Abstract
The Late Prehistoric period in the lower Upper Ohio River basin of southwestern Pennsylvania and adjacent portions of Maryland, Ohio, and West Virginia is dominated by a material-culture assemblage named Monongahela. Monongahela has been associated with subsistence-settlement systems that included a large number of upland villages that were often far removed from large river valleys. The existence of these villages has been explained as resulting from intra- and interregional warfare. While these upland villages may have obtained as a result of warfare, it is argued that they served as important links in regional divided risk strategies in response to local environmental and social risks.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Adamson, J. H., Jr., Grahm, J. G., and Klein, N. H. (1949).Ground-Water Resources of Valley-Fill Deposits of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania Geological Survey Fourth Series Bulletin W8.
Adovasio, J. M., and Johnson, W. C. (1981) The appearance of cultigens in the Upper Ohio Valley; A view from Meadowcroft Rockshelter.Pennsylvania Archaeologist 51(1–2): 63–80.
Adovasio, J. M., Shaunessy, K. J., Johnson, W. C., Athens, W. P., Boulderian, A. T., Carlisle, R. C., Dirkmaat, D. C., Donahue, J., Pedler, D. R., and Siemon, E. J., III (1990). Archaeology at the Howarth-Nelson site (36FA40), Fayette County, Pennsylvania.Pennsylvania Archaeologist 60(1): 32–68.
Augustine, E. E. (1938a). Important research on Peck and Martz Rock Shelter Site in Somerset County.Pennsylvania Archaeologist 8(4): 83–89.
Augustine, E. E. (1938b). Indian fortifications in Somerset County.Pennsylvania Archaeologist 8(2): 41–45.
Augustine, E. E. (1938c). Recent discoveries in Somerset County.Pennsylvania Archaeologist 8(1): 6–12.
Augustine, E. E. (1938d). Somerset County excavations the Powell sites.Pennsylvania Archaeologist 8(3): 60–63, 71.
Augustine, E. E. (1940). Fort Hill.Pennsylvania Archaeologist 10(3): 51–58.
Baker, S. A. (1979). Radiocarbon information from eastern Ohio and a summary of the late prehistoric occupation at the O'Patrny Village Site.Ohio Archaeologist 24: 40–41.
Baker, S. A. (1981). The Henderson Rocks site (46-Ta-1): A preliminary look at cultural preservation in the rugged uplands region of northern West Virginia.West Virginia Archaeologist 32: 1–27.
Binford, L. R. (1983).In Pursuit of the Past: Decoding the Archaeological Record. Thames and Hudson, London.
Blake, L. W., and Cutler, H. C. (1983). Plant remains from the Gnagey site (36SO55).Pennsylvania Archaeologist 53(4): 83–88.
Bobrowsky, P. T., and Ball, B. F. (1989). The theory and mechanics of ecological diversity in archaeology. In Leonard, R. D., and Jones, G. T. (eds.),Quantifying Diversity in Archaeology, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 4–12.
Boyce, H. L. (1985). The Novack Site: A Late Woodland upland Monongahela village.Pennsylvania Archaeologist 55(3): 21–49.
Boyce-Ballweber, H. (1987). Cultural manifestations at the Friendsville site in Garrett County, Maryland.Pennsylvania Archaeologist 57(2): 1–77.
Brown, J.D. (1981).The Tower Site and Ohio Monongahela, Kent State Research Papers in Archaeology 3, Kent, Ohio.
Buker, W. E. (1970). The Drew Site (36-AL-62).Pennsylvania Archaeologist 40(3–4):21–66.
Buker, W. E. (1975). The Drew Phase of the Monongahela complex.SPAAC Speaks 11(1): 21–29.
Butler, M. (1939). Three archaeological sites in Somerset County, Pennsylvania.Pennsylvania Historical Commission Bulletin 753.
Chmurny, W. W. (1973).The Ecology of Middle Mississippian Occupations of the American Bottom, Ph.D. dissertation, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, University Microfilms, Ann Arbor, Mich.
