This volume brings together a number of different lines of research to report on the field work and interpretations of the Mill Iron site in southeastern Montana. Located on BLM land, the work represents a successful joint venture between federal needs for management and academic needs for research. A stratified, multiple-occupation site, the focus of the research was on the Paleoindian occupation and its position within the local and regional paleoenvirons and within regional and Great Plains chronologic frameworks. Intended for Paleoindian enthusiasts, the volume generally is written in a straightforward style that makes it suitable for both scholars and lay people. The more technical taphonomic and technological chapters present methodologies that transcend a particular time period, and, therefore, the volume should be of interest to a broadbased audience.
The volume contains 11 chapters and three appendices. The appendices are as interesting and useful as the main chapters. Chapter 1, ''Introduction,'' sets the stage for the excavations, analyses, and background concept of the Goshen cultural complex which Frison now terms Goshen-Plainview. Mill Iron was discovered through the Paleoindian deposits being exposed 1 m below surface in an eroded butte. Charcoal from an excavated hearth yielded an age of 11,340 ฯฎ 120 yr B.P.; nine other charcoal dates provided an age span of ca. 10,700 to 11,500 yr B.P. Due to some morphological similarities, the projectile points recovered were considered Plainview, but the first date led to a reconsideration as Goshen (a type found below Folsom at Hell Gap). After five field seasons, the Goshen occupation appears to represent a bison bone bed reflecting butchering activities and a camp.
Chapter 2, ''Lithic Spatial Analysis,'' uses debitage to investigate whether artifact distribution is the result of natural or human processes. Chapter 3, ''Geology,'' focuses on the late Pleistocene and early Holocene landscapes but covers the late Quaternary. Remnants of six late Quaternary paleosurfaces were identified, with the S6 paleosurface being the one occupied by Goshen peoples. During the late Pleistocene, ancestral Humbolt Creek flowed through the valley and small ephemeral streams drained into it. The site itself is situated in a late Pleistocene paleoswale that drained southwesterly into ancentral Humbolt Creek. This paleoswale was undergoing infilling and was not seriously affected by post-depositional erosional episodes until recent times. Slopewash and colluvial sediments are dominant with two episodes of stream deposition. Six late Quaternary units were identified based on gross lithology and sedimentary structure. No one unit is continuous across the site area, with a number of facies producing a complex stratigraphy.
Chapter 4, ''Flaked Stone and Worked Bone,'' while covering the entire tool assemblage, focuses on a technological and morphological analysis of the projectile points. A useful section is included on definitions of terms and the chapter provides a careful, detailed technological description of each point as well as overall characteristics of