A summary of ten years of research on the Mammoth Site of Hot Springs, South Dakota. Discusses geology, hydrology, and excavation of the site, paleoenvironment of the site, paleoecology and paleontology, site significance and future development. Includes b&w photos. --Publisher

The Horner Site

George Frison's report on the 10,000-year-old Casper Site helped establish how large animal communal kill sites should be excavated, analyzed, and reported. With his background in ranching and hunting, Frison knows more about large animals than any other archaeologist. In The Casper Site Frison began to share that knowledge as well as the techniques of bone bed excavation; that, and the book's interdisciplinary approach, make it a landmark in paleoindian archaeology and faunal analysis. As Marcel Kornfeld writes in his new introduction, "One of Frison's outstanding contributions to Great Plains prehistory has been in the arena of bison studies and bone beds in particular, and Casper is one of its finest examples." Originally published by Academic Press in 1974. Praise from readers "The Casper site is one in a long tradition of bison procurement site studies by George Frison. This site typifies the use of the parabolic sand dune for bison trapping. The suite of analyses employed set the standard for kill site archaeology on the Plains and around the globe." Leland C. Bement, Oklahoma Archeological Survey "With astonishing fidelity the events of an ancient bison kill are uncovered from the rolling sands of Wyoming. That these remarkable events happened 10,000 years ago, and yet we see them so clearly today, is testimony to the skill of Frison and his team of researchers. A landmark publication." Jack W. Brink, Royal Alberta Museum "The brainchild of a remarkable archaeologist and a benchmark in integrative archaeological science, putting to work innovations in spatial analysis, experiments in technology and vertebrate taphonomy, hunter-gatherer ethnoarchaeology, geology, and zooarchaeology. One cannot help but sense the squeak of sand churned by desperate hooves when reading this classic study." Mary C. Stiner, University of Arizona

The Mountaineer Site presents over a decade’s worth of archaeological research conducted at Mountaineer, a Paleoindian campsite in Colorado’s Upper Gunnison Basin. Mountaineer is one of the very few extensively excavated, long-term Folsom occupations with evidence of built structures. The site provides a rich record of stone tool manufacture and use, as well as architectural features, and offers insight into Folsom period adaptive strategies from a time when the region was still in the grip of a waning Ice Age. Contributors examine data concerning the structures, the duration and repetition of occupations, and the nature of the site’s artifact assemblages to offer a valuable new perspective on human activity in the Rocky Mountains in the Late Pleistocene. Chapters survey the history of fieldwork at the site and compare and explain the various excavation procedures used; discuss the geology, taphonomic history, and geochronology of the site; analyze artifacts and other recovered materials; examine architectural elements; and compare the present and past environments of the Upper Gunnison Basin to gain insight into the setting in which Folsom groups were operating and the resources that were available to them. The Folsom archaeological record indicates far greater variability in adaptive behavior than previously recognized in traditional models. The Mountaineer Site shows how accounting for reduced mobility, more generalized subsistence patterns, and variability in tool manufacture and use allows for a richer and more accurate understanding of Folsom lifeways. It will be of great interest to graduate students and archaeologists focusing on Paleoindian archaeology, hunter-gatherer mobility, lithic technological organization, and prehistoric households, as well as prehistorians, anthropologists, and social scientists. Contributors: Richard J. Anderson, Andrew R. Boehm, Christy E. Briles, Katherine A. Cross, Steven D. Emslie, Metin I. Eren, Richard Gunst, Kalanka Jayalath, Brooke M. Morgan, Cathy Whitlock

First published in 1998. Did prehistoric humans walk to North America from Siberia? Who were the inhabitants of the spectacular Anasazi cliff dwellings in the Southwest and why did they disappear? Native Americans used acorns as a major food source, but how did they get rid of the tannic acid which is toxic to humans? How does radiocarbon dating work and how accurate is it? Written for the informed lay person, college-level student, and professional, Archaeology of Prehistoric Native America: An Encyclopedia is an important resource for the study of the earliest North Americans; including facts, theories, descriptions, and speculations on the ancient nomads and hunter-gathers that populated continental North America.