Beidha, to most people, means the pre-pottery Neolithic village excavated by Diana Kirkbride since 1958 - the report on that will follow in several volumes. This first Beidha volume is devoted to the Natufian levels below the Neolithic levels but exposed in places around the abraded fell. It describes the stratigraphy and the artifact distribution, and illustrates and discusses the lithic assemblages and tool types, and other evidence from the site: pollen, fauna, shells, geological setting.

Some forty scholars examine California's prehistory and archaeology, looking at marine and terrestrial palaeoenvironments, initial human colonization, linguistic prehistory, early forms of exchange, mitochondrial DNA studies, and rock art. This work is the most extensive study of California's prehistory undertaken in the past 20 years. An essential resource for any scholar of California prehistory and archaeology!