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The Farmstead Family & Hamlet Community



Dark-colored house and pit stains at the Julien site


Reconstruction of a farmstead at the Julien site

By far the most common site type is the single-family farmstead. Farmsteads contained one or two residential wall-trench structures with numerous underground storage pits. Between 4 to 7 individuals of small nuclear families occupied these structures (HDYK-SCTY).

Material remains from excavated farmsteads provide glimpses of the life of a Mississippian farm family. All evidence indicates that the bulk of a family's work time was spent on subsistence, particularly farming, and residence maintenance. Also, the ceramics, the faunal and botanical remains, the large storage pit size, farmstead location on elevated ridges near aquatic resources, and the distance between farmsteads (which indicate each farmstead was surrounded by its agricultural fields) all suggest that each farmstead was economically self-sufficient.


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