The archaeology of North America /

Gr. 6-10. In this addition to the Indians of North America series, Snow offers a comprehensive history of the first Americans. He begins by discussing the bias early archaeologists displayed toward Indian culture--they assumed that the more advanced peoples, such as the mound builders, must have come from Europe. Now it is accepted that Indians originally traveled across a land bridge that once linked North America to Siberia and developed their own cultures. The book deals with Paleo-Indian life in depth, describing how the first Americans hunted, made tools, and adapted to their new environments as they spread across the the continent. There is also considerable discussion of the conquest of America and how the Indians were used and abused in the process. Students will find a wealth of material here, but this is not easy to read. Illustrated by well-reproduced black-and-white photographs, the book will be used primarily for those needing report material and are willing to dig a little to find it. A bibliography, culture chronology, and extensive glossary are appended. --Ilene Cooper

Gr 10-12-- New information on the origin, customs, and culture of Native Americans would be a welcome addition to any library. Unfortunately, it is not provided by this book. The title itself is misleading, since the majority of the book is not devoted to archaeological discoveries or techniques at all, but rather to an unsuccessful attempt to condense and survey all of the major cultures of North American Indians. What archaeologists have added to our knowledge of these cultures is all too briefly alluded to in each chapter, but exactly how these discoveries illuminate the everyday lives of ancient Americans is not demonstrated. Snow does cover in some detail certain techniques, such as radio-carbon dating and dendrochronology (use of tree growth rings to determine dates), but their use by real archeologists is not demonstrated. The illustrations are of average quality; there are too few maps and those that do appear are confusing and poorly explained. Due to the broad generalizations and technical writing style, this is not a useful addition to collections serving young people. --David N. Pauli, Northern Waters Library Service, Ashland, Wis. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.