Christenson, A. L. (1981).The Evolution of Subsistence in the Prehistoric Midwestern United States, Ph.D. dissertation, University of California at Los Angeles, University Microfilms, Ann Arbor, Mich.
Church, F. (1990). Faunal analysis. In Hart, J. P.,Phase III Data Recovery at the Monongahela City Bridge Site (36WH737) L.R. 181, Section 14M Washington County, Pennsylvania, pp. 145–167. Report submitted to the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, Greentree, by GAI Consultants, Inc., Monroeville, Pa.
Church, F., and McDaniel, G. (1992).The Saddle Site (46 Mr 95): Upland Monongahela Occupations in Marshal County, West Virginia. Report prepared for Soil Conservation Service, Morgantown, W.V., Archaeological Services Consultants, Inc., Columbus, Ohio.
Colson, E. (1979). In good years and bad: Food strategies of self-reliant societies.Journal of Anthropological Research 35: 18–29.
Cresson, F. M., Jr. (1942). Village sites in southwestern Pennsylvania.Pennsylvania Archaeologist 12(1): 16–20.
Cresson, F. M., Jr. (n.d.). Hilltop and Valley sites of southwestern Pennsylvania. Ms. on file, Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, Harrisburg.
Davis, C. E. (1984). A mortuary pattern for Monongahela.Pennsylvania Archaeologist 54(1–2): 3–11.
Davis, C. E. (1992). The Sony site. Paper presented at the Fifty–Ninth Annual Meeting of the Eastern States Archaeological Conference, Pittsburgh, Pa.
DeBoer, W. R. (1988). Subterranean storage and the organization of surplus: The view from eastern North America.Southeastern Archaeology 7(1): 1–20.
Dragoo, D. W. (1955). Excavations as the Johnston site, Indiana County, Pennsylvania.Pennsylvania Archaeologist 25(2):25–141.
Dragoo, D. W. (1970). The Monongahela culture—a look at some sacred cows. Paper presented at the Allegheny Chapter Monongahela Symposium.
Dragoo, D. W., George, R. L., and Tanner, D. P. (1969).Excavations at Selected Archaeological Sites in the Chartiers Valley in Western Pennsylvania, Carnegie Museum, Pittsburgh, Pa.
Dunnell, R. C. (1962).The Hughes Farm Site (46-Oh-9) Ohio County, West Virginia, West Virginia Archaeological Society, Pub. Ser. 7.
Dunnell, R. C. (1970). Excavations at the Britt Bottom site, Marshall County, West Virginia.West Virginia Archaeologist 23: 11–30.
Dunnell, R. C. (1980). Duvall: A Monongahela settlement in central Ohio County, West Virginia.West Virginia Archaeologist 29: 1–37.
Eisert, R. W. (1981). The Wylie site (36WH274).Pennsylvania Archaeologist 51(1–2): 11–62.
Eisert, R. W., and Boyce, H. L. (1985). Preliminary investigation of the Ashmore Farm site (36WH675).Pennsylvania Archaeologist 55(4): 12–29.
Engberg, R. M. (1930). Archaeological report.Western Pennsylvania Historical Magazine 13(2): 67–103.
Engberg, R. M. (1931). Algonkian sites of Westmoreland and Fayette Counties, Pennsylvania.Western Pennsylvania Historical Magazine 14(3): 143–190.
Farrow, D. C. (1986). A study of Monongahela subsistence patterns based on mass spectroscopic analysis.Midcontinental Journal of Archaeology 11: 153–180.
Flannery, K. V. (1972). The cultural evolution of civilizations.Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics 3: 399–426.
Forde, C. D. (1935).Habitat, Economy, and Society, Methuen, London.
Fuller, J. W. (1981).Developmental Change in Prehistoric Community Patterns: The Development of Nucleated Town Communities in West Virginia, Ph.D. dissertation, University of Washington, Seattle, University Microfilms, Ann Arbor, Mich.
