area and to salvage the most important sites. With archaeological data piling up in files and on shelves, some major publications appeared, proving that Quebec territory was no longer terra incognita.

Among both historic and prehistoric archaeologists there were important meetings about the orientation and the management of field archaeology. The new topical review Recherches Amérindiennes au Québec, created in 1971, published important research results. Other publications included the state collections of Dossiers, Civilisation du Québec, Cahiers du Patrimoine, and Activités archéologiques and other collections such as Paléo-Québec, Mercury series. In 1979 a new archaeological association was founded. At the end of this decade of work, Quebec archaeology was securely included within the prehistoric and historic research that was being done in Northeastern North America.

In the 1980s, Quebec archaeology moved into fieldwork programs, rescue interventions, publications, a centralized inventory, public diffusion, and so on. Cultural history, reliable sequencing, paleoethnography, and inventories of material culture were the dominant objectives of research. Quebec is as large as france, spain, italy, and greece put together. It contains a large range of ecology, from northern tundra to southern closed deciduous forests. Barren land Inuit, boreal forest Algonquian hunting groups, and horticultural Iroquoian societies were all using this land when Europeans arrived, and the lifestyle of each of these groups was the result of long regional cultural developments. A single generation of archaeologists only had the time to sample this huge diversity, and to sketch what had happened in it since the end of Pleistocene.

The first synthetic overviews of Quebec archaeology, Archeologia, edited by Chapdelaine in 1978, and writings by Wright in 1979, soon became obsolete and have not been updated. The reason is that the fast-growing data bank on Quebec archaeology can no longer be easily and simply summed up. In the 1980s it became obvious that the study of archaeology in Quebec was bound to be an endless task. This was because Quebec’s territory was so huge, there were only a handful of archaeologists, and cultural development within it proved to be complicated.

The archaeologists of Quebec did not let these obstacles overcome their curiosity and desire for knowledge. Although overburdened and calling for assistance, Quebec archaeologists continued their work throughout the 1980s and the 1990s with undiminished enthusiasm.

New research has focussed on zooarchaeology (Osteotheque Inc.) and on restoration. A center for archaeological investigation and formation opened in Chicoutimi (UGAC). Long-term studies in Ungava, southwestern Quebec, the James Bay area, the Gaspe Peninsula, Cap Tourmente, Tadoussac, Tracy, Downtown Quebec City, Chambly, the lower North Coast of St. Lawrence, Lake St-Jean, Temiscouata, and many eastern townships have proved to be very productive.

Quebec archaeology has reached international standards of quality and professional productivity. There has never been a lack of sites, and the standards of academic outcome are as good as any. New theoretical problems about the origins of Iroquoian agriculture, Dorset-Thule cultural articulation, long-distance exchange of material goods, demographic archaeology, zooarchaeology, adaptation, methods of colonization, industrial impact, Basque implantation, and many other topics are discussed. Cooperation with other specialists in many other fields is a day-to-day occurrence.

Looking back to the early 1960s, Quebec archaeologists are proud of how far they have come, but are still dissatisfied. Full-time archaeologists undertaking fieldwork, analysis, and interpretation of Quebec antiquities are few. Eight archaeologists work in universities, four in museums, and fifteen in their own contract archaeology companies, which hire students for summer work. About twenty others have jobs in administration, heritage advising, or college education. All in all, fewer than fifty archaeologists are involved full time with archaeology in Quebec. The ratio of archaeologists to the population is less than one to 140,000 and to available land is less than one to 30,000 square kilometers. Approximately fifty more archaeologists work part time, especially in the summer.