The HOME SECRETARY and the FOREIGN SECRETARY of the ACADEMY The CHAIRMAN and the PERMANENT SECRETARY of the NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL WILLIAM DUANE, '23 A. L. DAY, '22 R. G. HARRISON, '23 GANO DUNN, '22 CLARK WISSLER J. M. CLARKE, '21 F L. RANSOME INFORMATION TO SUBSCRIBERS SUBSCRIPTIONS TO THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES at the rate of $5.00 per annum should be made payable to the National Academy of Sciences, and sent either to Easton, Pa., or to C. G. ABBOT, Home Secretary, National Academy of Sciences, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D. C. Single numbers, $0.50. PAST publications of the NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES are listed in these PROCEEDINGS, Volume III, pp. 743-753, December, 1917. In good part these publications are no longer available for distribution. Inquiries with regard to them should be addressed to the Home Secretary, National Academy of Sciences, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D. C. PAST volumes of the PROCEEDINGS may be obtained at five dollars per volume unless the sale of the volume would break a complete set of Volumes I to V. Single numbers may be obtained for fifty cents except where the sale of such numbers would break up a complete volume. Only two hundred complete sets of the Proceedings are available for sale-Volumes I to VI, price $30.00. Orders should be sent to the Home Secretary, National Academy of Sciences, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D. C. The following publications are issued by the NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL. Orders and inquiries should be addressed: Publication Office, National Research Council, 1701 Massachusetts, Ave., Washington, D. C. (A) THE BULLETIN OF THE NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL published at irregular intervals; Price $5.00 per volume of about 500 pages; individual numbers priced variously. (B) THE REPRINT, AND CIRCULAR SERIES OF THE NATIONAL Research COUNCIL, individual numbers, variously priced. Communicated by W. H. Holmes, January 11, 1921 The season's field work allows us to delineate more clearly than has hitherto been possible the archaeological problems of the Kayenta district in northeastern Arizona. It seems best to give: first, a summary of our previous knowledge; second, an account of the new material brought to light; third, an outline of the present status of the investigation. 1. Previous Knowledge of the Archaeology of the Region.-The earliest culture was that of the Basket-makers, a dolicocephalic people who did not practice skull deformation, did not build permanent dwellings, had no pottery, did not grow cotton or beans or domesticate the turkey. They cultivated corn of a single simple variety. Typical arts were: the weaving of excellent coiled baskets, square-toed sandals, twined bags, fur-string robes. They used the spear-thrower and dart instead of the bow and arrow. At a somewhat later period the country was inhabited by the Slabhouse people (so named by the present authors). While their culture, known only from two or three badly preserved sites, was little understood, the following traits were recognized: the settlements were loose aggregations of small, round or oval, semi-subterranean rooms, with foundations of upright slabs and stone and adobe superstructures. The pottery was of two sorts: a well decorated black-on-white painted ware, with characteristic designs; and a rudimentary coiled ware with a few heavy, broad corrugations about the necks of the jars. Nothing else was known, not even such important features as skull-type, burial customs, textiles, basketry, sandals and agricultural products. Stratigraphic finds, however, had made the chronological position of the culture clear; it was earlier than the Cliff-dweller-Pueblo and later than the Basket-maker. The third and latest group of remains was the Cliff-dweller-Pueblo. It was well known from the investigations of Cummings, Fewkes and the authors. Its leading traits were: houses of coursed masonry, the rooms rectangular and arranged in series to form, when the site permitted, definite pueblos; subterranean ceremonial rooms or kivas; crania with strong occipital deformation and apparently originally brachycephalic; cultivation of several varieties of corn, as well as of cotton and beans; domestication of the turkey and use of its plumage for feather-string cloth; use of the bow and arrow; manufacture of great quantities of pottery of distinctive types, black-on-white, red-and-yellow, red, and corrugated. The interrelation of the above three groups was not understood. The Basket-maker was obviously the earliest, the Slab-house next, and the Cliff-dweller-Pueblo latest; but whether they were to be regarded as stages in the development of a single people, or whether they represented successive occupations of the region by two or even three different tribes, could not be decided on the basis of the evidence available. 2. The explorations of 1920 in Sagi Canyon have added many new data. A few Basket-maker remains were found in various caves; these ran entirely true to the previously established type and, as usual, showed no admixture of later material (Slab-house or Cliff-dweller-Pueblo). Furthermore, a hitherto unrecognized culture came to light. At the west end of a large cave were unearthed rooms with slab foundations and stone and adobe superstructures; in and about the rooms was rubbish which yielded the following material: rough undecorated pottery of distinctive shapes, mostly black, some gray, a very little red, no trace of coiling; many sandals elaborately decorated in relief work and in colors, with a broad scallop across the toe end of each; handsomely ornamented woven carrying straps; crudely made twined bags. There was no cotton or turkey-feather cloth. In front of the cave lay a small burial mound containing skeletons with long, undeformed crania and accompanied by pottery identical with that from the rooms. In the same cave, but farther to the east were discovered burials of the Slab-house culture; the identification was made by means of typical Slab-house vessels deposited with the bodies. The individuals had strongly deformed skulls. With them were: a large decorated carrying basket of a type not found with Basket-maker burials; cotton cloth; turkey-feather cloth; a complete bow and part of another; a twilled yucca ring-basket; a carrying strap of Cliff-dweller-Pueblo type; and a piece of rush matting. No house-structures associable with these graves were found, but the site was only partially excavated. At the eastern end of the cave was a group of typically Cliff-dwellerPueblo rooms, containing an equally typical assortment of pottery, textiles, sandals and other objects of the Cliff-dweller-Pueblo period. 