ABSTRACT
This chapter analyzes material remains to arrive at an interpretation of the structure of segmentatimi of two prehistoric cultural systems and explores how the structure of material remains reflects the maimer in which a social unit segments to exploit its biophysical environment. Culture is viewed as a system of functionally interdependent parts in which change in one aspect is related in specifiable ways to changes in others. Explanations for change in a cultural system require understanding of these linkages. The job of archeology is to demonstrate correlations of structural elements within, and co-variation of elements between, cultural units through time and space. Archeological work in the major river valleys south of the western Great Lakes highlights a period of extensive cultural change during the final centuries before Christ. Vegetation is pivotal to understanding the natural food resource distribution.
