Current Approaches to the Analysis and Interpretation of Small Lithic Sites in the Northeast

This volume reflects the continuing interest and important contributions being made by archaeologists to the study of small lithic sites in the Northeast. The articles in this volume challenge existing notions that these small sites do not produce meaningful data about the past by highlighting the ways in which prehistoric populations exploited the local landscape for settlement purposes. This work has been enhanced by the use of modern analytical, recovery, and archaeometric techniques, which not only have allowed for the reanalysis of older data sets but also have added new information to an already large regional data set.

The articles in this volume are grouped around three general themes: Defining and Assessing the Research Potential of Small Lithic Sites, Small Lithic Sites and their Contributions to Local and Regional Settlement Systems, and Managing and Evaluating the National Register Significance of Small Lithic Sites. Small lithic sites dating from the Archaic Period (c. 10,000 B.P.) to European Contact (c. 500 B.P.) are discussed within the volume s chapters.