At least fifty-six frontier forts once stood in, or within view of, what is now the state of Iowa. All sought to control and manipulate Indians to the advantage of European and American traders, governments, and settlers. Frontier Forts of Iowa draws extensively upon archaeological and historical records to document this era of transformation from the seventeenth-century fur trade until almost all Indians had been removed from the region. Also included is a section on visiting original and reconstructed forts today.
Author of articles in such venues as the Journal of the Iowa Archaeological Society, Plains Anthropologist, Historical Archaeology, Midcontinental Journal of Archaeology, and North American Archaeologist, William Whittaker is a staff archaeologist at the Office of the State Archaeologist in Iowa City.