Perspective ( 1978) edited by Alan Bryan; Peopling of the New World ( 1982) edited
by Jonathon E. Ericson, R. E. Taylor, and Rainer Berger; Early Man in the New
World ( 1983) edited by Richard Shutler; New Evidence for the Pleistocene Peopling
of the Americas ( 1986) edited by Alan Bryan; Megafauna and Man: Discovery of
America's Heartland ( 1990) edited by Larry D. Agenbroad, Jim I. Mead and Lisa W. Nelson
; The First Americans: Search and Research ( 1991) edited by Thomas Dillehay
and David Meltzer; and Prehistoric Mongoloid Dispersals ( 1996) edited by
Takeru Akazawa and Emőke J. E. Szathmáry. My earlier book, Quest for the Ori-
gins of the First Americans ( 1993), may also be included in this list.

Significant regional syntheses focusing on the early archeology of western
North America include: Prehistoric Hunters of the High Plains ( 1978 and 1991) by
George Frison; California Archaeology ( 1984) by Michael J. Moratto; Early Human
Occupation in Far Western North America: The Clovis-Archaic Interface ( 1988)
edited by Judith Willig, Melvin Aikens, and John Fagan; Early Hunter-Gatherers
of the California Coast ( 1994) by Jon Erlandson; Early Human Occupation in
British Columbia ( 1996) edited by Roy Carlson and Luke Bona; The Prehistory of
the Northwest Coast ( 1995), by R. G. Matson and Gary Coupland; and American
Beginnings: The Prehistory and Paleoecology of Beringia ( 1996) edited by Frederick Hadleigh West
. Brian Fagan The Great Journey: The Peopling of Ancient
America ( 1987) also represents an important contribution to the body of litera-
ture on the early archeology of North America. In addition, there are many im-
portant synthetic articles and specific issues of regional and topical journals de-
voted to the early archeology or paleoecology of a region.

All of these works have provided important contributions to our knowledge
regarding the earliest occupation of western North America and each provides
important insights into regional archeology. The variety of perspectives and the
wealth of data from these sources, as well as individual site reports, were ex-
tremely valuable in preparing this synthesis. I am indebted to these, and other,
scholars for their efforts which helped establish our knowledge and under-
standing of the early archeology of western North America.

Synthesis is an ongoing process in archeology. It necessitates moving from the
security of well-known small-scale phenomena within restricted areas into the
less secure realm of defining patterns of information derived by many re-
searchers from many different archeological sites and diverse regions. A work of
this nature requires modifying some existing interpretations to accommodate re-
cent discoveries, the application of new methods, and the progress of ongoing re-
search. While this book relies heavily on the excellent work of many scholars and
researchers spanning more than a hundred years, the responsibility for this
synthesis and associated interpretations rests solely with the author.

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