ABSTRACT
The importance of the Middle Archaic as a period worthy of intense study has clearly emerged from recent research. As a result of the investigations at Koster and other sites, this period has lost some of its vagueness as a long, indefinite transition between the more clearly conceived Early and Late Archaic periods. It has come of age as a distinct period during which some of the principal features of Late Archaic subsistence and settlement first appear. Such Late Archaic characteristics as multiseasonal base camps, permanent habitations, multiregional exchange networks, and specialized plant gathering can now be projected back before 5000 Bp. All of these characteristics are evident in the Middle Archaic Period part of the Koster site record (ca. 8000 to 5000 bp).
