Desert Peoples: Archaeological Perspectives provides an issues-oriented overview of hunter-gatherer societies in desert landscapes that combines archaeological and anthropological perspectives and includes a wide range of regional and thematic case studies.

• Brings together, for the first time, studies from deserts as diverse as the sand dunes of Australia, the U.S. Great Basin, the coastal and high altitude deserts of South America, and the core deserts of Africa
• Examines the key concepts vital to understanding human adaptation to marginal landscapes and the behavioral and belief systems that underpin them
• Explores the relationship among desert hunter-gatherers, herders, and pastoralists

Peter Veth is Director of Research at the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies, Canberra. He is the author of over 100 articles and books on the archaeology of arid zone hunter-gatherers.

Mike Smith is Director of Research and Development at the National Museum of Australia. He pioneered research into late Pleistocene settlement in the Australian desert and has worked extensively across the arid zone attempting to piece together its human and environmental history.

Peter Hiscock is a Reader in the School of Archaeology and Anthropology at the Australian National University.