DISSERTATIONS IN ANTHROPOLOGY In this issue the Kroeber Society continues its program of publishing abstracts of dissertations submitted in partial satis- faction of the requirements for the Ph.D. at the University of California, Berkeley. In response to several requests, we will give fuller bibliographic information, listing again the titles of the abstracts published in Number 14 and incorporating that information in the abstracts published for the first time in this number. Theses filed at the University of California Library, Berkeley, before 1952, are available on interlibrary loan and on microfilm, although microfilm copies may be distributed for the first two years after filing only at the discretion of the author. Theses filed after 1952 are available only on microfilm. Theses published in whole or in substantial pert are so listed. This set of abstracts covers the period 1950-195lo We call the attention of our readers to a work now in press which parallels our own efforts toward making thesis material known to the profession: The American Indian in Graduate Studies: A Bibliography of Theses and Dissertations. Compiled by Frederick J. Dockatader. Museum of the American Indian, Contributions, vol. XV (1957, in press). The work is an indexed listing of 3,675 M.A. and Ph.D. studies dealing wlth the American Indian (North, Central, and South America), as completed at colleges and universities in the United States, Canada, and Mexlco, 1885-1955. The theses are in other disciplines, as well as in Anthropology; the compilation is indexed by tribe, subject matter, and area. Approximately 425 pages, price approximately five dollars, Bibliographic information for abstracts published in Number 14: Stewart, Kenneth M. The Cultural Affiliations of the Gila and Colorado River Yumans. 212 lvs0 Berkeley, 1946. Spencer Robert F. Japanese Buddhism in the United States, 1940-1946: A Study in Acculturation. 251 lvs. Berkeley, 19460 Wallace, Willlam J. Hupa Education: A Study in Primitive Socialization and Per- sonality Development. 97 lvs. Berkeley, 1946. Essene, Frank J. A Comparative Study of Eskimo Mythology. 95 lvs. Berkeley, 1947. 77 King, Arden R. Aboriginal Skin Dressing in Western North America. 182 lvs. Berkeley, 1947. Hewres, Gordon W. Aboriginal Use of Fishery Resources in Northwestern North America. 287 lvs. Berkeley, 1947. Beardsley, Richard K. Temporal and Areal Rglationships in Central California Archaeology. 250 lvs. Berkeley, 1947. Published as University of California Archaeological Survey, Reports, Nos. 24, 25, 1954. Tsuchiyama, Tamie Folklore of the Northern, Southern and Pacific Athabaskans. 203 lvs. Berkeley, 1947. Elmendorf , William W. The Structure of Twana Culture. 232 lvs. Berkeley, 1949. Newman, Russell W. A Comparative Analysis of Prehistoric Skeletal Remains from the Lower Sacramento Valley. 85 lvs. Berkeley, 1949. To be published in University of California Archaeological Survey, Reports. BLOODCLOT BOY: AN HISTORICAL AND STYLISTIC STUDY OF A NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN HERO TALE Bert A. Gerow This dissertation concerns itself with the collection, analysis into comparable elements, and interpretation of a body of North American Indian folklore materials which involve the origin of an individual from blood. In part, these materials were previously classified together by Stith Thompson under the rubric "Blood-Clot-Boy." Attention is directed principally towards: (1) definition of the degree of genetic relation- ship between such tales or variants, and (2) *n historical and stylistic interpretation of the data in terms of plot development, characteriza- tion of actors, and tone. The first consideration was the determination and employment of an objective criterion or minimum definition for the inclusion or exclusion of tales. The latter had to be relatively distinctive and of a suffi- cient frequency to constitute a comparative problem. The resulting minimum definition, viz., a first-party has contact with some foreign blood from which an individual originates, showed that there was no justification for limiting the study to the Plains area or to regard certain tales outside that area as only remote parallels. The relatively continuous distribution of tales whi ch involve the determined criterion and their absence elsewrhere in the Newr World assured that our problem 78 was at least partly an historical one and hence amenable to histori- cal methods of interpretation. The genetic rekationship between the versions found expression in a number of overlapping patterns wherein elements associated with the minimum definition corresponded to previously established class- ifications, i.e., culture areas and linguistic and tribal groupings. Again the materials exhibited more than a static picture of local and regional types. Miajor differences existed between the Marginal and Central or Plains patterns. Thus, we have inferred, on the basis of the age-area princlple, that agreements between elements