| America Before the European Invasions by archaeologist and ethnographer Alice Kehoe provides a useful introductory college and university text for students requiring an overview of the scientific knowledge relating to American Indians in precontact North America. Outlining the origins of First Peoples in North America she provides the standard anthropological and archaeological approach to doing history without documents. The 12 chapters are organized chronologically and describe archaeological understandings of the development of Native American presence during the various stages of precontact. Each chapter includes maps, photographs, illustrations for the period, as well as excerpts from creation stories, legends, oral histories and documents from written sources that support the topic. The periods include the Archaic Period: 7000-1000 BCE; the development of agriculture in Nuclear America; Early Woodland, 1000-100 BC; Middle Woodland, 100 BC-AD 400; the West Coast; Alaska; the Interior West; the American Southwest; The Mississippian Period, AD 950-1600; Late Woodland, to AD 1600; and an overview of Native America in 1600. Each chapter ends with brief conclusions and research puzzles. The material is readable and avoids the potsherd analysis in favour of describing Native American contributions, ingenuity, and agency in the cultural development of North America. |
