Eric E. Jones

Multiscalar Settlement Ecology Study of Piedmont Village Tradition Communities, A.D. 1000–1600

This research analyzes the spatial patterning of settlement sites in relation to landscape features to determine the factors that influenced settlement location choices for Late Precontact (A.D. 1000–1600) Piedmont Village Tradition (PVT) communities in the Yadkin, Dan, Haw, and Eno river valleys of the Piedmont Southeast. We employ geographic information systems to estimate characteristics of past landscapes, nearest neighbor analysis to describe basic settlement patterns, and discriminant function analysis to determine spatial correlations between settlements and landscape features. We examine the data on three scales and also assess potential changes over time. Results indicate that settlement location choices were broadly similar on the regional scale, but specific influences varied between and within valleys and over time. When examined with current archaeological, ethnohistoric, and linguistic information, the results suggest that PVT communities engaged in regional interaction networks in highly variable ways and that the relationship between subsistence and settlement varied according to settlement size. Using these results, we explore the roles PVT communities played in the formation and maintenance of natural and cultural landscapes in the Late Precontact Southeast.

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

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.