A Quantitative Dwelling-Scale Approach to the Social Implications of Maize Horticulture in New England

Abstract

We compare domestic architectural features in New England and the Maritime Peninsula to investigate the relationship between the adoption of horticulture and its relationship to social and settlement change during the Woodland Period. Horticulture was not practiced on the Maritime Peninsula until after European contact, despite cultural and environmental similarity to New England. In New England, horticulture has been implicated in profound social and settlement changes. However, aggregated villages, a unit typically investigated for evidence of social change, have proven elusive in the archaeological record. We compiled and analyzed a dataset of dwelling features instead of relying on identifiable villages. This novel quantitative approach uses dwelling feature shape and size as a proxy for social and settlement change, considering these changes at the scale of the house. We find that, during the Woodland Period, dwelling size was overall slightly larger in New England than on the Maritime Peninsula, but ranges heavily overlapped. After the introduction of horticulture, however, dwellings in New England grew in size overall and assumed bimodally distinct larger and smaller forms, which likely necessitated a restructuring of social and economic behavior. This pattern correlates maize horticulture with changes in social and economic lifestyle in Late Woodland New England.

Half-timbered houses of the Tudor and Elizabethan periods in Britain

“…Today's cottage development in England returns to the tastes of previous eras as to well-forgotten old, but time-tested for quality, traditions. In this regard, it is crucial to note that the love of residents to two-story country houses with several acres of land without extra fields (the land remains extremely expensive there) also dictates the particular aesthetics of urban development in this country, which also charms other Europeans who come to the country [8][9][10][11]. Now half-timbered English houses, upholstered on facades with slanting boards that exhibit architectonics of the framework, and laconically painted in black (brown)-white, are gradually becoming a sign of good taste in the construction of other European countries.…”