French Colonial Archaeology

This wide-ranging book is the first to offer---in one volume---detailedresults of many of the investigations of French colonial sites made inthe mid-continent during the last decade. It includes work done at FortSt. Louis, Fort de Chartres, Fort Massac, French Peoria, Cahokia, Prairiedu Pont, Prairie du Rocher, and other locations controlled by the Frenchduring a time when their dominance in North America was more than twicethat of Britain and Spain combined.Five of the book's fifteen chapters summarize major excavations at colonialfortifications, four of which are public monuments that currently attractthousands of visitors each year. Another five chapters deal with Frenchcolonial villages, and the remainder of the book is devoted to diet, trade,the role of historic documents in the reconstruction of life on the Frenchcolonial frontier, and other topics.