Modeling Diachronic Changes in Site Location Preferences Related to an Agricultural Transition: A Middle Ohio Valley Case Study

Abstract

AbstractThis article explores changes in site location preferences that accompanied the shift to a maize-farming lifestyle in the Middle Ohio River valley. Criteria including distance between sites, distance to earthen mounds, distance to rivers, and soil types are documented for both Late Woodland and Fort Ancient sites in southwest Ohio. These data are incorporated into a multivariate model suggesting that, in addition to significant shifts in subsistence and settlement patterns, the sites of Fort Ancient maize agriculturalists are farther apart yet closer to earthen mounds than those of their Late Woodland predecessors. These findings may relate to issues that include settlement catchments, village fissioning, and integrative processes associated with social memory, all factors that are evident in many early farming communities. Additionally, this article builds on previous work demonstrating the utility (and limitations) of state archaeological site databases for addressing diachronic research questions.