The nature of social change during the Woodland-Mississippian transition in the central Midwest has been a contended question for some time. Because settlement pattern data can be used to infer sociopolitical organization in archaeological contexts, changes in household and community patterns in the American Bottom are used to infer the nature of social and political alterations from the Middle Woodland to the Mississippian period. It appears from the settlement data that a general trend towards smaller and more autonomous family units characterizes social change during the Woodland-Mississippian transition.
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