Although traditionally characterized by a host of diverse criteria, frontier is defined here as a transitional area, a zone of mixture and interaction, where societies meet in active competition. Recent archaeological studies have attempted to develop models of frontier adaptation, but most are incomplete because of their failure to consider the interrelationships of both intrusive and indigenous cultures. The archaeological implications of our framework of frontier dynamics can be illustrated by changes in Euro—American and Indian settlement-subsistence patterns, economics, and material culture which occurred during the European colonization of eastern North America. Frontier research also helps to bridge the boundary between prehistoric and historic archaeology, two aspects of a disciplinary continuum.
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