within the peripheral stories which serve the same function, e.g., the first- party is an old woman, represent the retention of narrative features which earlier characterize the Central area. Here was evidence of diffusion from the Central area and implied secondary development within that area. The evidence adduced in the Analysis led to the following con- clusions: all narratives which involve the common denm4nator and the hero's destruction of an evil being are an entity which has dif- fused from the Plains or Central area; the greatest degree of secon- dary development has taken place within the latter area; the original tale was simple in form, i.e.e it consisted of a single setting and climax; it was well told, i.e0, the climax was consistent with the setting; and the essential action of the tale, i.e., the slaying of an evil being, has been one of the most persistent items associated with the common denominator and also subject to the greatest amount of secondary development. 165 lvs. Berkeley, 1950. THE CONCEPT OF PROPERTY AMONG SHOSHONEANS Stephen C. Cappannari With the exception of the Hopi, the Shoshoneans considered fall within the lower extremes of the scale of complexity of known human societies, which favors an analysis of comparatively unelaborated property concepts. Thls investigation is a study of the connections between property concepts and those other aspects or facets of Shoshonean culture from which they derive meaning. It also relates contemporary studies of property with this of the Shoshoneans in an attempt to further our understanding of property as a human institu- tion. Shoshonean property concepts were assembled under the following headings: real estate; dwellings; chattels; intangible property; wealth and trade; shamanism and witchcraft; marriage; death and inheritance. The results of this study suggest that underlying Shoshonean property.rights is the implicit &asumptioii that all -members of a -79 community should have a place to live and the opportunity to acquire a livelihood. Although inequalities in property rights do exist they do not themselves give rise to power or control over other persons. The expenditure of labor in the manufacture of property objects scarcely influenced their ultimate possession, the latter being deter- mined mainly by such sociological factors as kinship, marriage, divorce, and inheritance. Property concepts in different cultures vary not only in content but in those rights, prohibitions, and obligations, which themselves define the institution of property. Unlike modern incorporeal property, Shoshonean rights in intang- ibles play an insignificant part in the total economy. Cross-cultural comparisons of property concepts which neglect the corresponding cul- tural matrices may be misleading. 131 lvs. Berkeley, 1950. CULTURE CHANGE AND NATIVE TRADE IN SOUThERN YUKON TERRITORY Catharine McClellan Ethnographers have known little about the natives of southern Yukon Territory. On the basis of preliminary field investigations carried on in 1948 and 1949, three aboriginal groups of southern Yiukon have been briefly described-the Southern Tutchone, the Tagish and the Teslin Indians. In the nineteenth century these tribes lived a simple semi-nomadilc life of hunting and fishing, typical in general of other Northern Athabascans. Their social culture, however, contained several elements more characteristic of the Tlingit who lived south of the high coastal range in a littoral environment. Tlingit concepts of clan and social ranking are well entrenched in the Tagish and Teslin groups, and are found to some degree among the Southern Tutchone, especially the Champagne band. Tlingit is also the present language of the first two tribes, although the Tagish formerly spoke an Athabascan dialect close- ly related to that of the Southern Tutchone. Our evidence shows that rather than being remnants of an ancient inland Tlingit culture, as has been suggested, these southern Yukon groups probably acquired their Tlingit traits during the nineteenth century as the result of inter-native trade relations which were inten- sified by a growing demand for land furs, In this trade the Tlingit acted as middlemen between the whites and the interior Indians, and maintained a complete and profltable monopoly throughout southern Ytukon. They controlled the passes into the interior and did not permit the, inland natives to come to the coast. The Tlingit trading included a system of partnerships wrhi ch facil1itated the exchange of cultural ideas . Some intermarriage al so took place betwree te coastal -lodians and the 80 three interior tribes, and this likewise promoted the acceptance of Tlingit social patterns and speech. Furthermore these groups were middlemen in turn between the Tlizngit and the more northern Athabas- cans, which enabled them to acquire sufficient economic surplus to maintain borrowed Tlingit institutions. 