Offers a synthesis of early agricultural adaptations in the region, groundbreaking archaeological research on social identity, and data previously not readily available to English-speaking readers. The twenty-four essays discuss early agriculture, social identity, and cultural landscapes, as well as economic and social interactions within the area now encompassed by northern Mexico and the US Southwest. Contributors examining early agricultural adaptations offer models for understanding the transition to agriculture, explore relationships between the spread of agriculture and Uto-Aztecan migrations, and present data from Arizona, New Mexico, and Chihuahua. Contributors focusing on social identity discuss migration, enculturation, social boundaries, and ethnic identities. They draw on case studies that include diverse artefact classes -- rock art, lithics, architecture, murals, ceramics, cordage, sandals, baskets, faunal remains, and oral histories. Mexican scholars present data from Chihuahua, Durango, Zacatecas, Michoacan, Coahuila, and Nuevo Leon.
They address topics including Spanish-indigenous conflicts, archaeological history, cultural landscapes, and interactions among Mesoamerica, northern Mexico, and the US Southwest.