Throughout prehistory the Circumpolar World was inhabited by hunter-gatherers. Pottery-making would have been extremely difficult in these cold, northern environments, and the craft should never have been able to disperse into this region. However, archaeologists are now aware that pottery traditions were adopted widely across the Northern World and went on to play a key role in subsistence and social life. This book sheds light on the human motivations that lay behind the adoption of pottery, the challenges that had to be overcome in order to produce it, and the solutions that emerged. Including essays by an international team of scholars, the volume offers a compelling portrait of the role that pottery cooking technologies played in northern lifeways, both in the prehistoric past and in more recent ethnographic times.

Sheds light on the motivations that lay behind the adoption of pottery, the challenges that had to be overcome.

A notable contribution to North American archaeological literature, The Archaeology of the Atlantic Northeast is the first book to integrate and interpret archaeological data from the entire Atlantic Northeast, making unprecedented cultural connections across a broad region that encompasses the Canadian Atlantic provinces, the Quebec Lower North Shore, and Maine. Beginning with the earliest Indigenous occupation of the area, this book presents a cultural overview of the Atlantic Northeast, and weaves together the histories of the Indigenous peoples whose traditional lands make up this territory, including the Innu, Beothuk, Inuit, and numerous Wabanaki bands and tribes. Emphasizing historical connection and cultural continuity, The Archaeology of the Atlantic Northeast tracks the development of the earliest peoples in this area as they responded to climate and ecosystem change by transforming their glacier-edge way of life to one on the water’s edge, becoming one of the most successful and longstanding marine-oriented cultures in North America. Supported by more than a hundred illustrations and maps documenting the archaeological legacy, as well as discussions of unanswered questions intended to spur debate, this comprehensive text is ideal for students, researchers, professional archaeologists, and anyone interested in the history of this region.

This is a unique and engaging book on prehistoric stone tools. It advocates an experiential approach in which analysts try to understand stone tool designs from the users' perspectives, and employs a universal logic of designing tools to solve practical problems and evaluating various possible solutions. However, to do so it is also necessary to understand how stone can be mechanically modified to serve specific functions. The author enlists a rich array of ethnographic observations and considerable background as a flintknapper to show the basic ways in which stones can be flaked and modified and what these characteristics can reveal about prehistoric problem-solving strategies and design constraints. This is an invaluable primer for anyone contemplating the study of prehistoric stone tools."

For the past 9,000 years, people lived and flourished along the 1,000-mile Aleutian archipelago reaching from the American continent nearly to Asia. The Aleutian chain and surrounding waters supported 40,000 or more people before the Russians arrived. Despite the antiquity of continuous human occupation, the size of the area, and the fascinating and complex social organization, the region has received scant notice from the public. This volume provides a thorough review describing the varied cultures of the ancestral Unangax̂, using archaeological reports, articles, and unpublished data; documented Unangax̂ oral histories, and ethnohistories from early European and American visitors, assessed through the authors’ multi-decade experience working in the Aleutian Archipelago. Unangam Tanangin ilan Unangax̂/Aliguutax̂ Maqax̂singin ama Kadaangim Tanangin Anaĝix̂taqangis (Culture and Archaeology of the Ancestral Unangax̂/Aleut of the Aleutian Islands, Alaska) begins with a description of the physical and biological world (The Physical Environment and The Living Environment) of which the Unangax̂ are part, followed by a description of the archaeological research in the region (The People). The rest of the book addresses ancestral Unangax̂ life including settlement on the land, and the characteristics of sites based on the activities that took place there (People on the Landscape). From this broad perspective, the view narrows to the people making a living through hunting, fishing, and collecting food along the shore-line, making their intricate tools, storing and cooking food, and sewing and weaving (Making a Living); household life including house construction, households, and the work done within the home (Life at Home); and the personal changes an individual goes through from the time they are born through death, including spiritual transitions and ceremonies (Transitions), and the evidence for these events in the material record. This book is written in gratitude to the Unangax̂ and Aleut people for the opportunity to work in Unangam Tanangin or the Aleutian Islands, and to learn about your culture. We hope you find this book useful. The purpose of this book is to introduce the broader public to the cultures of this North Pacific archipelago in a single source, while simultaneously providing researchers a comprehensive synthesis of archaeology in the region.

An Introduction to Native North America provides a basic introduction to the Native peoples of North America, covering what are now the United States, northern Mexico, and Canada. In this updated and revised new edition, Mark Q. Sutton has expanded and improved the existing text, adding to the case studies, updating the text with the latest research, increasing the number of images, providing more coverage of the Arctic regions, and including new perspectives, particularly those of Native peoples. The book addresses the history of research, the European invasion, and the impact of Europeans on Native societies. A final chapter introduces contemporary Native Americans, discussing issues that affect them, including religion, health, and politics. The book retains a wealth of pedological features to aid and reinforce learning. Featuring case studies of many Native American groups, as well as some eighty-four maps and images, An Introduction to Native North America is an indispensable tool to those studying the history of North America and its Native peoples.