Migration, Dispersion, or Purposeful Relocation?: Flexibility as an Adaptive Settlement Strategy in Northern Iroquoia, ca. A.D. 1300–1650

Summary

Flexibility is a defining characteristic of the Iroquoian settlement landscape. Population movement, amalgamation, coalescence, dispersal, resettlement, incorporation, and abandonment occurred at the local and regional scales throughout Iroquoian history. Even those groups that persisted within more or less the same territories from A.D. 1300 through the contact era had complex and dynamic settlement histories. This paper considers patterns of settlement relocation in Northern Iroquoia with an eye to clarifying how these processes relate to or differ from contemporaneous cultural transformations in the Midwest and Southeast. In particular, I consider how periods of collapse or instability in other parts of eastern North America coincided with periods of increased stability and complexity in Iroquoia. Data from recent Pan-Iroquioan social network analyses are employed as a means of characterizing the relationships between sending, host, and migrant communities. I posit that the flexibility inherent in Iroquoian settlement patterns and socio-political organizations conferred a degree of resilience on these populations that persisted into the historic era.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 83rd Annual Meeting, Washington, DC (2018)

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 20103