I must disagree with Pat Garrow's May 8 comments "Time lag works at times. Often it does not." Time lag by definition will **always** be present in every archaeological assemblage. The question is whether the amount of time lag is significant. If it is only a few months, then in most cases, who cares. But when it is years or decades, then I believe it is important to understand. Durable goods last in their usage. Manufacturing dates are not occupation dates. William Hampton Adams, PhD Lecturer, Director of Studies Department of Archaeology Flinders University GPO 2100 Adelaide, SA 5050 AUSTRALIA (+61 8) (08) 8201-5257 (+61 8) (08) 8201- 3845 fax See the Flinders University website at: http://wwwehlt.flinders.edu.au/archaeology/home.html for information about historical archaeology: http://wwwehlt.flinders.edu.au/wha/histarchinfo.html http://wwwehlt.flinders.edu.au/wha/case/*studies.html See the Australian Archaeology journal websites at: http://felix.antiquity.arts.su.edu.au/AAA/Publications/index.html http://felix.antiquity.arts.su.edu.au/AAA/Contributors/index.html