267 lye. Berkeley, 1950. THE CULTURAL POSITION OF PONAPE IN OCEANIA Saul H. Riesenberg Intercourse between the islands of the Caroline group, and also with other areas of Oceania, has been frequent and prolonged, and to it must be assigned a principle role in the diffusion of cultural elements. But in comparison with the Central Carolines, where sus- tained commerce existed, the natives of Ponape, as well as those of the other high islands of Micronesia, have remained relatively ses- sile. Most contacts which have occurred have involved non-Ponapeans as the active agents in culture diffu0ion. Numerous speculations by previous writers on cultural connec- tions of Micronesia reveal a wide diversity of opinion. No really systematic study has heretofore been undertaken. In the present study some 115 Micronesian traits are studied and their distributions traced outside of Micronesia. Fifty-six of these traits occur on Ponape. Analysis of traits shared by other regions with Ponape reveals that within Micronesia the closest similarities are with the other islands of the Eastern Carolines. The Central Carolines show fewer similarities to Ponape than do the Western Carolines; the rea- sons are partly environmental, but direct contacts between Ponape and Yap are also indicated, and there are suggestions that the pre- sent culture of the Central Carolines represents a disruption of a once more uniform culture which existed over the whole of the archi- pelago. Connections with Indonesia are apparent, but specifically simi- lar traits are spread over that entire region, suggesting that they are remote in time or that the rapidity of historical events here has disturbed relationships which once existed. Melanesian affini- ties are also discernible; but the closest connections lie with Western Polynesia and Fiji, and extend also to the Western Polynesian outliers, including Kapingamarangi and Nukuoro in the Southern Caro lines. No grand scheme emerges from the trait comparisons. Western Polynesian influences seem to be the most recent, but important cul- tural waves or movements of populations are not discernible from the evidence. An important part in culture diffusion has been played by involuntary and solitaryr voyagers from all parts of Oceania, who have introduced single elements of culture over a long period of time. 81 240 lvs. Berkeley, 1950. DISEASE CONCEPTS AND PLANT ICINES IN NATIVE SOUTH AMERICA Clarence E. Smith, Jr. An extensive body of data derived from the literature on ninety- five tribes is examined to answer some definition problems of disease concept; to correlate medi cines and curing techniques with disease concepts on an areal basis; and to demonstrate recognition by the Indians of the true medicinal value of certain preparations, although a rational understanding of disease-cause may be lacking. Tabulations and maps of distributions of the data indicate that the concepts defined recognize no cultural barriers: the distribu- tions include agricultural, semi-agricultural, and non-agricultural people. In the same way, there are no definite economic restrictions against the use of plant medicines. It is true in a general way that agricultural people make a greater use of a wider variety of plant species, but only a couple of the least advanced of the non-agricultural groups are entirely w'ithout plant medicines. Faith healing, or treatment without medicines in our sense of the word, is demonstrated to be universal among South American natives. Real medicines, defined as those which produce a recognizable physiological reaction, which may or may not serve to alleviate an existing condition of sickness, are all found to be products of the vegetable kingdom. Most of these are used for depurative purposes: as diuretics, emetics, purgatives, etc., in full accord with the pre- vailing ideas of disease-cause--intrusion of a pathogenic object or of a sickness-causing spirit. An examination of a random sampl'ing of the vast number of plant species named in the literature indi cates that the Indian users of plant medicines frequently demonstrate an astuteness in selection of specifics for particular purposes that argues for a long history of trial and error culminating in a very considerable body of empiric knowledge of therapeutically useful flora. Among the approximately 200 species investigated about 30% are found to have been used medi- cinally at some time in official practice in the United States. These plants contain chemical principles' which produce physiological effects of therapeutic value for treatment of a number of ailments, and while not always rationally used by the Indians, such rational use was by no means infrequent. A conclusion to be drawn is that medicine as practiced by the South American Indians presents, in doctrine and in practice, the two fundamental characteristics of primitive medicine the world ovrer- maagic and empiricism. Since much sickness is magical or spiritual in 82 etiology, treatment is primarily of the same nature. But empiric practices have established a body of medicaments, based on and derived from regional floras, which afford symptomatic relief, which induce a favorable psychological attitude, and which serve to elim- inate toxic substances in practice as well as theory, fulfilling in many specific instances physiological functions corresponding to desired magi cal results. 