In this unique volume, archaeologists examine the changing economic structure of trade in North America over a period of 6,000 years. Organined by geographical and chronological divisions, each chapter focuses on trade in one of nine regions from the Arachiac through the late prehistoric period. Each contribution explores neighboring areas to llustrate the complexity of North American exchange. By charting the econmic structure of these regions, archaeologists, economic anthropologists, and economic geographers gain greater insight into the dynamics of North American trade and exchange on a continental wide basis.

Inhalt
I. Introduction.- 1 • Systematics of the Study of Prehistoric Regional Exchange in North America.- II. Eastern North America.- 2 • Evidence for Prehistoric Exchange on the Maritime Peninsula.- 3 • The Prehistoric Transportation of Goods in the St. Lawrence River Basin.- 4 • Late Archaic through Late Woodland Exchange in the Middle Atlantic Region.- 5 • Prehistoric Exchange in the Southeast.- 6 • Empirical Characterization of Exchange Systems in Lower Mississippi Valley Prehistory.- 7 • Prehistoric Exchange in the Lower Mississippi Valley.- 8 • Trade and Exchange in the Midwestern United States.- III. The North American West.- 9 • Prehistoric Plains Trade.- 10 • Prehistoric Trade and Exchange in the Interior Plateau of Northwestern North America.- 11 • Trade and Exchange in Prehistoric British Columbia.- 12 • Mosiac Patterning in Prehistoric CaliforniaGreat Basin Exchange.- 13 • Prehistoric Exchange Systems in California.- IV. Conclusion.- 14 • Positioning Exchange in the Evolution of Human Society.