American archaeology has reached a level of intellectual maturity which allows the study and analysis of its development. While most studies have stressed the growth of the discipline, few have emphasized the socio-historical context or the motivations of the individuals involved. The United States National Museum- Gates Southwest expeditions serve as a focus of these historical variables, and this report discusses community lifestyle, expedition participants, and financial agreements to clarify the organization and success of the endeavor.

This study argues that the debris field left by the Bonneville Flood in southwestern Idaho can be viewed as a sacred landscape. A correlation is made between petroglyph placement and flood-produced Melon Gravel. The significance of this correlation is then discussed within a mythic framework.

This report discusses five prehistoric pipes recovered from a mortuary assemblage identified in western Idaho. They are described and interpreted within a New World ritual context centered on tobacco, smoke, and pipe function.

This report is a compilation of known radiocarbon dates reported from archaeological sites in southern Idaho. Its purpose is to provide an inventory of previously published and unpublished dates to facilitate use by researchers and cultural resource managers. Contemporary professional demands have created a surge of antiquities management and assessment studies which are quickly outpacing traditional research reports. Management decisions often rely on outdated chronologies which have not been critically evaluated. In addition, many radiocarbon dates are not readily available to scholars working in Idaho and adjacent areas. As systematic archaeological studies continue in Idaho, the need for usable research tools has increased (e.g., Pavesic, Plew, and Sprague 1979). The report attempts to expand the base of current archaeological interpretation and analysis. While the report does not evaluate individual published dates (e.g., Arundale 1981), it does provide an initial step toward reevaluation of the chronologies of the Upper Snake and Salmon River Country (Butler 1978) and forms a basis for generating chronologies for such areas as Southwestern Idaho (Plew, Pavesic, and Green n.d.).

Geochemical analysis of nine obsidian bifaces ("blanks") from the Sterling Cache, southern Idaho, was undertaken and the results contrast with the source (chemical type) ascription advanced for the specimens in the original report (Pavesic 1966). Trace element data show that obsidian from the closest source was not used to manufacture any of the artifacts in the cache, although three more distant obsidian sources (chemical types) are represented. These results provide another object lesson that proximity to 'source' is no guarantee that local provenance for artifact materials can reliably be inferred.