Archaeology in America: An Encyclopedia

The greatness of America is right under our feet. The American past - the people, battles, industry and homes - can be found not only in libraries and museums, but also in hundreds of archaeological sites that scientists investigate with great care. These sites are not in distant lands, accessible only by research scientists, but nearby - almost every locale possesses a parcel of land worthy of archaeological exploration. Archaeology in America is the first resource that provides everyone - students, researchers, and anyone interested in their local history - with a survey of the most important archaeological discoveries in North America. Leading scholars - most with an intimate knowledge of the area - have written in-depth essays on over 300 of the most important archaeological sites that explain the importance of the site, the history of the people who left the artifacts, and the nature of the ongoing research.

Francis P. McManamon is the author of many articles, commentaries, and reviews on topics related to American archaeology. He is coeditor ofThe Antiquities Act: A Century of American Archaeology, Historic Preservation, and Nature Conservation (2006) andCultural Resource Management in Contemporary Society (2000). Dr. McManamon is an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Maryland. He is the Chief Archeologist of the National Park Service, Departmental Consulting Archeologist for the Department of the Interior, and Manager of the Archeology Program of the NPS national office.

Linda S. Cordell former Director of the University of Colorado Museum, Boulder, is a Senior Scholar at the School for Advanced Research in Santa Fe and Professor Emeritus of Anthropology at the University of Colorado Boulder. Her research in the American Southwest focuses on Ancestral Pueblo settlement and agricultural strategies with excavations in the Upper Pecos and Rio Grande Valley areas and complementary analysis of museum collections. She is author ofArchaeology of the Southwest(1997), and co-editor, with Don D. Fowler, of Southwest Archaeology in the Twentieth Century (2005). She serves on the Galisteo Basin Archaeological Sites Protection Act Coordinating Committee and as an advisor to the Friends of Tijeras Pueblo, organizations focused on the protection and interpretation of archaeological sites.

Kent G. Lightfoot is a Professor in the Anthropology Department at the University of California, Berkeley. As an archaeologist who has spent the last 30 years working in New England, the American Southwest, and the Pacific Coast of North America, he specializes in the study of coastal hunter-gatherer peoples, culture contact research, and the archaeology of colonialism. His recent book,Indians, Missionaries, and Merchants: The Legacy of Colonial Encounters on the California Frontiers (2005) presents the results of some of this research. His recent work has centered on the archaeology of the greater San Francisco Bay Area.

George R. Milner Milner is Professor of Anthropology at The Pennsylvania State University. He specializes in archaeology and human osteology, focusing on the prehistoric peoples of the American Midwest and Southeast. His recent book,The Moundbuilders (2004), is an overview of the prehistoric societies of eastern North America. An earlier book,The Cahokia Chiefdom (1998 printed 2006), covers the development and organizational structure of the Mississippian period society centered on the largest prehistoric mound center in the United States.