Contemporary Lithic Analysis in the Southeast―Problems, Solutions, and Interpretations

This is a collection of fresh papers on the technical analysis of archeological stone tools and stone evidence (the focus here is pre-Columbian, but the work is applicable worldwide). The writing is unexpectedly accessible and lively for such a technical subject. Contributors are identified only by their department or institution; many are probably graduate or post-graduate student excavators, and others are working archeologists for private or federal agencies. Though the book is targeted to professionals, this fact gives the collection a practical focus and a less heavy academic writing style that may attract educated general readers with a serious interest in stone-age archeology. The editors challenged contributors to develop new or better ways to understand human history by analyzing stone remains. Contributors responded in a range of ways that include important issues for anyone digging sites or doing scholarly reading on prehistory: how to tell the difference between rocks broken by geological processes and human-created stone tools, a discussion of how sites are chosen and classified by artifact density but density is a function of the size of the holes in the sieve the excavator uses, practical ways to learn what a settlement looked like and what people did there by technical analysis of the stone debris present, even in the absence of tools or large artifacts. The collection is informed by the fact that the Southeast has a long history of pre-Columbian cities and complex human activities but settlement remains tend to be poorly preserved. A recommended book for archeological professionals and serious amateur archeologists. Annotation c2012 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)