The Ritual Landscape of Late Precontact Eastern Oklahoma: Archaeology from the WPA Era until Today

Abstract

ity, and identity-formation, disseminating new ideas outward into core societies and providing the impetus for meaningful cultural transformations. As noted previously, my only critique of this volume is that the editor’s concept of migration needs more consideration of scale. I would argue that movement is an important factor shaping identity formation in each of Harry and Herr’s designated edge region types, not just among frontiers and contact zones. Still, it is heartening that there are scholars working to create such a useful framework for examining edge regions and that it is applicable among a wide variety of cases. Such flexibility is demonstrated by the use of various methods by the book’s contributors, ranging from social network and non-metric dental analyses to material and ethnohistoric comparisons. I look forward to seeing this framework expanded upon by future archaeologists and I hope to see a growing interest in edge societies as we continue to learn and be inspired by these unique and diverse places.