Exploring Tribal Settlement Ecology in the Southeast: A Case Study from the North Carolina Piedmont, 800–1600 Ce

Abstract

Ecological studies of pre-contact tribal groups tend to focus on the environmental aspects of ecology; far less research has explored the social, economic, and political interactions that influence interactions between a group and its environment and landscape. In this research, we present a comprehensive approach to studying tribal ecology through the use of archaeological settlement patterns. We use a combination of ceramic analysis, GIS-based landscape reconstruction, and discriminant function analysis to explore the relationships between settlement location, size, and various environmental and cultural features of the landscape. Our work focuses on Piedmont Village Tradition (PVT) peoples of the upper Yadkin River Valley in the North Carolina Piedmont during 800-1600 CE. Studies of tribal cultures in the Southeast during this time period are rare. Our results indicate that intergroup relations strongly influenced settlement patterns, suggesting that we take a more inclusive approach to studying their role on the settlement ecology of tribal cultures.