Current ecological archaeology, as often practiced, is too closed a system. The realization that introduced external factors may play a role in cultural change as potently as localized mechanisms demands increased attention to analytical boundaries and matters of scale. This article questions the utility and effectiveness of localized adaptive explanations for large-scale historical processes and, as an illustration, considers the prehistoric distribution of the bow in North America from a continental perspective. Criteria used to determine the presence of the bow in the archaeological record are briefly reviewed and a north to south chronological distribution for the initial adoption of the bow is presented.
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