Archaeology on the Great Plains


Book Description

This synthesis of Great Plains archaeology brings together what is currently known about the inhabitants of the ancient Plains. The essays review the Paleo-Indian, Archaic, Woodland, and Plains Village peoples, providing information on technology, diet, settlement and adaptive patterns.







Archaeological Geology of the Archaic Period in North America


Book Description

The Archaic Period is the longest and one of the most transitional of the cultural periods in North America. Its exact date varied across the continent, but it is distinguished from the earlier Paleo-Indian cultures by new styles of projectile points and other artifacts, and from the later prehistor










Cities and Their Vital Systems


Book Description

Cities and Their Vital Systems asks basic questions about the longevity, utility, and nature of urban infrastructures; analyzes how they grow, interact, and change; and asks how, when, and at what cost they should be replaced. Among the topics discussed are problems arising from increasing air travel and airport congestion; the adequacy of water supplies and waste treatment; the impact of new technologies on construction; urban real estate values; and the field of "telematics," the combination of computers and telecommunications that makes money machines and national newspapers possible.




Geoarchaeology in the Great Plains


Book Description

Geoarchaeology is the application of geoscience to the study of archaeological deposits and the archaeological record. Employing techniques from pedology, geomorphology, sedimentology, geochronology, and stratigraphy, geoarchaeologists investigate and interpret sediments, soils and landforms at the focal points of archaeological research. Edited by Rolfe D. Mandel and with contributions by John Albanese, Joe Allen Artz, E. Arthur Bettis III, C. Reid Ferring, Vance T. Holliday, David W. May, and Mandel, this volume traces the history of all major projects, researchers, theoretical developments, and sites contributing to our geoarchaeological knowledge of North America's Great Plains. The book provides a historical overview and explores theoretical questions that confront geoarchaeologists working in the Great Plains, where North American geoarchaeology emerged as a discipline.




Defining and Measuring Diversity in Archaeology


Book Description

Calculating the diversity of biological or cultural classes is a fundamental way of describing, analyzing, and understanding the world around us. Understanding archaeological diversity is key to understanding human culture in the past. Archaeologists have long experienced a tenuous relationship with statistics; however, the regular integration of diversity measures and concepts into archaeological practice is becoming increasingly important. This volume includes chapters that cover a wide range of archaeological applications of diversity measures. Featuring studies of archaeological diversity ranging from the data-driven to the theoretical, from the Paleolithic to the Historic periods, authors illustrate the range of data sets to which diversity measures can be applied, as well as offer new methods to examine archaeological diversity.