140 lvs. Berkeley, 1950. THE TOPANGA CULTURE AND SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA PREHISTORY Adan E. Treganza This dissertation concerns itself with the early prehistory of southern California and is presented in two parts. Part I, The Topanga Culture, represents the results of two seasons of excavation by the University of California in the suimmers of 1947 and 1948 at the Tank Site LAn-l, and site LAn-2 in Topanga Canyon, California. The Topanga culture is one basically characterized by a flake and core tool lithic industry with a food economy based primarily upon utilization of the plant world. On the basis of changes in certain implement types the Topanga culture has been divided into two periods of development, here designated as phase I and II. Because of the physiographic location of the Tank Site, the type of implements recovered, the degree of surface alteration (patination) on the lithic artifacts, and the pedologic changes which have taken place in the human refuse deposit the conclusion is that the age of this culture must be viewed in terms of considerable antiquity. The data recovered from excavation of the Tank Site now place the Topanga culture in a position of constituting one of the best documented sites evidencing the presence of early man in far western North America. Part II, Southern California Prehistory, is a critical re- examination of the evidence relative to the assumed high antiquity of man in- the Pacific littoral and desert regions of southern California. It was found that in no single instance could the cultural remains of man in the 4esert areas be proved to be in direct association with geologic features interpreted by some as dating from the Provo-Pluvial period contemporaneous with the last (Wisconsin) glaciation. On the Pacific littoral, geologi cal data, where concerned with man, have been so inadequately reported upon that to use them in dating human remains appears highly hazardous. It has been concluded that the age dating of man in southern California through geological association has thus far failed as a dependable method, and that earlier claims for Pleisto- cene man in the desert regions are questionable. An attempt has been made to bring together heretofore unerlated cultural data and to organize them into some conceptual framework. 83 Using the Topanga culture as a basis, cultural comparisons were made with remains in other areas. The result of this comparative analysis is sumrized in Table 11, a proposed cultural sequence for southern California ranging in time from the earliest known cultural horizons up to the historic period. On the coast from Santa Barbara to San Diego, there appears to be a three-fold cultural sequence covering a considerable time period. In the desert regions a somewhat comparable cultural series exists and certain cultural and chronological connec- tions between the desert and the coast have been suggested6 296 lvi. Berkeley, 1950. To be published in University of California Anthropologi cal Records. MINDORO ANTHROPOMETRY AND RACIAL ORIGINS IN NORTHERN INDONESIA Leo A. Estel The anthropometri c data presented show the Iraya, Nauhan and Hanunoo peoples of the island of Mindoro to represent phenotypically three different patterns of metrical and morphological physical char- acteristics. The Iraya are quite similar to the Veddoid peoples of Southeast Asia and Indonesia typified by the Sakai of the Malay Penin- sula and the Toala of the island of Celebes. The Nauha.n are pygmoid Mongoloids. Individuals of a simillar physical type can be found in South China. The Hanunoo are an Early Asiatic group resembling in physical type groups of peoples in Indonesia that have been called "Indonelsian" or "Proto-Malay.`t Anthropometrical data are not avail- able for the other groups of peoples on Mindoro. Published anthropometrical data show unmixed Negritos only on the island of Luzon in the Philippine Islands. Evidence for the presence of Negritos on the rest of the islands of the Philippines is dubious. No Negritos have been found on Borneo or Celebes. The Batak of Palawan and the Iraya of Mindoro are Veddoids, The phenotypic expression of Veddoid genes is responsible for the physical type of many individuals said to be the result of the interbreeding of Negritos and non- Negritos. The Early Asiatic peoples are the result of long continuing migrations from the mainland of Ansa. The Malay-speaking Southern longoloids migrated more recently from the maainland of Southeast Asia and settled in the coastal areas. 