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NYSAA Bulletin No. 52 — Archaic Sites: Croton Point & Dogan Point — Passage 6

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[Various (1971)] Parker scheme, already coming apart at the seams, and grouped his archeological cultures according to a strictly arbitrary classification, which almost entirely avoided the ethnic connotations of the old 14 THE BULLETIN scheme. He was the first archeologist to consistently adopt the new method, and was exceptionally successful in using it to show time depth. Also, his continued excavations on numerous sites were bringing to light new cultures and causing drastic revisions in older concepts such as Parker's "Eskimoan." Furthermore, he was the first worker to recognize and define a preceramic or Archaic level of culture, following his excavations at the Lamoka Lake site. During this period, while working full-time at his job, Ritchie was attending afternoon and evening courses at the University of Rochester, where he received the degree of B.S. with distinction in 1936 and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. He then continued his studies at the University, including the medical school, for two years, again on a part-time basis, receiving training, which proved valuable to his physical anthropological researches, including studies in paleopathology. His master's thesis was a synthesis of fieldwork up to that time; he was awarded the M.S. in 1938 and was elected to Sigma Xi.