Many of the earlier generation of scientists working on the archeology
of the North touched my life as teachers and mentors, including Doug
Anderson, Dave Hopkins, Tom Hamilton, Helge Larsen, Robert
McKennan, and John Cook. I have shared the experiences of graduate
and postgraduate training, fieldwork, and mutual support with Chuck
Holmes, Dick Jordan, Dennis Stanford, and many other scientists
whose names are scattered throughout this book. I would like to pass
on to younger archeologists and those who simply enjoy learning about
this subject an appreciation for the scientists whose work forms the
basis of our knowledge.

A synthesis such as this is possible only for the regional specialist,
because many of the sources of information are not generally available.
These include a vast array of unpublished reports, papers delivered at
local and regional meetings, and unpublished manuscripts resulting
from field research. The progressive accumulation of these types of data
has accelerated during the past twenty years, as a result of archeological
projects funded or required by government agencies. Unless one has
been able to follow continuously these developments in conjunction
with the progress of academic archeology, the prehistory of the western
North American arctic and subarctic is incomprehensible. Although I
have attempted to cite these sources whenever possible, I am sure that
there are some that I have missed and others that I have chosen to
ignore for the sake of relevance. Not only have I strived to pull together
this vast array of scattered material, but I have imposed on it a
framework that attempts to organize and to some degree explain these
data. This is necessary not only to provide order to what otherwise
would be a series of unrelated archeological site and artifact descrip-
tions, but also to determine which of those reports and descriptions are
relevant to the prehistory during this time period.

This book is directed to a broad and diverse audience including the
lay reader, interested students, and professional archeologists. I fre-
quently explain terms and concepts that would be unnecessary if this
study were directed to a purely scientific audience. Though some of my
colleagues may find this approach cumbersome, it will help the less
specialized readers share in the archeological experiences and processes
that many of us take for granted.

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