88 lva. Berkeley, 1950. SOME ASPECTS OF CULTURE CHANGE IN A MOUNTAIN NEIGHBORHOOD OF EAST TENNESSEE Marion Pearsall In recent years many anthropologists have concerned themselvse with the phenomena of culture change0 Tbe preent study attempts to 84 analyze the factors at work in speeding or slowing the rate of change in a small neighborhood located in the mountainous eastern portion of Sevier County, Tennessee. The group studied is Xdesignated as a neigh- borhood rather than a community in view of the nebulous nature of the kinship and other ties which hold the group together as a social unit. In Chapter I the regional settlng of the neighborhood is discussed and the advi sability of designating a Southern Appalachian culture area is considered. Basic cultural differences between settlements along the major valleys and those on the generally poorer soils of the steep ridges are indicated. The history of pioneer settlement in the area is described in its relation to the present-day retention of pioneer cul- ture patterns in the more remote and isolated ridge settlements. Chapter II describes the present conditions in the neighborhood of Black Gum Gap in East Tennessee. Local patterns of subsistence and attitudes toward material possessions are shown to differ greatly from the American ideals of 'honest work" and "keeping up with the Joneses."1 The informal nature of all local institutions is suggested. Local rel- igious beliefs based on a stern and fundamentalist interpretation of the Old Testament are shown to conflict with the milder New Testament religion of Methodist mission personnel who have worked in the neighbor- hood and now maintain a Sunday school there. Educational institutions are seen as a conflict between the older pattern of training through the family and a formal grade school system imposed on the neighborhood by outside agencies. Chapter III considers the relation of this study to other studies of culture change. One of the most important factors at work in the neighborhood is conservatism, or resisstance to change. The suggestion is made that more attention should be paid to this negative aspect of culture change in anthropological research. 162 lvs. Berkeley, 1950. THE CONCEPT OF CULTURAL MARGINALITY AND NATIVE AGRICULTURE IN SOUTH RICA William D. Hohenthal, Jr. The classification of certain South American cultures as "imargin- al"' is basic to several recent reconstructions of aboriginal culture history. The classification implies certain assumptions which con- flict with the available ethnographic and archaeological evidence. Proof is lacking for the assumption of a basic cultural pattern in pre-horticultural times in the New World. The suggestion that present-day "marginal" peoples are survivors of this theoretical archai c Ameri can cultural pattern assumes that they have tot changed essentially since arriving in America. Archaeological evidence in both North and South America fails to support this a.sumption. 85 Despite claims to the contrary, the exploitative devices used by "marginal" peoples are no more elementary than those used by other native. South American peoples. South American "marginala" do not char- acteristically lack agriculture as alleged, since 83 per cent of them farm, some of the tribes cultivating crops on an elaborate scale. Agriculture was not denied to South American "marginal&" becau,e of environmental limitations, because most of them lived in regions where aboriginal farming was feasible. The claim that the elementary exploit- ative activities of "marginals" set narrow limits to cultural develop- ment is contradicted by ethnographic evidence. "Marginals" are no more nomadic nor less stable in groups than Tropical Forest tribes, nor are they characteristically organized in small bands since some "marginal&" represent greater populations than some Tropical Forest peoples. .Marginal" tribes possessing nonmarginal traits, accor4iing to the diagnosis of cultural marginality, are alleged to have borrowed these from 'more advanced" peoples. Nowhere is there any evidence to prove this contention, the fallacy of which lies in the treatment of the Silval, Marginal, and Circum-Caribbean culture types as homogeneous ones and in the unfounded belief that diffusion is always unilateral, "simple' tribes habitually borrowing from "advanced" tribes. When the twenty-three culture traits claimed to be diagnostic of cultural marginality, including the absence of agriculture, are compared in tabular form with the South American tribes classed as "marginal," it can be clearly shown that either these traits are not diagnostic of cultural marginality as claimed or that the existence of a "marginal culture" type for South America is not demonstrated. The South American "marginal." do not belong together in any mean- ingful sense. The hunters and fishermen of southernmost South America may be placed in a single category by contrast with the agricultural north, but there is still a subsistence difference between the west coast fishermen and the east coast hunting tribes. The other "marginal" tribes of South America should be considered with their Tropical