Northeast Subsistence-Settlement Change: A.D. 700 –1300

L
a
k
e
E
r i e
INDIANA
R
i
v
e
r
Great
Miami
Little Miami River
River
O
h
i o
7
9
5
6
Scioto
River
O H I O
3
4
14
1
2 13
8 12
11
Ho cking River
v e r
10
15
Muskingum
R.
e
i o
O h
iv
R
WEST
VIRGINIA
PENNSYLVANIA
MARYLAND
Licking River
Kanawha
o
R
i
Kentucky
i
O h
River
River
Salt Rolling
Fork
River
KENTUCKY
VIRGINIA
Early Late Woodland
1. Zencore
2. Water Plant
Late Late Woodland
3. W.S. Cole
LEGEND
4. Ufferman
5. Decco
6. Hartley Farm
7. Scioto Woods
8. Sabre Farms
9. Continental
Construction
10. Chesser
Cave
11. Harness-28
12. Hunter 1
13. Philo 1
14. Locust
15. Longacre
TN
0
0
50 miles
80 kilometers
N
J. Skiba
Figure 2.4. Map locating Late Woodland sites located within the Scioto and Muskingum
river valleys.
early farming groups. His list includes population
migration, resource diversification, storage technology,
and increasing one’s reliance on cultigens and/or
domesticates. The selection of one or more of these
buffering methods by a population is contingent
upon its associated fitness value (Rindos 1984, 1989).
Coombs (1980), however, maintains that high density
resources (such as maize) do not in and of themselves
always reduce the risk of resource shortage, since
populations that lack adequate storage technology
and/or the ability to share effectively lose the advantage
that maximum yields could afford.
To test the assumptions of their diet choice model,
Winterhalder and Goland (1997:145-149) utilize a previous
study by O’Shea (1989), which compared the
resource procurement strategies and tactics of the
Pawnee and the Huron, two historically known farmers
of maize. They begin by noting Smith’s (1989) study
in which he characterized the usage of native cultigens
and domesticates as diet supplements that were stored
for winter/spring usage. Because Smith refers to these
resources as supplements and not as high ranked staples
that dominated the diet, Winterhalder and Goland
consider them to be low density, low ranking resources
that would not be capable of stimulating population
growth. This characterization of native resources can
be contrasted with maize, a high density domesticate
that quickly became a highly ranked resource that
dominated the diet. This reliance on maize produces an
increased risk, especially if the population continues to
grow and other highly ranked resources are depleted.
To mitigate possible resource shortages caused by a
narrowing of dietary staples and a growing population,
tactics such as exploiting alternative unsynchronized
storable resources that occur in dense patches
must be devised.
Chapter 2 Central Ohio Valley During the Late Prehistoric Period: Subsistance-Settlement Systems’ Responses to Risk 15