Studies in Archeology: Mississippian Settlement Patterns explains the cultural organization of many of the prehistoric societies in the Eastern United States during the last 1000 years of their existence. This book emphasizes the difference between the central core of Mississippian societies and those peripheral societies that preceded its development. Readers are advised to begin the examination of this compilation by reading Chapter 16 first, followed by Chapters 8 to 13 and 15, in order to understand the variations of patterning among societies that are commonly regarded as nascent or developed Mississippian. The rest of the chapters analyze cultural groups on the West, North, and Northeast that are not Mississippian societies, including a discussion of late prehistoric societies that are in some ways divergent but are sometimes regarded as Mississippian. This publication is valuable to archeologists, historians, and researchers conducting work on Mississippian societies.

Advances in Archaeological Method and Theory, Volume 5 presents the progressive explorations in methods and theory in archeology. This book provides information pertinent to the developments in urban archeology. Organized into nine chapters, this volume begins with an overview of cultural resource management developed to assess the significance of, and to manage the cultural resources on public lands. This text then explores the basic aspects of natural and human-caused changes on the portion of the archaeological resource base consisting of archaeological sites. Other chapters consider the practice of urban archeology in the United States, with emphasis on the relationships between human behavior and material culture in an urban setting. This book discusses as well the applications of computer graphics in archeology. The final chapter deals with the types of skeletal and population changes that accompany malnutrition. This book is a valuable resource for anthropologist, archaeologists, urban planners, and graduate students.

Krech (anthropology, Brown U.) treats such provocative issues as whether the Eden in which Native Americans are viewed as living prior to European contact was a feature of native environmentalism or simply low population density; indigenous use of fire; and the Indian role in near-extinctions of buffalo, deer, and beaver. He concludes that early Indians' culturally-mediated closeness with nature was not always congruent with modern conservation ideas, with implications for views of, and by, contemporary Indians. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR