1930). Designations comprise, first, a numeral referring to a plate
in the dictionary; second, a letter indicating a vertical file; and third,
a numerical denoting a horizontal rank. Thus, 4-C-12, the color of
our Orange ware, is to be found in a small square of color on plate 4,
where column C and row 12 intersect.

The incompetence shown by the local surveyor employed to map the
site has made it necessary to resort to rough approximations in giving
the heights of mounds and the distances between them. These meas-
urements have been given in feet. Elsewhere, throughout the text,
the metric system has been used.

The figurines have been treated typologically in accordance with a
scheme which will be made evident by a glance at the contents. Lest
it be objected that the inclusion of so large a representation of variant
and aberrant specimens can serve only to bewilder the reader, let it
be said that they have been included in order to avoid artificially rigid
classificatory distinctions. It is only by careful observation of transi-
tional and variant forms that one is able to sense the essential unity
of the main bulk of the figurine material, while often an aberrant speci-
men becomes a major clue in the maze of spatial and temporal relation-
ships one seeks to clarify.

A full bibliography of all works cited in the text is provided in the
list of references at the end of the volume.

The limitations of space prevent acknowledgment of my full in-
debtedness to all of the people who, in one way or another, have con-
tributed to the success of the expedition and aided me in the labors
culminating in the present report. Credit is due, in particular, to
the National Geographic Society for their unstinted financial support
of the expedition and for the services of Mr. Richard H. Stewart,
photographer.

To the Department of Anthropology, Columbia University, I am
grateful for the facilities of the laboratory of archeology and for the
keen interest and unfailing helpfulness of various members of the
staff. I am also indebted to Dr. W. D. Strong for invaluable advice
on problems arising in the course of this investigation. The entire
project envisaged in the National Geographic Society-Smithsonian
Institution expeditions to the Mexican Gulf Coast constitutes one link
in a comprehensive plan which Mr. Stirling and Dr. Strong conceived
several years ago to attack the problem of the origins of the high cul-
tures in Middle America by investigating peripheral areas. Others
in the department who have been of special help include Dr. Gene
Weltfish, who made helpful suggestions regarding the classification
of wares, and Dr. George Herzog, whose remarks on the musical
instruments of the collection and corroboration of the panpipe
identification have been appreciated.

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