Anthropologically, it seems to mean that archaeologists love to guess.
That seems to be our role in society, but it's something we have to be
careful about. As a master blacksmith once told me, "It seems to me that
archaeologists make a lot of unwarranted assumptions." We have all had
the experience of being dead sure of something that we later find to
have been dead wrong! 

>>> [log in to unmask] 10/06/06 3:21 AM >>>
The saga of identifying this particular piece of metal debris has been
fascinating, but what does it mean anthropologically?

Morgan Rieder, PPA

----- Original Message ----- 
  From: R. Scott Baxter<mailto:[log in to unmask]> 
  To: [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]> 
  Sent: Thursday, October 05, 2006 5:16 PM
  Subject: Re: Machine Part ID?


  What you have is actually half of a cylinder head from a Pontiac
inline 
  six-cylinder from the 1920s-30s.  They were cast in two pieces, one
half 
  for the front three cylinders, and one half for the rear three.  I
think 
  you have the rear, based on the position of the water outlet and
circular 
  notch at one end that goes around the distributor.  You can see a
picture 
  of the complete motor at the webpage below:

 
http://www.classiccarsforsale.co.uk/classic-car-page.php?carno=6158<http://www.classiccarsforsale.co.uk/classic-car-page.php?carno=6158>

  I would suggest contacting the Towe Auto Museum in Sacramento.  They
have 
  an auto collection composed of many makes of cars and trucks and
people 
  who know them inside and out.  They should be able to narrow down the
date 
  of production based on the part numbers embossed on the head.