This encyclopaedia offers a tapestry of data, descriptions, speculation, facts and theories, and provides a comprehensive introduction to the early inhabitants and cultures of continental North America. It explores each cultural area, its major social complexes, important archaelogical sites, food resources, and pioneering archaelogists. It also covers topics such as tool types, archaeoastronomy, charmstones, shell money, fire use, nutting stone, bow and arrow, burial mounds, and rock art. A reader's guide, providing an overview of North American prehistory and its study, and an extensive...