George, R. L. (1974). Monongahela settlement pattern and the Ryan site.Pennsylvania Archaeologist 44(1–2): 1–22.
George, R. L. (1978a). Monongahela artifacts from the Ryan site.Pennsylvania Archaeologist 48(3): 20–36.
George, R. L. (1978b). The McJunkin site, a preliminary report.Pennsylvania Archaeologist 48(4): 33–47.
George, R. L. (1983). The Gnagey Site and Monongahela occupation of the Somerset Plateau.Pennsylvania Archaeologist 53(4): 1–97.
George, R. L., Babish, J., and Davis, C. E. (1990). The Household site: Results of a partial excavation of a Late Monongahela village in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania.Pennsylvania Archaeologist 60(2): 40–70.
Goodwin, R. C., Neumann, T. W., Johnson, W. C., Cohen, J., and Lopinot, N. H. (1990).Archaeological Data Recovery from Prehistoric Site 36FA363, Grays Landing Lock and Dam., 2 vols. Prepared for U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Pittsburgh District, by R. Christopher Goodwin & Associates, Inc., Frederick, Md.
Gould, R. A. (1981). Comparative ecology of food-sharing in Australia and northwest California. In Harding, R. S. O., and Teleki, G. (eds),Omnivorous Primates, Columbia University Press, New York, pp. 422–454.
Grubb, T. C., and Allen, A. J. (1980). The Hunt site (33BL16): Part V, burials and interpretation.Ohio Archaeologist 30(3): 26–28.
Guilday, J. E. (1955). Animal remains from an Indian village site, Indiana County, Pennsylvania.Pennsylvania Archaeologist 25(2): 142–147.
Guilday, J. E. (1961). Vertebrate remains from the Varner site.Pennsylvania Archaeologist 31(3–4): 119–124.
Halstead, P., and O'Shea, J. (1989). Introduction: Cultural responses to risk and uncertainty. In Halstead, P., and O'Shea, J. (eds.),Bad Year Economics: Cultural Responses to Risk and Uncertainty, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 1–7.
Hart, J. P. (1990a). Modeling Oneota agricultural production: A cross-cultural evaluation.Current Anthropology 31: 569–577.
Hart, J. P. (1990b).Phase III Data Recovery at the Monongahela City Bridge Site (36Wh737) L.R. 181, Section 14M Washington County, Pennsylvania. Prepared for Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, Greentree, by GAI Consultants, Inc., Monroeville, Pa.
Hart, J. P. (1992).A Critique of the Adaptive Type Concept in Eastern Woodlands Prehistory, Ph.D. dissertation, Northwestern University, Evanston, Ill., University Microfilms, Ann Arbor, Mich.
Herbstritt, J. R. (1981). Bonnie Brook: A multicomponent aboriginal locus in west-central Pennsylvania.Pennsylvania Archaeologist 51(3): 1–51.
Herbstritt, J. T. (1983).Excavation of Two Monongahela Sites: Late Woodland Gensler (36GR63) and Historic Throckmorton (36GR160). Report prepared for Consolidation Coal Company, Pittsburgh, Pa., by NPW Consultants, Inc.
Herbstritt, J. T. (1984). The mystery of the Monongahela culture: Archaeology at Foley Farm.Pennsylvania Heritage X(3): 26–31.
Jeske, R. J. (1987).Efficiency, Economy, and Prehistoric Lithic Assemblages in the American Midwest, Ph.D. dissertation, Northwestern University, Evanston, Ill., University Microfilms, Ann Arbor, Mich.
Jochim, M. A. (1981).Strategies for Survival: Cultural Behavior in an Ecological Context, Academic Press, New York.
Johnson, W. C. (1981). The Campbell Farm site (36FA26) and Monongahela: A preliminary examination and assessment. Paper presented at the Fourth Monongahela Symposium, California State College, California, Pennsylvania.
Johnson, W. C. (1990). The Protohistoric Monongahela and the case for an Iroquois connection. Paper presented at the Fifty–Seventh Annual Meeting of the Eastern States Archaeological Conference, Columbus, Ohio.
