Archaeology Magazine - April 1967 - 52

in prehistoric levels of his excavations on Easter Island, as well as
decomposed Scirpus tat ora, the
rush which he contends was
brought from South America.Roger
Green presented a comprehensive
developmentalsummary of the prehistory of Western Polynesia which
may be of great significancefor the
culture history of other island
groups. Stuart Scott's paper covered fortificationsand mounds from
Upolu and Savai'i, Samoa. Alexander Spoehr summarized the symposium with a paper entitled
"Problems in Oceanic Prehistory:
A General View."
A second symposium, "Peoples
of the North Pacific," included
papers on archaeology, as follows:
"Aleuts, Descendants of the Bering
Land Bridge Population," by W. S.
Laughlin; "Traces of the EskimoAleut Culture on the Pacific Coast
of Kamchatka," by I. S. Vdovin;
"The Anangula Unifacial Core and
Blade Industry of 8400 B.c.," by
J. S. Aigner and W. S. Laughlin;
"Two Millennia of Cultural Evolution of Bering Sea Mammal Hunters," by C. A. Arutyunov and
D. A. Sergheev; "Blade and Burin
Industries in Northwestern North
America: Summary of Current Research," by W. N. Irving; and
"Some Problems of Prehistoric
Chronologyof Northeast Asia," by
C. S. Chard.
During the second week several
sections on prehistory and archaeology were convened. P. I. Boriskovsky presented new Palaeolithic
material from Mount Dõ in North
Yietnam, believed to be similar to
the Tampanian and Patjitanian (although the overwhelming majority
of the finds are flakes). Richard
Shutler contributed a survey paper
on radiocarbon dates in Southeast
Asia, Australia and the Pacific.
New discoveries,demonstrating the
existence of human settlements as
early as 18,000years ago in southern Australia, and earlier in the
north, were discussedby D. J. Mulvaney. Recent field work in the
Ryukyus, including the excavation
of a site possibly comparable to
Ie Jima, which produced enigmatic
early artifacts of deer bone, was
discussed by H. Takamiya, while
R. Pearson. presented recent radiocarbon dates from Ryukyu sites,
ranging from 760 b.c. to A.D.1010.
Pearson also contributed a paper
on the prehistory of East Taiwan.
132

Papers on the Philippines included a discussion of jar burials
from the Kulaman Plateau, southwest Cotabato, by M. Maceda, a
paper on boat coffin burials by
Rosa C. P. Terazas, a summary of
excavations at Tabon Cave, Palawan Island, by R. Fox, and an
outline of recent activities of the
Philippine National Museum by
A. Evangelista.Antonio de Almeida
spoke on "The Prehistory of Portuguese Timor" and "Rock Paintings
in Portuguese Timor." Tom Harrisson outlined new archaeologicalresearch in Niah Cave and elsewhere
in Borneo, with special reference to
the Early Stone Age. There can
be no doubt that Homo Sapiens,
dated at Niah at more than 30,000
years ago, used chopper tools.
These artifacts cover a time span
from the Tampanian and Patjitanian to as late as 30,000 years ago
and should not be linked only with
Pithecanthropines, according to
Harrisson. R. P. Soejono presented
a paper, "Gilimanuk, An Early
Iron Age Settlement" and H. Melichar discussed Japanese archaeological terms and their problems.
Wilhelm G. Solheim II presented
a comprehensive summary of his
excavationprogram in Thailand.
During the Congress there were
two meetings of the Far-Eastern
Prehistory Association. It was announced that beginning with Volume IX of Asian Perspectives, the
Social Science Research Institute
of the University of Hawaii will
publish the journal. The new Executive Council of the Association
comprises: W. G. Solheim II (Hawaii), Chairman; Richard Pearson
(Hawaii), Secretary; and Frederick D. McCarthy (Australia), R. P.
Soejono (Indonesia), Ichiro Yawata (Japan), and Bruce Palmer
(Fiji).
Six papers were presented during
these meetings. Two of these outlined important advances in the
pre-Jomon chronology of Japan:
T. Esaka, "Kamikuroiwa Shelter,
ShikokuIsland, Japan," and C. Serizawa, "The Upper Palaeolithic in
Japan." Sites on the order of 40,000
years ago are now known from the
"Palaeolithic" of Japan. Other
papers were: R. P. Soejono, "Report on Indonesia, 1962-1966: An
Outline," T. Kobayashi, "Excavations in the New Guinea Highlands," and R. Green, "Characterization of New Zealand Obsidians."

Those attending the Congress
were able to take advantage of
several important exhibitions in
Tokyo, including the treasures of
the Tenri Museum, the sculptures
of the Kofukuji Temple, and a
comprehensivesurvey of Yayoi pottery, based on the collectionof the
Department of Archaeology of
Meiji University. The Gakushuin
Radiocarbon Laboratory, and the
archaeological laboratories of several universities within Tokyo
were also visited. A tour of important prehistoric sites was arranged
by Y. Sinoto of the Bishop Museum.
University of Rome Excavations,
1966 Campaigns
We owe the followingaccount to
the kindness of Professor Sabatino
Moscati:
During 1966the Institute of Near
Eastern Studies of the University
of Rome sponsored a number of
excavations which had as their focus the Mediterranean basin, especially the most ancient phases of
its history. These were carried out
in associationwith other universities
and the various Superintendencies
for Antiquity,within the compassof
a long-range plan sponsored and
financed by the National Council
of Research, and with the cooperation of the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs.
In Syria a third campaign at Tell
Mardikh was conducted (AugustOctober) under the direction of
Professors P. Matthiae and Maria
Squarciapino.Here, on the acropolis
of the city which flourished in the
early second millennium B.c., was
discovered the royal palace, some
portions of which were excavated.
The great temple revealed on the
acropolis the previous year now is
shown to have a plan with three
courtyards.This anticipateswith remarkable parallelism the plan of
the Temple of Solomonas described
in the Old Testament. Numerous
sculptural fragments showing Old
Babylonianthemes have been added
to those already found, filling out
our knowledgeof an art which, for
the first time, shows the spread of
Sumero-Akkadian civilization into
the heart of Syria.
In Egypt the second season of excavation at Antinoe was conducted
during September and October.

Archaeology Magazine - April 1967

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Archaeology Magazine - April 1967