Continuity and Change in the Pisgah Built Environment

Summary

Previous studies of Mississippian towns and villages have extensively detailed the various elements of community organization and built environment that reflect the incorporation of widely shared Mississippian ideas and beliefs. How these towns were built and rebuilt over time demonstrates how regional processes of expansion and integration played out at the presumed edge of the Mississippian world. This paper examines the evolving built environment during the Pisgah period in western North Carolina and how the various architectural and spatial elements were used to organize community space. Recent radiocarbon dating at the Cane River site (31Yc91), Garden Creek site (31Hw1), and Warren Wilson site (31Bn29) provides new insights into how extra-local interaction with Mississippian groups influenced Pisgah traditions throughout the Appalachian Summit.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 81st Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL (2016)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage