Methodology in Japanese archaeology has been diversified recently. In this paper the author studies pattern types of Jomon pottery and their diffusion from the viewpoint of transmission, storage and change of the information on patterns. In the second section it is explained that pottery types transmit in a different way from other objects, as some other scholars have pointed out. Furthermore, the author explains that in the stream (i. e. transmission) of pottery types there is found, in addition to the transmission of structure and pattern elements, what may be called 'tendency'. It is explained that the transmission of types should be grasped as a unity, which includes 'tendency'. The thing thus grasped as a unity is what is considered to be 'information'. In the third section, it is explained that it is necessary for us to undetstand that the 'information' which is mentioned in this paper is that which circulated in the prehistoric age, and it has been stored in ruins and remains and flows from there toward us to be received. Then the author classifies the information in the prehistoric age, in respect to quality, into four stages. (1) First stage information-information on feeding, defense, aggression, etc., fundamental to living things. (2) Second stage information-information on hunting, trade, storage, etc., fundamental l to human society, and its programme. (3) Third stage information-information on religion, festivals, pottery patterns, art, politics, etc., of a higher order in human society, and its programme. (4) Fourth stage information-parallel to the third stage information, but on 'tendency'. The difference between the third and fourth stage information is that people living there can make an objective estimate of the third stage information, but it is difficult for them to make an objective estimate of the fourth stage information. In the next place, the author explains 'information processing' which includes storage and change as well as transmission, adopting the theory of Porf. Tamito YOHSIDA. Storage has three forms. The first one is storage in the human individual. The second is storage in ruins and remains ; thir is fixed storage. The third is a kind of transmission, and it is a form of information which flows within the group on the occasion of a festival or a rite. As for the change in information, there are cases where the same pattern comes to have a changed meaning. In the fourth section the author introduces some recent important articles on pottery types, and arranges the description as follows : (1) There is structure in pottery patterns. (2) Pattern elements can be reciprocated. (3) Some pottery patterns of different genealogy are compounded. (4) Some pottery of different genealogies coexists. In the fifth section the author charts the process of diffusion and transformation of pottery types, and gives the causes of the transfomation of patterns- (a) social pressures leading ro uniformity, (b) law of internal change of cognitive structure on types, (c) creative thinking, (d) intervention of fortuity, noise and fluctuation. The author applies social psychology to this study and assumes that social pressures did not necessarily have much influence on the innovation of pottery patters. The author explains that it is necessary to consider that the law of internal change of cognitive structure does not necessarily lead to symmetry, but it leads to balance of patterns on both right and left sides and of 'weight' of their meaning, even in the case of the law of pragnanz in gestalt theory. As for creative thinking, the author explains that no progress could be made without it, even if its function was not conspicuous.

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With the development of sedentary agriculture based on the cultivation of maize in the New World, the Feline cult emerged with the new agricultural ceremony. There are many archaeological remains related to the Feline cult, especially in the Andes and Mesoamerica where the cult flourished. The Feline cult reached its peak in the Chavin and Olmec cultures, and succeeding cultures were very much influenced by its religious beliefs and customs until the time the Spaniards arrived on the continent, though the character of the Feline god did change by the addition of some new attributes and by its absorption into the more complicated pantheon system. However, there is reliable evidence, such as the ceramic and bone objects representating the feline found in the Huallaga River basin, in the Central Highlands of Peru, which indicates that the custom of worshipping the feline animal had already begun during the pre-Chavin cultures. During this same pre-Chavin period, and separate from the agricultural ceremony, traces of special funeral rites for the local chiefs, etc., have been found. Magnificent stone tombs were constructed and among the items of offering for funeral use have been found vessels which on one side show a representation of the human face and the other side a face which is Jaguar-human ; the two effigies contrast with each other and are evidently a reflection of some dualistic idea. Such dualistic aspects can also be seen in the representations of' Chavin and Olmec art. The main theme of this paper is to inquire into the meaning and character of this kind of dual concept as it was expressed through the Feline cult. As the best examples to demonstrate this theme, I have chosen and reviewed ceramic wares and stone sculptures from Chavin art and stone effigy axes and masks from Olmec art. Also, I have revised prevailing ethnographic data on the Jaguar animal ancestor mythology, the Jaguar-Shaman transformation story, and the relationship between the Feline cult and shamanism in the New World. Through consideration of both archaeological materials and ethnological data, I have concluded that the dual aspect representation of the Feline cult must correspond to the dual role that would have been played by the chief-shaman priest in ancient times.

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The Ainu word inaw means 'a ritual offering in the form of a wooden staff with attached wood shavings'. It is similar to the Gilyak words inau and nau, the Uilta illau and the Orochi ilau. They are assumed to be originally the same word. The Uilta word illau (=illaun-) is probably derived from *ilawun. This form is composed of a verb-stem *ila- and a substantive-forming suffix *-wun which means 'instrument, etc.'. It seems to have changed into illau (n-) by the loss of *w and the compensatory doubling of *l. The Orochi word ilau came also from an earlier form *ilawun, in which the *w and *n were dropped. The suffix *-wun goes back to the proto-form *-pun which survives in Uilta -pu (n-). Consequently, the Uilta word illau (n-) derived from *ilawun containing *-wun seems to be a loan-word, and to have been borrowed probably from Orochi or another Tungus language closely related to Orochi. On the basis of the meanings of the Manchu verb-stem ila- and its derivatives, we assume that *ila- accompanying *-wun means 'a stick which puts forth flowers, or a stick which men shave'. It may be assumed that the Ainu word inaw came from the Tungus word ilau. The Ainu language borrowed this Tungus word, but the l-sound was replaced by n, because Ainu has an n-sound but not l. If a Tungus dialect, such as Orochi or Uilta has borrowed an Ainu word like inaw, it would have preserved the n instead of replacing it with l, because these dialects have n as well. The Gilyak words inau and nau are probably also loan-words which orginated from the Tungus word ilau.

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