In recent years, the discipline of archaeology has witnessed its scientific base challenged by new interpretive approaches, new kinds of data and proposals for new levels of social relevance. The Reader in Archaeological Theory comprises a summary perspective on

these different trends, problems and currents in recent archaeological method and theory, how they are related, and how they differ.

Remarkable in its emphasis on North American research, many of the papers in this volume focus on ancient Mesoameria and the native peoples of

our continent. The breadth of scholarship covered in the Reader demonstrates how a variety of disciplines--from cognitive neuroscience to poststructural semiotics--have influenced some newer approaches to archaeological theory.