The Chichimec Sea is a metaphorical term for that large area of mountain, desert, and desiccated lake bed that covers much of northern Mexico and parts of the southwestern United States. Aboriginallyindeed, well into historic timesthis large area was inhabited by diverse bands of Indians who had in common mainly the fact that they shared neither in the complex civilization of Mesoamerica nor the sub-Mesoamerican cultures of the Greater Southwest.This comprehensive and unified volume of original essays deals with the complex problems of interactionacross and around the Chichimec Seabetween Mesoamerica and the Southwest. The twenty contributions to this volume, by anthropologists, archaeologists, geographers, ethnohistorians, and ethnobotanists, all deal with diverse aspects of the problem of Mesoamerican-Southwest contacts."