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f^ S fy S C 772r/£_ SV M M & t tfC J L /> .& W ESTERN PO IN T'TY FCLQ G Y M EETING F o r the f ir s t tim e in W estern A m e r ic a , a r e g io n a l c o n fe r e n c e w as c a lle d at P o c a te llo , Idaho, on M arch 1 5 -1 7 , 1962, to c o n sid e r p r o b le m s i; p ertin en t to the e sta b lish m e n t of b a sic sta n d a rd ized p r o je c tile point te r m in ­ology* The c o n fe r e n c e w?*s in stig a te d , planned and d ir e c te d by Dr E a r l Sw anson, M u seu m D ir e c to r , Idaho State C o lle g e , P c c a te llo , Idaho. O fficia l c o n fe r e e s included: A le x K r ie g e r , R ob ert G reengo and R ich ard D augherty, W ashington; C h a rles B ord en , B r itis h C olum bia; R ich ard F o r b e s , G lenbow Foundation; D avid C ole, Oregon,* M artin Baum hnff and Ruth S im p so n , C aliforn ia; R ic hard Shutler^ Nevada; D onald C ra b tree, E a r l Sw anson and R obert B u tler, Idaho; J e s s e J en n in g s and G ordon G ro sscu p , Utah; M arie W orm ington and Joe Ben W heat, C o lo ­rado; and A lfred Joh nson, A rizo n a . E m p h a sis the f ir s t day w as on m eth od s of flak in g p r o je c tile p oin ts and on the g e n e r a l a p p ro a ch es to ty p o lo g y , p lu s the ev a lu a tio n of s y s te m s of c la s s if ic a t io n and the a r c h a e o lo g ic a l p ro b lem s n e c e s s ita tin g a p ro g ra m of sta n d a rd iza tio n . The seco n d day found the c o n fe r e e s co n cern ed in the m orn in g w ith the a p p lica tio n of typ ology to p r o je c tile p o in ts in s p e c ific a r e a s , and - in the a ftern o o n - w ith p e r so n a l ex a m in a tio n of study c o lle c tio n s fr o m n u m ero u s k ey s it e s and a d is c u s s io n of b a s ic ite m s . p III! ip The m orn in g of the th ird day w as d evoted to in fo r m a l group d is c u s s io n s reg a rd in g in d ivid u al p ro b lem s of ty p o lo g y for p a rticu la r a r e a s . Cn the fin a l aftern oon , the q u estio n of a c le a r in g h o u se for settin g up p r o je c tile point ty p e s w a s d is c u s s e d . It w a s thought that the job of taking on the c le a r in g h o u se fu n ctio n s should be r o ta tio n a l, p a ssin g fr o m one in stitu tio n to another through the y e a r s so that the b urden w ould not be a co n sta n t one. The Idaho State M useum p e r so n n e l v o lu n tee red to b eg in th is job. The fun ction of the c e n tr a l file cr a g en cy w ould be to r e c e iv e data on a p a rticu la r group of p oin ts and c ir c u la te the r e la te d d e s c r ip tiv e data, photos and a few r e p r e se n ta tiv e | sp e c im e n s fro m the in q u irer to o th e rs for co m m en t and co m p a ra tiv e in fo rm a tio n . A s a b a s is for a s y s te m a tic d e s c r ip tiv e o u tlin e, R obert G reengo su b m itted a guide fo r m that had b een w ork ed out and ap p lied to m o re than 1 0 ,0 0 0 p o in ts fr o m the C olum bia R iv er b a sin . f E vening h ig h lig h ts in clu d ed s p e c ia l r e p o r ts by M arie A lex K r ie g e r and R obert B u tler. The c o n fe r e n c e ended w ith so m e r e m a r k s fro m A le x K r ie g e r , who fe lt that a g rea t d ea l had b een a c c o m p lish e d tow ard the e sta b lish m e n t of a w orking group on the p ro b lem of point ty p o lo g y for the W est. Ke co m m en ted that th is c o n fe r e n c e had fo rm ed an e x c e lle n t foundation to build on, in that p r o b le m s of ty p o lo g ic a l p r in c ip le s had b een w e ll d is c u s s e d , b ein g fa c to r s w hich in p r e v io u s ty p o lo g ic a l m e e tin g s had b een d e -e m p h a siz e d in favor of d ea lin g on ly w ith the m a te r ia ls . It now r e m a in s for a fu tu re m eetin g to d evote the bulk of the tim e to handling and co m p a rin g the m a te r ia ls th e m s e lv e s . M ajor e x p e n se s o i the c o n fe r e n c e w e r e u n d erw ritten by a grant fr o m the W en n er-G ren Foundation. At the fin a l s e s s io n , i t w a s d ecid ed that fu rth er c o n fe r e n c e s should be h eld , and that the 1963 m eetin g w ill p rob ab ly be in S e a ttle , Vfashington, The ASA w a s r e p r e se n te d by D ee S im p son , C h a rles R o z a ir e and J im C orbett. 3k :5c ik 3$: s§c