The adventures of a group of Indian children living in southeastern North America 7,000 years ago.

The adventures of a group of Indian children living in southeastern North America 7,000 years ago.

Mescal beans were important for many North American tribes in Mexico and the southwestern U.S. Tribes used the beans primarily as decorations (seed beads) for clothing; some tribes consumed the beans for their psychotropic properties as part of ceremonies.In this volume, the author examines the distribution of mescal bean use and compiles a description of archaeological and ethnographic specimens from dozens of tribes. Illustrated.

"Makes the case that the everyday should and does matter in archaeology. The content is fresh, the approaches are varied, and the case is convincing."--Adam King, editor of Archaeology in South Carolina: Exploring the Hidden Heritage of the Palmetto State Focusing on the daily concerns and routine events of people in the past, Investigating the Ordinary argues for a paradigm shift in the way southeastern archaeologists operate. Instead of dividing archaeological work by time periods or artifact types, the essays in this volume unite separate areas of research through the theme of the everyday. Ordinary activities studied here range from flint-knapping to ceremonial crafting, from subsistence to social gatherings, and from the Paleoindian period to the nineteenth century. Contributors demonstrate that attention to everyday life can help researchers avoid overemphasizing data and jargon and instead discover connections between the people of different eras. This approach will also inspire archaeologists with ways to engage the public with their work and with the deep history of the southeastern United States.

The adventures of a prehistoric Indian boy and his dog living in the forests of eastern North America.