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Weaknesses cont'd

I have several rather picky comments concerning maps and tables. Some of them apply to the book, some to the CD and most to both.

Maps and tables are listed in summary indices by chapter number but these do not indicate the actual page number on which the individual map or table occurs. Phantom page numbers in the text ('Page 41----Page 42', for example) give hints but this isn't adequate for strict citation purposes.

I would have preferred the maps and the illustrations to be in separate categories, allowing the reader to distinguish easily between these different sources of data. The very long list of "Figures" requires three separate display tables, a fact which only becomes apparent when one works to the bottom of each table.

Maps provide an overview of site locations, but they often omit important topographical or biotic features such as the Niagara Escarpment or the locations of rivers and drainage systems. This is particularly noticeable in the maps of Archaic and Early Woodland sites, where drainage systems may define settlement patterns.

In many cases, sites are indicated on maps by numbers. The identities of these numbers are given in tables, not on the maps themselves, and it is not possible to access both a map and a table at once. Thus, to find out the identity of a site, the reader must note the site's number from the map, close the map, open the table, determine the site's identity, close the table and reopen the map.

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Last updated: Mon Aug 6 2001