This book in Pacific archaeology is the third to emerge from the Pouerua Project, a major archaeological initiative of the 1980s, studying the extensive pa (native village) site on and around the volcanic cone at Pouerua, Northland, New Zealand. Focusing on the pa itself, it explores the innovative attempt to use archaeological techniques to explore and understand socio-political processes. The investigation revealed the pa as a fluid site with different functions changing over time; not a place of permanent settlement but rather a visible sign of power and dominance. This book shouldl be of interest to scholars, students and amateur archaeologists and historians.