Invaluable both for reference and collection development (with a 150-page bibliography), this guide to mainly prehistoric sites, cultures, and artifacts in the United States and Canada features some 1800 signed entries by 151 expert contributors that highlight the information upon which present North American prehistory is based. A scholarly achievement.

Library Journal

This dictionary of more than 1800 entries represents a collaboration of 159 archaeologists, each an authority on a particular region. The result is a source of basic information on the major prehistorical cultures, archaeological sites, and types of artifacts found in North America. The sites were selected from the more than one-half million prehistoric archaeological sites recorded in North America because they are the principal ones upon which the major chronologies, classifications, and interpretations of the continent's prehistory are based. The reference has entries for most major types of artifacts and details the important cultures, including their phases and subdivisions. At the end of each entry is a list of sources which refers primarily to published works, but which also cites unpublished documents on file at universities, museums, and government agencies when these represent the only available source of information.