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Monongahela subsistence-settlement change: The late prehistoric period in the lower Upper Ohio River valley

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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.

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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

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