues to chronology are derived from distributional studies of the types. The data on Minnesota copper artifacts are re-examined.

Excavation of the Griesmer site in northwestern Indiana has revealed an Upper Mississippi campsite where riverine food resources were intensively utilized. The discovery of 14 sherds from drilled colanders in Oneota cooking pits suggests relationship to colanders found on some Fort Ancient sites or the conversion of ordinary cooking vessels to meet specific food-preparation needs on a site of this type.

In proposing a pre-projectile point cultural stage for North and South America, Alex Krieger has cited certain lithic material from Taltal and other Chilean sites as supporting evidence. That this is an erroneous assumption can be shown by available data. As far as the Chilean record is concerned, Krieger and others have been misled by the low level of technology of certain specific artifacts for which false claims have been made. They have not recognized that these items are a very widespread feature of seemingly unrelated cultures ranging from the Peruvian and Chilean preceramic to the Inca of the 16th century.

Radiocarbon dating is a useful tool in archaeological research, but the precision hoped for by some is not attainable because of the nature of the radiocarbon assay itself, possible contaminations, the Suess effect, and especially the peculiar nature of wood structure and growth. Wood and charcoal, unlike animal remnants, will not necessarily give the age corresponding to the time when the tree died or was cut; they will give only the age of the particular fragment used in the radiocarbon assay. If wood comes from the central portion of a large tree stem, there may even be several hundred years difference between its radiocarbon date and the date of the corresponding archaeological level. Such discrepancies are common in the recent finds at Teotihuacάn. Even the apparently erroneous date of 1474 ± 230 B.C. for Teotihuacάn can thus be explained. Other radiocarbon dates should also be evaluated with this in mind.

A study of some projectile points collected in the region of Oaxaca, Mexico, was recently concluded. It was possible to relate most of the specimens to the typology employed at nearby Tehuacan. The earliest points date from the El Riego phase, beginning ca. 6800 B.C. Limited evidence suggests that, possibly because of pluvial conditions, the early folk of Oaxaca kept to the foothills rather than the valley floors. This may have effected cultural differences with Tehuacan. Oaxaca may also have had an important part to play in the migration of early man to South America.

A barbed projectile point of antler found at Pyramid Lake, Nevada, is an unusual archaeological specimen for the Great Basin. The point is thought to have been hafted for use as a fish or bird spear and is possibly Eskimo in design.

A short-wave ultraviolet-light source applied to human phalanges which have been soaked in a commercial ultraviolet-fluorescing pigment allows for rapid and fairly accurate discrimination between individuals obtained from the same archaeological site. The technique is useful in discriminating between sites to a lesser extent.

Of the criticisms advanced by Bird on the article entitled “Early Man in the New World,” some are held to be pertinent to the purposes of this article, and suggestions are made for their clarification; others do not seem to be directly relevant and no modifications are attempted.

Cruciform artifacts made of stone have been reported from a large area in northwestern Mexico and adjoining parts of the United States. These are now being found in considerable numbers in the vicinity of El Paso, Texas. Recent finds near El Paso reveal that some cruciforms were made of bone and others of pottery. Available provenience data suggest that cruciforms were first used in the local preceramic period and continued in use until A.D. 1450.

A type of Mexican folk pottery first collected in 1920 at Cuernavaca is demonstrated to be of Iberian derivation and to date back as early as the 17th century. It has been found at Ft. Jesus in Mombasa, Kenya, and at the kiln site in the Old City of Panama. The pottery is decorated with inlays of small tesserae of feldspar and occasionally other minerals. Incision, stamping, low relief, and red paint are often associated decorative features.

Ethnographic data on bone defleshing tools were collected in 1964 from the Black River Band of Ojibwa who now live along the southeastern shore of Lake Winnipeg in Manitoba. The information presented is especially pertinent to archaeological interpretation of these specialized tools.

In the present paper a systematic classification of ancient calcareous materials has been proposed which more closely defines limestone in terms of the ratio of calcium to magnesium present. The same classification may be applied to mortars and plasters to characterize the raw materials from which they were made. The classification includes "pure" calcium and magnesium minerals and any combination of the two.

A new analytical procedure has been devised which eliminates the major sources of error in a previously used method and consists of first igniting the sample to remove all organic matter and most of the carbon dioxide and to oxidize any iron compounds to the ferric state. This is followed by solution of the sample under mild conditions and volumetrically determining the calcium and magnesium under conditions which eliminate the effect of any dissolved impurities.

A unique, miniature horseshoe-shaped stone yoke from Papantla, near Tajin in Mexico, is described and illustrated. The undoubtedly ceremonial character of this and other miniature yokes seems to strengthen the hypothesis that the larger-sized stone yokes were used primarily as p r o t e c t i v e gear by pre-Columbian ball players.

A proton magnetometer was used in a magnetic survey of a site near San Diego, California. Two hearths and a fire pit were located which otherwise would not have been discovered without extensive excavation. Magnetic surveying of a site in southern California has proved successful and further use of the method in North America is warranted.

A fragile-pattern area is defined as any archaeological area in which man's material remains lie without depth upon an existing natural surface and thus comprise a pattern which is disturbed or broken by any form of selective artifact collecting. Such surfaces as desert pavements, degraded lake terraces, dunes, and trails are described, and it is shown why the first surveyor to visit a site should collect all available materials and information rather than sample them in the traditional manner. Suggestions are made for surveying areas that have already been damaged by collectors.

The most unsatisfactory artifact names are those which imply some definite but essentially imaginary function. Those who use such names may confess that they have no proof of this function, but they often defend their position by citing the belief-excusable even when unfounded - that a name of such importance would not have been accepted without sufficient investigation. It is suggested that the term gorget was ultimately derived from the name applied to a metal military ornament used in the 18th century.

Another publication of the uncorrected, transposed, and incomplete design layout of an important Teotihuacan-style pottery vessel from the Maya Lowlands has prompted this publication of the corrected and complete version.