Forest and Circum-Caribbean neighbors. The entire area east of the Andes should be regarded as a great region in which there are a number of striking local specializations, of which the Brazilian Ge tribes un- doubtedly form one. 251 lvs. Berkeley, 1951. HIE CONCEPT OF DUALISM IN AMERICAN INDIAN FOLORE Burton S. Lowrimore Dualistic concepts involving two antithetical culture-heroes who differ as to whether life should be, easy or harsh for mankind are pre- sent in the New World in three areas: In western North America such beliefs are found among the Basin and California tribes, with extens- ions into the Southwestern, P1alns, Plateau and North Pacific Coast 86 culture areas; in the eastern United States they are found among the Iroquois and their Algonquin neighbors; and in South America they occur among the Ona and Yahgan of Tierra del Fuego. In the dualistic myths of Tierra del Fuego, and in those of western North America, the pair differ over the introduction of death, hard work, sexual relations, child birth and menstruation; the mar- plot's will prevails, and therefore life is harsh at the present time. There are sufficient common features in these two areas to warrant the assumption of a common origin in the remote past, and this conclusion is reinforced by the persistence in the Chaco region of South America of similar although not identical beliefs, which are to be interpreted as remnants of a widespread archaic dualism. The dualistic myths of eastern North America lack the above- mentioned incidents; instead, they center about a good and an evil twin who create useful and harmful animala and natural phenomena respectively. These features are not developed in the dualistic myths of Tierra del Fuego and western North America, and we are led to the conclusion that the dualistic myths of eastern North America are a distinct growth, historically unrelated to those of the two other reg- ions discussed. 10 lvs. Berkeley, 1951. THE HAZARA MONGOLS OF AFGHANISTAN: A STUDY IN SOCIAL ORGANIZATION Elizabeth E. Bacon The Hazara Mongols of Afghanistan have a type of social organiza- tion not hitherto described. As in clan organization, descent is uni- linear, members of the various groups into which the society is organ- ized believe themselves to be descended from a common ancestor, and individuals retain through life membership in the groups into whi ch they were born. It differs from the clan in that an individual belongs not to one group, but to a whole series of unilinear descent groups arranged in such a way that the whole society has a genealogical struc- ture. There is a tendency to think of all members of the society as being ultimately descended from a common ancestor. Because of the preoccupation with distance of relationship rather than with group membership, such a society may either be exogamous or have a tendency toward endogamy, and it is possible to shift from one to the other without any disturbance to the social structure. In the ascending line of groups to which an individual belongs there is no one level which may be singled out as being different in kind from the others. Groups at every level, from the lineage up to the msot inclusivre one, havre names anld an} individual, to properly identify himself, shsould give the names of all the groups to which he belongs . 87 Because groups at all levels are of the came order no terminolog- ical distinction is made among them. No level may be singled out at which groups are differentiated by special syabols o;r function. These kin or pseudo-kin groups at the several levels are terri- torial units, and such political organization as exists coincides with the social territorial alignment. Since the Hazara Mongols are not unique in having this type of social organization,- it merits a special name. The writer has called it "tribal genealogical," or obog organization. Following the description of Hazara Mongol social structure, the social organization of the Medieval Mongols, from whom the Hazaras are descended, and the Arabs, has been analyzed and found to resemble that of the Hazaras. An analysis of Nuer organization in Africa shows it to conform to the tribal genealogical pattern in most reupect-, but to differ in some. 153 lvs. Berkeley, 1951. ]EXCAVATIONS NEAR UMATILLA, OREGON: THE ARAOLOGY OF THE COLUMBIA INTERMONTANE PROVINCE Homer D. Osborne Little has been done in the Plateau (northern Oregon, Washington, and southern British Columbia east of the Cascades and west of the Rockies) in the way of detailed archaeology. The work done in the 1930's in Grand Coulee Reservoir, severely handicapped in many ways, was the only large excavation program before the present one. The American Museum of Natural History, the United States National Museum and local institutions have done some survey, but it was not until the summer of 1948 when the Smithsonian Institution's River Basin Surveys began excavations in McNary Reservoir near Umatilla, Oregon, that a fully equipped crew was put