3. Present Status of the Investigation.-The Basket-maker culture is still to be considered the earliest in the region. A second culture, which we call the Post-Basket-maker, followed the Basket-maker. Its probable descent from the Basket-maker is indicated by the dolicocephalic bead form and absence of cranial deformation; by the elaborateness of the sandal weaves; the presence of a degenerate type of twined-woven bag; and by the use of fur cloth instead of feather cloth. The absence of cotton from both cultures should be noted. Advances over the Basket-maker are seen in the appearance of pottery (albeit of a crude type), in the presence of permanent house-structures, and in the elaboration of the carrying straps. The third culture is the one which we formerly called the Slab-house. As that term, based on a feature of the architecture, is equally applicable to the Post-Basket-maker we have discarded it and substitute the name Pre-Pueblo. This group is allied to the preceding one most closely apparently in house-types, and in the possession of pottery, though its characteristic wares are much the more highly developed of the two; it differs sharply from the Post-Basket-maker in the practice of skull deformation, in the possession of cotton, turkey-feather cloth and twilled basketry. Traits that it shares with the succeeding culture, the Cliffdweller-Pueblo, are: skull deformation; decorated pottery; cotton; turkeyfeather cloth; the bow. From the above data it seems probable that the Basket-makers were the direct ancestors, both physically and culturally, of the Post-Basketmakers; the latter, however, had made considerable advances (houses, pottery). A direct line of descent from Post-Basket-maker to the PrePueblo might be inferred from the similarity in house-types; but the Pre-Pueblo are in most respects much more nearly allied to their successors, the Cliff-dweller-Pueblo people, than they are to the earlier group. To sum up: Basket-maker is probably ancestral to Post-Basket-maker; Pre-Pueblo to Cliff-dweller-Pueblo; the genetic relationship of Post-Basketmaker to Pre-Pueblo may be inferred, but is still doubtful. A more detailed knowledge of the material cultures of the two middle groups is necessary, as well as studies to determine whether or not skull deformation alone is capable of producing the marked appearance of brachycephaly exhibited by the crania of the two later groups. THE OPEN MERCURY MANOMETER READ BY DISPLACEMENT INTERFEROMETRY1 BY CARL BARUS Department OF PHYSICS, BROWN UNIVERSITY Communicated February 2, 1921 1. Apparatus.-This is practically a U-tube, AmA', figure 1, with wide shanks, AA', connected by a channel, m, below. A and A' are cylindrical hollows, 2-3 cm. deep and about 5 cm. in diameter, cut in a rectangular 1 Advance note from a report to the Carnegie Inst. of Washington, D. C. block, BB', preferably of iron. The connection m must also be large in section, so as to admit of rapid flow from A to A'. The U-tube is charged with mercury MmM', M and M' being as shallow as possible to counteract the tendency to vibration. Thin plane parallel glass plates, gg', round discs of equal thickness and diameter, are floated on the mercury, which act as mirrors for the interferometer beams, L' and L", and also materially check the tendency of the pool of mercury to vibrate. It would be desirable to be able to use the mercury surfaces at M and M' directly without the intervention of the plate; but within the city limits the fringes are unsteady and hard to find. The top of the iron block BB' is recessed as shown, to receive the plane parallel glass plates GG'. These like gg' must be equally thick; otherwise the fringes will be multiplied and faint. The annular space cccc between G and B is filled with resinous cement, poured in in the molten state. The air space AA' shut off in this way communicates with the atmosphere by two tubulures, t and t', in the front side. The ray parallelogram of the quadratic interferometer of which L'L' are the interfering rays should be vertical. The displacements of the achromatic fringes of white light are read off by a telescope with an ocular micrometer (scale part 0.01 cm.). The fringes parallel to the divisions of the micrometer are conveniently made a scale part in size. The block BB' should be mounted separately from the interferometer. If it is placed on the base of the latter, all manipulations there shake the mercury in BB' and it is necessary to wait for subsidence. This, however, occurs very soon, so that the separate mounting is not absolutely necessary. Without manual interference the fringes are about as quiet as in a solid apparatus. 2. Experiments.-To test this apparatus the air space AA' was left with a plenum of air. With A' communicating with the atmosphere, A was joined through t and a filimentary capillary glass or metal tube, to an apparatus by which slight pressure could be applied. In the first trials I attempted to use a water manometer controlled by a micrometer screw; but the vibrations of the meniscus were at once impressed on MM' so that the fringes were hard to keep at rest. I then devised the apparatus shown in figure 2, which is merely an adaptation of the pin valve of an oxygen tank, with a good micrometer screw, s, and stuffing box, n. The |