ABSTRACT
This chapter explores to develop the predictive role of ecological theory and data in archaeological studies by using the model of man as a predator. It also discusses certain concepts basic to author's chosen approach, after which author review briefly the evidence for environmental fluctuations in North America at the time of man's arrival. On the basis of the data presented author proposes three hypotheses concerning the nature and success of man's colonization of North America and his role in the large-scale Late Pleistocene faunal extinctions. Then author attempts to test these hypotheses against the available data to illustrate the feasibility of the procedure that author have adopted. In discussing the colonization of North America, author discusses only sites dated by the C14 method. Finally, it is interesting to note that the distribution of archaeological sites in North America prior to 8000 B. P. corresponds very closely to the present distribution of the wolf on that continent.
