The Later Prehistory of Meyersdale, Pennsylvania, and its Surroundings: An Overview

Abstract

Publicly-funded archaeological investigations, in the form of work relief programs in the 1930s and compliance excavations in the 1970s and 1990s, generated the data presented in this overview of Late Prehistoric sites in the vicinity of Meyersdale, Pennsylvania. A consideration of information on community patterns, subsistence, and chronology suggested that the adoption and cultivation of maize inspired social and cultural changes that led to the development of village life and participation in the Monongahela culture by the native inhabitants of the Meyersdale area. The rise of village life both anticipated and paralleled regional trends occurring throughout northeastern North America.