Johnson, W. C., Athens, W. P., Fuess, M. P., Jaramillo, L. G., Bastianini, K. R., and Ramos, E. (1989).Late Prehistoric Period Monongahela Culture Site and Cultural Resource Inventory, Cultural Resource Management Program, Department of Anthropology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh.
Kelly, J. E. (1990). Range site community patterns and the Mississippian emergence. In Smith, B. D. (ed.),The Mississippian Emergence, Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, D. C., pp. 67–112.
Mayer-Oakes, W. J. (1954a).The Speidel Site (46-Oh7) Ohio County, West Va., Upper Ohio Valley Archaeological Survey, Contribution No. 19, West Virginia Archaeological Society, Publication Series No. 2.
Mayer-Oakes, W. J. (1954b). The Scarem site, Washington County, Pennsylvania.Pennsylvania Archaeologist 24(2): 45–62.
Mayer-Oakes, W. J. (1955).Prehistory of the Upper Ohio Valley: An Introductory Archaeological Study. Anthropological Series No. 2, Annals of Carnegie Museum No. 34, Pittsburgh, Pa.
McCloskey, D. N. (1976). English open fields as behavior towards risk. In Uselding, P. (ed.),Research in Economic History No. 1, JAI Press, Greenwich, Conn., pp. 124–170.
Michael, R. L. (1983). Redstone Old Fort (36FA8): A hilltop Monongahela site.Pennsylvania Archaeologist 53(1–2): 1–11.
Michael, R. L., and Grantz, D. L. (1981). The Fisher Site (36GR21): Drew Phase Monongahela.Pennsylvania Archaeologist 51(4): 19–37.
Milner, G. R. (1990). The late prehistoric Cahokia cultural system of the Mississippi River valley: Foundations, florescence, and fragmentation.Journal of World Prehistory 4: 1–44.
Minnis, P. E. (1985).Social Adaptations to Food Stress: A Prehistoric Southwestern Example, University of Chicago Press, Chicago.
Mitchum, G. A. (1984). Investigations at Belldina's Bottoms (site 46MG75A), Monongahela County, West Virginia.Pennsylvania Archaeologist 54(1–2): 61–70.
Moeller, R. A. (1990). Flotation analysis. In Hart, J. P.,Phase II Data Recovery at the Monongahela City Bridge Site (36WH737) L.R., Section 14M, Washington County, Pennsylvania. Report submitted to the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, Greentree, by GAI Consultants, Inc., Monroeville, Pa., pp. 61–81.
Muller, J., and Stephens, J. E. (1991). Mississippian sociocultural adaptation. In Emerson, T. E., and Lewis, R. B. (eds.),Cahokia and the Hinterlands: Middle Mississippian Cultures of the Midwest, University of Illinois Press, Urbana, pp. 297–310.
Nale, R. F. (1963). The salvage excavations of the Boyle site (36 WH 19).Pennsylvania Archaeologist 33(4): 164–194.
Neusius, S. W. (1986). Generalized and specialized resource utilization during the Archaic Period: Implications of the Koster site faunal record. In Neusius, S. W. (ed.),Foraging, Collecting, and Harvesting: Archaic Period Subsistence and Settlement in the Eastern Woodlands, Occasional Paper, No. 6, Center for Archaeological Investigations, Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, pp. 117–144.
Pickenpaugh, T. E. (1988). The Brokaw site: A late prehistoric Monongahela village site in east-central Ohio.Ohio Archaeologist 38(2): 22–24.
Pryor, F. L. (1986). The adoption of agriculture: Some theoretical and empirical evidence.American Anthropologist 88: 879–895.
Raber, P. S., Stevenson, C. M., and Hay, C. A. (1990).Archaeological Data Recovery at Site 36Fa368, Grays Landing Lock and Dam, Fayette County, Pennsylvania, E.R. No. 81-1129-051 (3 vols.) Prepared for U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Pittsburgh District, by Archaeological and Historical Consultants, Inc., Centre Hall, Pa.
