Building Community on the White River in Central Indiana
Building Community on the White River in Central Indiana
Structures as Reflective of Societal Change at the Late Prehistoric Castor Farm Site
A process of settlement aggregation occurred at about A.D. 1050 when groups related to the Western Basin Tradition moved south into the West Fork of the White River in central Indiana. Judging by the diversity of pottery styles and structures, this process involved the coalescence of several smaller, perhaps kin-based groups. Geophysical survey and excavation at the 10-acre, palisaded, Castor Farm site revealed a nucleation of population and a resultant change in architectural forms in settlements. These transformations in settlement organization coincide with requisite social and political realignment necessary in the management of larger nucleated populations, as reflected in two large, paired, semi-subterranean, communal structures in the central portion of the site. To date one of the paired structures has been completely excavated as have other domestic structures. This chapter describes the built environment and how it both reflects and influenced new forms of community in the White River Valley.
Keywords: West Fork White River Valley, Central Indiana, Geophysical survey, Castor Farm site, Communal structures
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