in the field and an extensive program initiated. Two sites were partly excavated during 1948. One was a burial and midden area (45-BN-3); the other a large village (45-BN-53). The former is assignable to the early contact years. The latter is cer- tainly much earlier. Probably the houses were made and occupied large- ly during the seventeenth century and early eighteenth century. Extensive burial pathology was noted. The tracing of modes of burial in the Plateau indicated that the forms found were more similar to those which are recorded for the north and up the Columbia river than the Chinook methods found below0, . The survey of archaeologi c literature attempted showe?d rather con- clusively that Plateau culture has been surprisingly well unified for 88 the periods studied. These are, of course, the later ones. It remains to be seen whether or not the finds that are now being made of earlier manifestations will present the similarities that his- toric and proto-historic sub-cultures of the area do. Some evidence does exist that Great Basin types of tools and patterns of culture were the older norms in the Plateau. Architectural traits were examined; small reason appears to exist for the widespread belief that the true northern pit house was a common type. More usual was a round or rounded rectangular shallow pit house with a light and possibly temporary superstructure, probably mat covered. This is a definite break between the northern (largely Canadian) and southern facets of this aspect of the material culture of the Plateau. Sub-areas in the Plateau, resting upon this, tool types and burial types would thus be the northern, central, and southwestern. The latter is the area from The Dalles into Chinook territory for a short distance downriver. The Umatilla sites dis- cussed are in the central sub-area of the Plateau. 337 lys. Berkeley, 1951. A COMPARISON OF THIE CRITERIA OF AGE DETERMINATION OF HN SIKELETONS BY CRANIAL AND PELVIC MORPHOLOGY Shei lagh Thompson Physical anthropologists, especially when dealing with archaeo- logical skeletal remains, consider estimates of age at death an essen- tial part of their work. There has been to date a great reliance on cranial suture closure without considering other methods of determining age, particularly pelvic morphology. This has probably led to an under-estimating of the age, at least of the females, in many popula- tions whose known age at death is unavailable. The author utilized T. Wingate Toddls methods of assessing cranial and pelvric ages on California Indian skeletal material from archaeo- logical sites. Six weeks were also spent at Western Reserve University, working with as many of Toddls white skeletons as were available. The results of the work at Western Reserve are utilized as the control for the California Indian data, and the conclusions for both are presented, with certain other derived and pertinent issues. The immediate results of the analysis of the California Indian material is the mortality curve for the prehistoric California Indian population. Other results are: 1) an estimate of the validity of Washburn' X ischio-pubic index as a method of determining sex on American Indian material; 2) the differential ossif ication of male and female skeletons; and 3) the still undetermined variations in the age phases of the pubic symphysis0 The data presented in this thesis show the reliability of the phases of the pubic symphysis as an age indicator and the variability of cranial suture closure. In the Western Reserve skeletal material 89 all the evidence substantiates the close correlation of the age based on the symphymis pubis with the known age at death. The correlation between cranial suture closure and known age is unsatisfactory, especi- ally in the female series, and indicates the unreliability of this method of assessing age. Since the California Indian skeletal material was judged on the same bases, and since the resulting mortality curves seem "normal" for the population, and since the quantitative analysis of the data shows the stability of the pelvic age, this evidence corro- borates the conclusion that pelvic morphology should be the major basis on which to estimate individual age at death. Endocranial suture clo- sure can be referred to as a secondary and reasonably valid method of determining age, while ectocranial suture closure should be used only with caution. Thus, any age determination on skeletal material should be an estimate based on an over-all analysis of every available bit of infor- mation: endocranial and ectocranial suture closure, tooth eruption and wear, epiphysis-diaphysis junction, age changes of the scapula, arth- ritic and other exostoses, and morphology of the pubic symphysis. It is true that certain of these can be relied upon more readily than others, but even the pelvi'c age is subject to variations. 