Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropology

In 1897, David R. Leeper initiated a discussion on the survival of lithic technology in California in the short­ lived journal the Antiquarian and its successor the American Archaeologist, and started a debate that ran for several issues and to which a number of pioneering figures contributed. Their recollections of early days in the state and their encounters with native peoples often reflect some of the cultural biases of the day, but they also contain interesting observations and valuable data available nowhere else. The more significant of these are reprinted here, with a few gures, some lengthy quotes from published sources, and extraneous materials deleted. The deletions are indicated by points of ellipsis; the interested reader will nd the complete, original texts readily available online through Google Book Search.