The Archaeology of North America )

New York: The Viking Press - A Studio Book, 1976. First American Edition . Hard Back. Fine/Good. 7 1/2" X 10 1/2. Forman, Werner - Photographs. 272 Pages Indexed. Published in England under the title The American Indians: Their Archaeology and Prehistory. Brown boards with gold spine lettering. Illustrated with 23 Color Plates and 175 Monochrome Plates. Endpaper maps of The Regions & Historical Tribes of North America. Very small owner's name label on title page. Jacket has unclipped price $18.95. Top page edges showing some wear. What was missed by the explorers, the colonists, and their history has been recorded by archaeology. Through it we have rediscovered the achievements of the Indians of North America, achievement which range across the whole spectrum of Indians of North America. Their monuments were built of earth, wood, and grass more often than stone. Their arts were practiced in fiber, clay, wood, or flint. Their most precious materials were copper, mica, shell, the volcanic glass, obsidian, and a lead mineral, galena, none of which have much intrinsic value to European minds. Yet these, and others even more commonplace, were the media of prehistoric North American artisans. It is the quality of their achievements in these media, not the intrinsic values of the materials themselves, to which this volume is dedicated. Contents: Introduction, The Eastern Woodlands, The Great Plains, The Desert West, The Far West, The Arctic and Subarctic, Chronologies, Bibliography, and List of Illustrations