In 1972, Canada’s National Museum of Man (now, Canadian Museum of History) established the Mercury Series to publish scholarship related to the Museum’s divisions. This three-volume entry (Archaeological Survey of Canada Paper No. 14) presents William J. Byrne’s doctoral dissertation in archaeology written for Yale University. During his career, Byrne served as Director of the Archaeological Survey of Canada, Director of the Archaeological Survey of Alberta, and a Deputy Minister in the Alberta government’s Culture department. In these volumes, Byrne catalogues and analyzes ceramics excavated in southern Alberta to demonstrate the utility and necessity of such artifacts for understanding the province’s prehistory. Vol. 1 contains descriptions the artifacts. In Vol. 2, Byrne analyzes the artifacts to trace ceramics trends and periods in the province, and to extrapolate the region’s prehistory. Volume 3 contains the dissertation’s tables, figures, and images.
