This volume offers a rich and informative introduction to North American archaeology for all those interested in the history and culture of North American natives.

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• Organized around central topics and debates within the discipline.
  
• Illustrated with case studies based on the lives of real people, to emphasize human agency, cultural practice, the body, issues of inequality, and the politics of archaeological practice.
  
• Highlights current understandings of cultural and historical processes in North America and situates these understandings within a global perspective.

Timothy R. Pauketat is Associate Professor of Anthropology at the University of Illinois. He has conducted research in the America Bottom, particularly Cahokia, and pioneered research in archaeology of traditions, agency, and political economy. His recent books include Ancient Cahokia and the Mississippians (2004) and The Archaeology of Traditions (2001).

Diana DiPaolo Loren is an Associate Curator at the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University. Her research on French and Spanish colonial sites contributes to the study of issues of creolization, race, identity, and the body.