Archaic Societies: Diversity and Complexity across the Midcontinent

Thomas E. Emerson · Dale L. McElrath · Andrew C. Fortier

Feb 2012 · State University of New York Press

About this ebook

Sweeping and detailed, this long-awaited volume is an indispensable guide to the Archaic period across the midcontinent. Archaeologists throughout the region share the latest excavation results and analytical perspectives to reveal and reinterpret the worlds of those Native peoples who lived there for some 9,000 years (up to about 3,000 years ago). Of particular concern is the establishment of relative and absolute chronologies for the Archaic period, the relationships between the artifacts left behind and the peoples who made and used them, and the changing interactions between cultures, climate, and landscape. Archaeologists offer useful, up-to-date overviews of Archaic societies, assessment of stratigraphic sequences, and detailed discussions of finds and interpretations from the Mississippi and Ohio river regions and the Great Lakes. Comprehensive and accessible, this landmark book is a must for anyone wanting to understand a crucial but little-understood period in North America's prehistory.

Ratings and reviews

Research into the Archaic period is plagued by both a paucity of of data and the occlusions resulting from pre-conceived notions of how early societies must be - paradigms in thinking such as the adaptionist theory. The pre-filtering effect of such closely-held beliefs disallows the observer from letting the data to define the time. In other words, the observer makes the data fit the scheme. Fortunately, this volume is populated with people who are eager to let the collected material represent itself without a skewed interpretation based on such pre-conceptions. Further, the care they give in reporting remains and locations within their physical and climatic contexts allows the reader to view patterns for themselves, further adding to the value of the volume. I admit that I know several of the authors and have appreciated their individual work for many years. Those that I know are exacting in their reporting and reluctant to leap at conclusions not made evident by the collected data. It is those qualities that enhances this collection of papers. I trust the reader can reach their own conclusions about its worth. Thanks to the high level of reportage in "Archaic Societies," that task is made easier.

About the author

Thomas E. Emerson is Director of the Illinois Transportation Archaeological Research Program (ITARP), a joint program of the University of Illinois and the Illinois Department of Transportation. At ITARP, Dale L. McElrath is Senior Cultural Resource Archaeologist and Statewide Survey Coordinator, and Andrew C. Fortier is Special Projects Coordinator. Archaic Societies is a companion volume to their Late Woodland Societies: Tradition and Transformation across the Midcontinent.