The Archaeology and Prehistory of Southern Alberta as Reflected by Ceramics

Three volumes. Card covers, 729 pages (continuous pagination, B&W illustrations and photographs.

Spines creased, bumped at head, and sunned. Vol. 3 bumped at back cover bottom; small closed tear at spine head. Front pages of all volumes stamped by previous owner; original price sticker to title page of each volume.

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.