ABSTRACT
Early Woodland sites are distinguished by somewhat crude pottery, the earliest in central and northeastern America. Throughout the Eastern Woodlands in the Early Woodland period, communities responded to death as never before. Cemeteries were customarily located on knolls or terraces overlooking streams and, in addition to ornaments, the dead were often interred with large, distinctive, well-made but unused, stone blades or pendants. Settlements in the more temperate Eastern Woodlands were sited both in river floodplains and on uplands, and it seems probable that, in both types of locale, agriculture was gaining importance. Early Woodland was a time of substantive shifts in American societies. Agriculture was established alongside harvesting naturally growing foods, game, fish, and shellfish. Settlements in the more temperate Eastern Woodlands were sited both in river floodplains and on uplands, and it seems probable that, in both types of locale, agriculture was gaining importance.