Rafferty, J. E. (1985). The archaeological record on sedentariness: Recognition, development, and implications. In Schiffer, M. D.,Advances in Archaeological Method and Theory, No. 8, Academic Press, New York, PP. 113–155.
Rindos, D. (1984).The Origins of Agriculture: An Evolutionary Approach, Academic Press, New York.
Robson, J. (1958). A comparison of artifacts from the Indian villages Quemahoning and Squirrel Hill.Pennsylvania Archaeologist 28(3–4): 112–126.
Rollins, H. B. (1990). Molluscan remains. In Hart, J. P.,Phase II Data Recovery at the Monongahela City Bridge Site (36WH737) L.R., Section 14M, Washington County, Pennsylvania. Report submitted to the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, Greentree, by GAI Consultants, Inc., Monroeville, Pa., pp. 169–179.
Sciulli, P. W., and Carlisle, R. (1975). Analysis of the dentition from three western Pennsylvania Late Woodland sites. I. Descriptive statistics, partition of Variation and asymmetry.Pennsylvania Archaeologist 45(1): 45–54.
Sciulli, P. W., and Carlisle, R. (1977). Analysis of the dentition from three western Pennsylvania Late Woodland sites. II. Wear and Pathology.Pennsylvania Archaeologist 47(4): 53–59.
Seibert, D. R., Weaver, J. B., Bush, R. D., Belz, D. J., Rector, D. D., Hallowich, J. S., and Grubb, R. G. (1983).Soil Survey of Greene and Washington Counties, Pennsylvania, United States Department of Agriculture, Soil Conservation Service, in cooperation with Pennsylvania State University, College of Agriculture, and Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Resources, State Conservation Commission, Harrisburg.
Smith, B. D. (1978). Variation in Mississippian settlement patterns. In Smith, B. D. (ed.),Mississippian Settlement Patterns, Academic Press, New York, pp. 479–503.
Smith, B. D. (1985). Mississippian patterns of subsistence and settlement. In Badger, R. R., and Clayton, L. A. (eds.),Alabama and the Borderlands: From Prehistory to Statehood. University of Alabama Press, University, pp. 64–79.
Smith, B. D. (1986). Archaeology of the southeastern United States: From Dalton to DeSoto (10,500 BP-500 BP). In Wendorf, F., and Close, A. E.,Advances in World Archaeology, No. 5, Academic Press, Orlando, Fla., pp. 1–92.
Stewart, R. M. (1989). Trade and exchange in Middle Atlantic region prehistory.Archaeology of Eastern North America 17; 47–78.
Testart, A (1982). The significance of food storage among hunter-gatherers.Current Anthropology 23; 523–537.
Thornbury, W. D. (1965).Regional Geomorphology of the United States, John Wiley & Sons, New York.
Wallace, M. E. (1965).Indian Paths in Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, Harrisburg.
Weissner, P. (1982). Risk, reciprocity and social influence on Kung San economics. In Leacock, E., and Lee, R. (eds.),Politics and History in Bank Societies, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 61–84.
Whitman, J. R. (1975). A cursory analysis of Monongahela traits appearing in four sites in southeastern Ohio.SPAAC Speaks 11(1): 6–20.
Womsley, W. D. (1974).The Monongahela Culture: A Study of Marginality, Ph.D. dissertation, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, University Microfilms, Ann Arbor, Mich.
Wright, G. A. (1967). Some aspects of early and mid-seventeenth century exchange networks in the eastern Great Lakes.Michigan Archaeologist 13: 181–197.
Yerkes, R. W. (1988). The Woodland and Mississippian traditions in the prehistory of midwestern North America.Journal of World Prehistory 2: 30–58.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Hart, J.P. Monongahela subsistence-settlement change: The late prehistoric period in the lower Upper Ohio River valley. J World Prehist 7, 71–120 (1993). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00978221
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00978221