ABSTRACT
The Southeast (Fig. 12.1) is a region containing a substantial Paleoindia record and has recently become the focus of ideas regarding where the earliest people in North America originated and how they adapted (see Chapter 2). The Southeast is also well known for its very complex prehistoric groups, many of which were at their peak at the time of European contact about 450 BP. The evolution of these complex societies, whether chiefdoms or states, provides an exciting laboratory for discovering the conditions and processes that led to their development. In addition, the northern Southeast appears to have been an independent center of early domestication in North America, making it a region of great importance to the study of early agriculture. Thus, an understanding of the prehistory of the Southeast is essential for addressing a number of issues that transcend simple chronology.
