FORBUSH CREEK AND THE PIEDMONT VILLAGE TRADITION-MISSISSIPPIAN BOUNDARYLAND IN THE YADKIN-PEE DEE DRAINAGE.

This paper addresses foundational questions regarding the chronology of the large Late Woodland period village of Forbush Creek in the Yadkin-Pee Dee drainage. Ceramic and radiocarbon evidence suggests that while multiple occupations are present, the excavated area primarily dates to AD 1200-1400. Interactions with other communities farther south in the drainage are explored through analysis of complicated stamped ceramics. Previous theories interpreting the history of the drainage (Berger and Hutchinson 2019; Jones 2017) are critically examined considering new data from Forbush Creek and analysis of ceramics, lithics, radiocarbon dates, burials, settlement patterns, ecology, and community politics from across the drainage, and the reasons for the slow pace of Mississippianization in the Piedmont are explored. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]