"The Plateau region of the Pacific Northwest has witnessed the emergence, persistence, and decline of a diverse array of hunter-gatherer communities during the past several thousand years. Consequently, the region contains an archaeological record of groups who have lived at times in permanent villages, employed complex resource procurement and processing strategies, participated in wide-ranging trade networks, and maintained social organizations featuring high degrees of social inequality." "Contributors seek to understand prehistoric social organization, subsistence practices, and lifeways of those living on the Plateau and to expand upon this foundation to assess the general evolution and organization of complex hunter-gatherers."--BOOK JACKET.