Monongahela Subsistence-settlement Change?

Phosphates, plowzones, and plazas: a minimally invasive approach to settlement structure of plowed village sites

“…These sites vary in size and details of organization, but throughout the Upper Midwest most are characterized by a generalized doughnut shape with a domestic area surrounding a central open plaza (Cook, 2008;Dunnell, 1983;Dunnell et al, 1971;Graybill, 1981;Hart et al, 2005;Henderson, 1992Henderson, , 1998Kennedy, 2000;Means, 2007;Henderson, 1992, 2000;Redmond, 1994Redmond, , 2003. Among the Late Prehistoric trans-egalitarian societies of the Middle Ohio River Valley (i.e., Fort Ancient; Griffin, 1966), villages generally displayed a plazacentered structure with socially important structures and features in proximity to the village center.…”

The Monongahela tradition in “real time”: Bayesian analysis of radiocarbon dates

“…There has been a general narrative that certain Monongahela tradition subsistence and settlement traits changed through time. Hart and colleagues [ 39 ] challenged this narrative by demonstrating that most of the traits did not exhibit the postulated changes. Rather, there was continuous regional variation in the traits except for narrow, enclosed structures attached to circular houses, which increased in frequency through time.…”

“…George [ 48 , 66 ] concluded that there was an early movement to upland settings as defense against internecine warfare, while Johnson [ 65 ] saw such a movement in the Late Monongahela period resulting from hostile incursions from the west. Several studies indicated increases in the percentages of houses with attached storage structures beginning with the Middle Monongahela period [ 40 , 42 , 62 , 65 , 67 ]. Nass and Hart [ 42 ] found continuous variation in household size based on house floor area throughout the sequence.…”

“…Nass and Hart [ 42 ] found continuous variation in household size based on house floor area throughout the sequence. Finally, maize consumption was posited to have increased through time (e.g., [ 40 , 41 , 67 , 68 ]).…”

“…A previous analysis tested these posited trends as hypotheses [ 39 ]. Based on 155 radiocarbon dates available at the time, 61 sites and site components were placed in approximate chronological order using means of the available radiocarbon dates independent of the culture-historical time periods.…”