The papers in this volume were originally collected for a symposium entitled Recent Developments in Bone Tool Studies, organized for the 69th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology held in Montreal (Canada) on April 2nd, 2004. The objective of the symposium was to illustrate how recent developments in approaches, methods and techniques in worked bone studies can contribute to our understanding of basic problems encountered in archaeological research, with case studies from Europe and North America essentially, but also from Latin America and Oceania.

These essays cast new light on Paleoindians, the first settlers of North America. Recent research strongly suggests that big-game hunting was but one of the subsistence strategies the first humans in the New World employed and that they also relied on foraging and fishing. Written in an accessible, engaging style, these essays examine how migratory waterfowl routes may represent one impetus for human migration into the Americas, analyze settlement and subsistence in the major regions of the United States, and reinvestigate mammoth and bison bone beds in the western Plains and the Rocky Mountains to illuminate the unique nature of Paleoindian hunting in that region. The first study of Paleoindian subsistence on a continental scale, this collection posits regional models of subsistence and mobility that take into account the constraints and opportunities for resource exploitation within each region: Research on the Gault site in Texas reveals new subsistence strategies there, while data from the Shawnee-Minisink site in Pennsylvania connects seed collecting with fishing in that region, and plant remains from Dust Cave in Alabama provide important information about subsistence. With research ranging from fauna and lithic data from Paleoindian campsites in Florida that illuminate subsistence technologies and late megamammals to an analysis of plant remains from the eastern United States that results in a revised scheme of environmental changes, this volume serves as an important sourcebook and guide to the latest research on the first humans in North America.

Prehistoric World Cultures provides a broad overview of world prehistory while highlighting significant events, developments, and cultures through time. Organized chronologically and geographically, it gives students a clear understanding of changes through time from the evolution of the human species to the development of complex civilizations. The text begins by addressing how archaeologists study past cultures and the types of methods used to investigate prehistoric sites. It then presents information on evolution, the origins of agriculture, and early complex civilizations such as Mesopotamia and the city-states of the Nile River Valley. Students learn about early cultures of East Asia, the Chinese Empire, South Asia, and ancient India. New World cultures, such as Native American groups, and the Maya, Aztec, and Inca, are addressed in the final chapters. The third edition features greatly expanded information and increased detail throughout, as well as clear learning objectives at the beginning of each chapter. References throughout have been updated to present students with the most relevant and current information available. Providing students a firm grounding in world history, Prehistoric World Cultures is ideal for courses in world prehistory, world archaeology, and introduction to archaeology.