Some error occured while loading the Quick View. Please close the Quick View and try reloading the page.
George Frison and Dennis Stanford's Agate Basin monograph is not only a classic of Plains paleoindian archaeology, but also of multidisciplinary research, geoarchaeology, zooarchaeology, and experimental archaeology. Lucid presentation of meticulously excavated and analyzed sediments, bones and artifacts convey an unmatched sense of the sights, sounds and smells of Paleoindian life on the High Plains—from brutal winters and blistering summers, to killing and butchering bison, and to making lethal weaponry.
As Matthew Hill writes in his new prologue, 'Not merely an important volume of the Frison canon, Agate Basin stands as a foundational document in modern Americanist archaeology and a major accomplishment in American science.'
Originally published by Academic Press in 1982
'The Agate Basin Site has shaped our understanding of the early settlement of the Great Plains. Frison and Stanford set a standard for quality and readability that few archaeologists have matched. A landmark in synthetic research that brings together world-class research on lithic technology, faunal analysis, geoarchaeology, and paleoenvironmental studies.' (Matthew E. Hill Jr., University of Iowa)
'The Agate Basin Site is a remarkable locality in Paleoindian archaeology with its multiple, stratified occupation zones representing the earliest settlement of the Great Plains. Frison and Stanford's superb volume stands, appropriately, as a classic study in integrated zooarchaeology, geoarchaeology, and paleobotany in Paleoindian and Plains archaeology.' (Vance T. Holliday, University of Arizona)
'The Agate Basin Site is an exemplary work on an important site. Matthew Hill's prologue to this much-needed reissue nicely puts the work in context and explains why this book has earned the right to be on the bookshelf of every archaeologist interested in hunter-gatherers, vertebrate taphonomy, and environmental reconstruction. A classic that never goes out of style.' (David Meltzer, Southern Methodist University)
'The Agate Basin site occupies an unremarkable landscape. But the rich Paleoindian archaeology along Moss Agate Arroyo described in this volume transforms this stretch of the High Plains into a landmark site of North American archaeology. Equally, this volume shows how Frison's research program helped transform Paleoindian research.' (Lawrence Todd, Colorado State University)
George C. Frison is an American archaeologist. He has been given the Society for American Archaeology's Lifetime Achievement Award, the Paleoarchaeologist of the Century Award, and was elected to the National Academy of Sciences.
Dennis J. Stanford is an anthropologist at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History.
Matthew G. Hill is Associate Professor of Anthropology at Iowa State University.
Prologue to the Percheron Press Edition, Matthew G. Hill
Acknowledgements
Chapter One. Introduction George C. Frison
The Site Locality
History of Site Excavations
Artifact Collections
Chapter Two. Archaeology
1. Stratigraphy George C. Frison
2. Folsom Components George C. Frison
3. Agate Base Components George C. Frison and Dennis J. Stanford
4. Hell Gap Components George C. Frison
5. The Sheaman Site: A Clovis Component George C. Frison
6. Bone, Antler, and Ivory Artifacts and Manufacture Technology George C. Frison and Carolyn Craig
7. Raw Stone Flaking Material Sources George C. Frison
8. Radiocarbon Dates George C. Frison
Chapter Three. Lithic Technology
1. Flaked Stone Technology and Typology Bruce A. Bradley
2. Fluting of Folsom Projectile Points George C. Frison and Bruce A. Bradley
Chapter Four. Faunal Studies
1. Analysis of Postcranial Bison Remains George M Zeimens
2. Bison Dentition Studies George C. Frison
3. Bison Taxonomy George C. Frison
4. Bison Procurement George C. Frison
5. Cultural Modifications of Bone from Pronghorn (Antilocapra Americana) and Other Small Animals Danny N. Walker
6. Early Holocene Vertebrate Fauna Danny N. Walker
Chapter Five. Paleoecological Studies
1. Geologic Investigation John Albanese
2. Soil Development and Paleoenvironments Richard G. Reider
3. Vegetation Ecology Clayton Marlow
4. Pollen Analysis Jane M. Beiswenger
5. Phytolith Studies Rhoda Owen Lewis
6. Fossil Nonmarine Gastropods Emmett Evanoff
Chapter Six. Summary and Conclusions George C. Frison and Dennis J. Stanford
Appendix
References
Name Index
Subject Index