Awarded the James Henry Breasted Prize by the American Historical Association, this volume is the first comprehensive consideration of eastern North America as an independent, primary center of plant domestication and agriculture. Focusing on data derived from the expanding discipline of archaeobotany, Bruce D. Smith presents a provocative alternative theory of how prehistoric North American societies developed from hunting and gathering systems to food-producing economies. Eastern North America remains one of the world's best-documented independent centers of domestication and will clearly be the focus of sustained and rewarding research for many years to come.

Contributions by: C.Wesley Cowan, Michael P. Hoffman