Woodland Settlement Pattern Changes in the North Central Hills of Mississippi

Abstract

Archaeological sites in the North Central Hills of Mississippi consist mostly of Woodland period occupations, which grew gradually in size over time. The ways in which these occupations grew can be explained potentially through various models of aggregation, in which occupations nucleated together, grew to absorb other occupations, or otherwise increased in size. In this study, temporal ordering through seriation, site size change over time, and rank size analysis appear to indicate that these sites increased gradually over time from the Tchula through Baytown periods, indicating potential adherence to an aggregation growth model.