Abstract
NOTWITHSTANDING the summary character of the reports in the annual “Explorations and Field-Work of the Smithsonian Institution”, its publication is always welcome as an early source of information on recent activities in the scientific exploration of America, especially in arch¦ology and ethnology, pending the issue of full reports. The comprehensive character of this publication which, as a rule, covers all the operations of the staff in the field, also serves to indicate the general trend of research. In the issue for 1932 (Publication 3213), for example, the problem of early man in America is attacked from several aspects. Dr. Ales Hrdlicka's arch¦ological exploration of Kodiak Island, Alaska, and Mr. Henry B. Collins's investigations at Point Barrow, Alaska, have advanced the chronological and distributional classification of Eskimo cultures; Mr. Frank Setzler, investigating prehistoric cave-dwellers' sites in Texas, links positively for the first time the culture of the Big Bend area with the south-west; while Dr. Gerrit S. Miller, Jr. and Herbert W. Krieger have investigated the prehistoric cultures of islands in the West Indies with special reference to their early interrelations. Dr. Frank H. H. Roberts, Jr., continuing his excavations of Pueblo settlements in the south-western States, has carried a stage further the elucidation of the development of domestic and ceremonial buildings. Other investigations cover the mound-builders, the Indian tribes of eastern Canada and New York State and of California; and Miss Densmore continues her song-collecting activities among the Seminoles of Florida.
Article PDF
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Archæological Field Work in America. Nature 132, 200 (1933). https://doi.org/10.1038/132200c0
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/132200c0