3.0. The linguistic evaluation of a set provides the framework for its cultural evaluation, but however strong it may be linguistically this does not provide proof that the specific aspect of Proto-Mixtecan or Proto-Amuzgo-Mixtecan life it represents actually existed on the horizon. In any given set the possibility always exists that separate but parallel semantic shifts may have taken place in all the languages under consideration in the set. While this possibility is remote, it seems to have occurred in several of the sets which reconstruct in Proto-Mixtecan and Proto-Amuzgo-Mixtecan. For example, one set, linguistically evaluated as solid, reconstructs in Proto-Mixtecan with the meaning bell or perhaps metal. The existence of metal or metal bells at this early date is highly improbable on the basis of archaeological evidence. Examination of the set suggests that the original meaning may have been rattle but it is impossible to be certain on this.