Exploring Ancient Native America

David Hurst Thomas has been a curator at the American Museum of Natural History for over twenty years and is a Founding Trustee of the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian. He has excavated hundreds of sites, has edited more than eighty volumes, and is the author of Archaeology (1998) and Archaeology: Down to Earth (1999).

• The Global Prologue; The First American:; Spreading Out Across America; Agricultural Imperatives in the American Southwest; Harvesting the Eastern Woodlands; Mississippian Transformations; Colliding Worlds: Old and New?; Epilogue: an Enduring Encounter

"In Exploring Ancient Native America, author David Hurst Thomas...works hard to tell the story of ancient America "strictly in terms of places and artifacts you can see for yourself"...he seems eager to steer clear of the Eurocentric version of American history and enhances his fact-filled reports with perspectives from a host of Native American tribes...The work is scholarly but easy to read... This is not a tour book that tells you where to eat or where to stay or how to entertain yourself when you get there--unless you're one to feed on mystery, sleep with the stars and thrill to small revelations." -- Chicago Tribune"...a fine guide which includes a healthy dose of Native American history along with basic ideas and instructions for locating archaeological sites." -- Midwest BookReview