The Jonas Short Site (41SA101), San Augustine County, Texas

The Jonas Short site (41SA101) is one of a few known and investigated Woodland period mounds in the Trans–Mississippi south (i.e., East Texas, Northwest Louisiana, Southwest Arkansas, and Southeast Oklahoma). In fact, the site is one of only four identified mound sites of possible Woodland period age—and Mossy Grove cultural tradition—in the Neches–Angelina and Sabine river basins in East Texas and Northwest Louisiana: Coral Snake (16SA48), Anthony (16SA7), Jonas Short, and Westerman (41HO15). The Jonas Short site was located on an alluvial terrace of the Angelina River. It was investigated in 1956 by archaeologists from the University of Texas and the River Basin Survey prior to its inundation by the waters of Lake Sam Rayburn

The Stover Lake Site (41BW8) on the lower Sulphur River, Bowie County, Texas

The Stover Lake site (41BW8) is an ancestral Caddo cemetery and habitation site on a natural alluvial rise in the Sulphur River floodplain, about 1.6 km east of the Lake Wright Patman dam. In 1961-1962, several collectors excavated at least 19 Caddo burials at the site and also gathered a collection of sherds from habitation contexts. Notes on the burials and their funerary offerings were provided by the collectors to the Texas Archeological Research Laboratory at The University of Texas at Austin (TARL), and 390 ceramic sherds and one stone gorget from non-burial contexts were donated to TARL by one of the collectors, Janson L. McVay

The Pipe Site, a Late Caddo Site at Lake Palestine in Anderson County, Texas

Buddy Calvin Jones excavated a Late Caddo cemetery and midden site he called the Lake Palestine site, in Anderson County, Texas, in March 1968. His notes indicate that a total of 21 Caddo burials were excavated at the site, and the burials were situated primarily around a midden of unknown dimensions. Jones\u27 notes do not specify how many of the burials he excavated at the Pipe site, but one photograph in the records suggests he excavated at least three, one burial of which is the focus of this article

Metallurgy of armour exhibited at the Palace Armoury, Valletta, Malta

The metallurgy of ten armour pieces from the Palace Armoury Collection in Malta was examined. Results showed that out of ten artefacts examined, six were produced in low carbon steel, one from a high carbon steel and three were made from wrought iron. One of the wrought iron armour pieces was fabricated from a phosphoric iron, an unusual material for these artefacts. All the steel artefacts exhibited a ferrite-pearlite microstructure. In their manufacture, no attempts had been made at producing martensite by full or slack quenching. All metal fragments contained slag inclusions. The elongated nature of the latter suggested that these artefacts were forged into shape.peer-reviewe

A Remarkable Cougar Effigy Gorget from Clinton County, Ohio

An unusual steatite gorget fashioned in the form of a cougar jaw is illustrated from the Richardson Collection, Clinton Co., Ohio. Comparison to Adena cut animal maxilla masks suggest that the artifact is Early Woodland in age

Caddo Ceramic Vessels from the T. M. Sanders Site (41LR2) on the Red River in Lamar County, Texas

The T. M. Sanders site (41LR2) is one of the more important ancestral Caddo sites known in East Texas, primarily because of its two earthen mounds and the well-preserved mortuary features of Caddo elite persons buried in Mound No. 1 (the East Mound). The Sanders site is located on a broad alluvial terrace just south of the confluence of Bois d’Arc Creek and the Red River. The terrace has silt loam soils, which have a shallow dark brown silt loam A-horizon overlying thick B- and C-horizons that range from dark reddish-brown, reddish-brown, dark brown, to yellowish-red in color. These soils formed in loamy alluvial sediments of the Red River. In this Special Publication, we discuss the analysis and documentation of the 78 ceramic vessels from the T. M. Sanders site in the collections of the Texas Archeological Research Laboratory at The University of Texas at Austin. Our concern is in documenting the stylistic and technological character of these vessels, and assessing their cultural relationships and stylistic associations; almost 80 percent of these vessels are from burial features excavated by University of Texas archaeologists in Mound No. 1 (East Mound) in July and August 1931; others are from excavations in midden deposits between the two mounds. We also consider and revise the current ceramic taxonomy for a number of the vessels from the T. M. Sanders site

Decorated Great Siege armours for the Hospitaller Knights at the Palace Armoury Museum, Valletta

The collection of arms and Armour at the Palace Armoury Museum in Valletta represents the Hospitallers' military adaptations during the path of warfare in history and their artistic tastes. Particularly interesting are the mid-sixteenth century Armours, frequently termed the "Great Siege Armours". The latter bear intricate designs of decorations that speak a Mannerist artistic language, inherited by the Italian Renaissance. This language, one may perhaps add, was international and spread from Northern Italy and Southern Germany throughout Europe, manifesting itself in the emergence of different schools of armourers and decorators. The present collection was first catalogued by Sir G. F. Laking in 1903. Laking categorised and attributed several pieces and harnesses, and he was to remain the only scholar to research these valuable items until 1969. In 1969 the UNESCO sent two Polish experts to study and inventory the arms and armours within the collection. Z. Zygulsky and A. Czerwinsky worked on an extensive and very important inventory between 25 January and 7 February 1969. Unfortunately, the work carried out by the Polish experts lost much ofits validity in 1975 when the armoury was moved to what were once the Palace's stables. The UNESCO experts had organised and catalogued each item, inventorizing portions, measurements and case numbers. Hence, the items had to be re-ordered. For a more academic study on the collection of arms and armour, and Hospitaller military organisation, the most recent study was that carried out by S. C. Spiteri in 2003. As for the decorations and methods of identification of Hospitaller Great Siege Armours, the most important work was recently carried out by K. Watts. The latter is the curator of Art and Armour at the Royal Armouries of Leeds.peer-reviewe