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CHARLES E. ROZAIRE COLLECi INTRODUCTION TO THE TULE SPRINGS SYMPOSIUM I am sure that for many of you this is the most eagerly awaited session of the meetings. This is reasonable, for the excavations at Tule Springs, from October, 1962, to February, 1963, mark a real milestone in American archaeology. The press, unfortunately, has done an unparalled job of providing misinformation. Perhaps because of this certain problems have arisen. •ifimme statements that have been commonly made disturb me particularly. First, that so few artifacts were found that this tremendous operation was not worthwhile. This is the mentality of the collector, not of the archaeologist. Are we interested only in collecting pretty specimens, or are we concerned with the gathering of data? Granted, no incontrovertible proof of the presence of man at a* extremely early date was obtained, but this is just the point. This site, perhaps more than any other, has influenced the thinking of specialists in the Early Man field. If there is no clear cut proof for great antiquity for man here it is important that we know it before a whole hypothetical structure is built on an unsound foundation. This is certainly a case where negative evidence is of the greatest possible importance. Beyond that, we must consider the vast amount of information that has been gathered relating to geology, palaeontology and palynology. There is another disturbing statement that has been frequently made; that this proves that man has not been here more than 13,000 or 15,000 >ears. It does — — *IXthin& 2l iiie Man may or may not have been in southern Nevada at any vdry early date, but even if he were not this does not provide ppeof that he had not entered the New World. W e are other sites to be investigated and other bits of evidence to be evaluated. My own belief is that there is a strong proba­bility that fully acceptable evidence of the presence of man will be found on a