Settlement Patterns and Probabilities for the Southern Virginia Piedmont: An Archaeological Synthesis and Geospatial Model of 18th- and 19th-Century Sites

Summary

This is an abstract from the session entitled "Landscapes Above and Below in Southern Contexts (General Sessions)" , at the 2021 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

Between the 1730s and the 1820s, European settlement expanded into Virginia’s southern Piedmont and Appalachian Mountains. The mountainous terrain of southwestern Virginia was a stark contrast to the long-settled coastal plains, with new ecological and sociocultural conditions challenging established forms of settlement. Habitation, production, trade, and mobility required new domestic and logistical considerations. This paper synthesizes 60 years of archaeological and architectural site data from Henry County, Virginia, in order to: (1.) identify historic settlement patterns along Virginia’s western/southwestern frontier; and (2.) develop a historic sites model to be used as the basis for regional survey and site probability assessments. The results of this synthesis underscore the complex combination of variables–both ecological and infrastructural– that must be considered when developing settlement models for historic sites.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Landscapes Above and Below in Southern Contexts (General Sessions)   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2021

Keywords

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology