Cueva Blanca lies in a volcanic tuff cliff some 4 km northwest of Mitla, Oaxaca, Mexico. It is one of a series of Archaic sites excavated by Kent Flannery and Frank Hole as part of a project on the prehistory and human ecology of the Valley of Oaxaca. The oldest stratigraphic level in Cueva Blanca yielded Late Pleistocene fauna, including some species no longer present in southern Mexico. The second oldest level, Zone E, produced Early Archaic material with calibrated dates as old as 11,000–10,000 BC . Zones D and C provided a rich Late Archaic assemblage whose closest ties are with the Abejas phase of Puebla’s Tehuacán Valley (fourth millennium BC). Spatial analyses undertaken on the Archaic living floors include (1) the drawing of density contours for tools and animal bones; (2) a search for Archaic tool kits using rank-order and cluster analysis; and (3) an attempt to define Binfordian “drop zones” using an approach drawn from computer vision.

Fiedel's book exploring the development of the prehistoric cultures of North, Central and South America from about 10,000 BC to AD 1530 has been updated to include discussion of recent discoveries and analyses of their implications. Prehistory of the Americas examines archaeological evidence of the earliest human migration from Asia to the New World; the rapid expansion of Paleo-Indian hunters; the adaptations of archaic hunter-gatherers to post-Ice Age life; the origins and spread of farming and village life; and the rise and fall of chiefdoms and states. The author describes how different regions in the New World evolved, affected by a variety of factors ranging from technological developments to climate change. He compares the evolution of New World prehistory with that of Old World cultures. Discussion of the development of American archaeology, from the early European encounters with native Americans to the 'new' archaeology, is also included.

This volume reports on the excavation of Guilá Naquitz cave in Oaxaca, a site that provides important evidence for the earliest plant domestication in the New World. Stratigraphic studies, examinations of artifactual and botanical remains, simulations, and an imaginative reconstruction make this a model project of processual archaeology.

Reports on the discovery of Gheo-Shih, an Archaic site in the Valley of Oaxaca, and subsequent archaeological investigations.