The author spent four months in Baffin Island during 1953 as zoologist on a big expedition by the Arctic Institute of North America, where he concentrated on studying birds and mammals. With Inuit hunter Samo he travelled by dog-sledge on the sea-ice of coast and fjord. Afterwards he crossed the mountains alone in deep snow to reach the site of his summer camp in a valley among some of the most spectacular peaks in the world. There he worked for most of the summer, usually alone. The valley and others nearby were and still are uninhabited, and expedition members trod many places which had not been under human foot in recent centuries. His book is of special interest because of the many changes since, with the Inuit now mostly in towns with modern facilities and airports, and using motor sledges for hunting. The author writes of many exciting days studying arctic animals, sometimes working with Swiss botanist Fritz Schwarzenbach and others, and walking with heavy loads, sometimes in risky conditions. The beauty of the Arctic inspired and energised him. He writes vividly about the magnificent landscape, the 24-hour daylight, the endless variety of weather, snow and ice, the wonderful plants and animals in the brief summer of the far north.

"Dewey Soper, a man without false pride, generous in his admiration and praise of all who worked with him, had many honours, but none it would appear that he did not fully deserve. His work as an Arctic explorer, a photographer, a cartographer, and an artist will continue to be an inspiration to all ambitious young people who dream of extending the boundaries of knowledge ..."---Constance Martin, Research Associate and Fellow, Arctic Institute of North America, University of Calgary

Hunter-gatherer societies are constrained by their environment and the technologies available to them. However, until now the role of culture in foraging communities has not been widely considered. 'Structured Worlds' examines the role of cosmology, values, and perceptions in the archaeological histories of hunter-fisher-gatherers. The essays examine a range of cultures - Mesolithic Europe, Siberia, Jomon Japan, the Northwest Coast, the northern Plains, and High Arctic of North America - to show the role of conceptual frameworks in subsistence and settlement, technology, mobility, migration, demography, and social organization. Spanning from the early Holocene period to the present day, 'Structured Worlds' draws on archaeology and ethnography to explore the role of beliefs, ritual, and social values in the interaction between foragers and their physical and social landscape. Material culture, animal bones and settlement patterns show that the behaviours of hunter-gatherers were shaped as much by cultural concepts as by material need.