8 - Examining Hypotheses for Settlement Pattern and the Distribution of Activities

Abstract

This chapter examines hypotheses for settlement pattern and the distribution of activities derived from the characteristics of the frontier model. The sequential occupation of sites in South Carolina has permitted to observe the development of English settlement in this colonial region. These data imply a general expansion outward from the entrepôt of Charleston along the coast and then inland along the major river drainages. The distribution of structures, archaeological sites, and cemeteries show a settlement system tied together by a dendritic network of transport routes focused on the principal port. The overall pattern of settlement alone, however, reveals little about the system's organization. To investigate this aspect of insular frontier colonization, it is necessary to examine the remains of individual settlements themselves according to their position within the trade and communications network and their form and content. The function of a frontier settlement is linked largely to the economic activities associated with it. Such activities reflect its role in the production of staple commodities, which is related, in turn, to the settlement's position in the network of trade and communications. Settlements may be ranked according to their relative economic function into three basic categories, namely, frontier towns, nucleated settlements, and dispersed settlements.