When Villages Do Not Form

Abstract

From AD 800 to 1300, Piedmont Village Tradition (PVT) settlements were characterized by small numbers of loosely arranged households. In the Late Woodland period (after AD 1300) in the Dan, Eno, and Haw River valleys, these households coalesced into villages with planned layouts and cooperatively built structures. However, in the upper Yadkin River Valley, the pattern of loosely arranged households appears to have continued until out-migration from the valley in the 1600s. Through the examination of regional settlement ecology and site-level spatial patterning, this chapter explores how the environment and the sociopolitical and economic landscapes that resulted from the formation of PVT and Mississippian villages influenced the distinctive cultural patterns in the upper Yadkin River valley and the North Carolina peidmont.