Using Landscape Archaeology to Gain Insight Into the Human Experience During the Late Woodland and Mississippian Periods in South Carolina’s Pee Dee River Basin

People move through and use the landscape in the ways they do for myriad reasons. The goal of this thesis was to elucidate how people viewed and settled in the Pee Dee River Basin area during the Late Woodland and Mississippian Periods in South Carolina. Framing my research with a landscape archaeology focus, by considering sites within a larger region or landscape, we can inhabit the “taskscapes” of the past and gain an understanding of the past (Ingold 1993). To do this, I used the methodological lens of settlement ecology “to build a balance sheet of varying priorities (Stone 1996:8) by combining information from the South Carolina State Archaeological Site files in ArchSite with geospatial information in a geographic information system (GIS). Further, I utilized spatial analyses to develop a database to facilitate the quantitative characterization of archaeological sites dating to exclusively Late Woodland, Mississippian, or both to exclude all other periods. I utilized Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) to rank those variables that had the most significant impact on the spatial positioning of sites within the area of interest. The results of this analysis indicate that what could be considered Mississippian in the Pee Dee River Basin Area of South Carolina did not correlate to a general Mississippian settlement pattern. Observable choices favored catchment slope over area of ideal agricultural substrate. However, proximity to this type of terrain and to water sources for subsistence and navigation were desirable attributes in the past as they are today. These clearly show that the environment plays a crucial role in determining the location, size, and character of settlements. Further, they illustrate the utility of using GIS to amalgamate information and create a balance sheet that enables us to empathize with and learn more about those who came before us.