68 lva. Berkeley, 1951. Published as Sheilagh Thompson Brooks, Skeletal Age at Death: the Reliability of Cranial and Pubic Age Indicators. Am. Jour. Phys. Anthro., vol. 13, pp. 567-598, 1955. THE UTE MOUNTAIN UTE--A STUDY IN DIFFERENTIAL BORROWING Harold L. Amoss, Jr. At the present time, the southwestern corner of the State of Color- ado is given over to the Ute Mountain Indian Reservation on which live about five hundred Ute. Most of these Indians belong to the Wiminunte band, which aboriginally was one of three bands of Ute living in south- ern Colorado. A large part of the culture of the Ute Mountain Ute has been bor- rowed from their neighbors, the Plains Indians, the Indians of the Southwest, the Spanish, the Mexicans, and lastly the Americans. Con- siderable selectivity has been shown in this borrowing, and those items accepted were generally modified, usually in the direction of simplif- i cation. It was thought at the initiation of this study that by an examina- tion of the culture of this Ute band at different time levels, a char- acteristic Wiminunte pattern of borrowing would be apparent in all contact situations. No one pattern appeared. The transference of cul- tural itema during each contact depended on the presence or absence of hostility and the ability of the recipients to assimilate the innovations into their culture. In addition, it was only possible for alien items to diffuse into Wimihunte culture from those segments of foreign culture 90 to which the Wiminunte were exposed. This would appear to be a truism yet the negati-ve aspect of the procecs has been ignored by other writers. A re-evaluation of the concept of rejection became necessary to separate those items to which the Ute Mountain Ute were exposed from the items to which they were not exposed, in order to asnese the cultural reasons for the presence or absence of certain alien items. Each contact situation was found to be different from the others. 135 lva. Berkeley, 1951. 91 1 REPORT on the FIRST ANNUAL ANTHROPOLOGICAL MEETINGS sponsored by KROEBER ANTHROPOLOGICAL SOCIETY The Executive Council is pleased to report that the Society's First Annual Anthropological Meetings, held May 18, 1957, at the Alumni House of the University of California, Berkeley, met with considerable success. Over 130 persons, representing thirteen insti- tutions, attended; many of these were also present at the luncheon and cocktail party which were part of the program. The attendance and character of the meetings makes us hopeful that further sessions will do much to fill the gap created by the demise of the Western States Branch of the American Anthropological Association, by afford- ing an opportunity for local exchange of ideas and information. We are indebted to the members of the Society whose efforts made the meetings possible, and to the Department of Anthropology for its sup- port; much credit is due Mr. Octavio Romano, who conceived the plan and directed its execution with finesse. Following is a list of participants and titles of papers presented, and one of the institutions represented at the meetings. Lawrence Dawson: Inventory of Paracas-Nasca Material Culture. Adan E. Treganza: Excavations at the Patterson Site, Ala-328. Robert F. Heizer: Prehistoric Central California--A Problem in Historical Developmental Classification. Martin A. Baumhoff: Ecological Determinants of a California Population. James A. Bennyhoff: The Food Quest in Prehistoric Central California. Albert B. Elsasser: Aboriginal Use of Restrictive Sierran Environments0 William M. Harrison: Uses of Archaeological Data in Anthropol- ogical Theory. James F. Downs: Preliminary Investigations of a California Nudist Group. 93 James F. Rooney: "1Skid Road" as a Social System. Sarah Anne Robinson: "Skid Road" in a Social System. Pertti J. Pelto: Value Orientations in Finnish and American First Grade Readers. David M. Schneider: A Cross-Cultural Study of Dreams. Leonard Kasdan: Peasantry and Levantism; Marginality in a New State. Henry Orenstein: The Ends of Classification. John H. Rowe: A Social Theory of Cultural Change. Joseph A. Hester, Jr.: Maya Salt. Eduardo Contreras: Anthropology in Mexico. William D. Hohenthal: Sex, Class, and Status in Racial Relations-- N. E. Brazil. Wick R. Miller: Linguistic Borrowing in the Pueblo Southwest. Edward B. Harper: Myth, Reality, and Regionalism. Sally Martin: Ifugao Sorcery. Mary Sellers: Religious Beliefs and Values in a Northern Thai Village. Harumi Befu: Alternate Kinship Terms and Social Structure in Japan. Edward N. Norbeck: Caste-like Social Groups of Japan. Robert F. Murphy (Chmn), Eugene A. Hammel, and David M. Scheider: A Symposium on the Diachronic Dimension of Social Structure. Institutions Represented: University of California, Berkeley Sacramento State College San Francisco State College Oakland Junior College Stanford University College of the Pacific San Jose State College Stockton Junior College University of Nevada State Indian Museum, Museo Nacional de Mexico Sacramento, California University of Washington Santa Rosa Junior College For the Council, Luci lle Steelman President 94