Pre-Contact Settlement Pattern in Southern Ontario: Simulation Model for Maize-Based Village Horticulture

Three explanations can be advanced for the patchiness of overall prehistoric horticultural settlement distribution in Southern Ontario: (1) the northward d i f f u s i o n of horticulture was interrupted by European contact, and the patchiness results from the incompleteness of the diffusion process; (2) the distribution of villages was controlled by cultural influences such as tribalisation, warfare, and trade, so that the patchiness is a result of the heterogeneity of the cultural landscape; or (3) the patchiness is due to the heterogeneity of the physical landscape, especially climate and edaphic conditions. This paper develops and uses a simulation model of regional site location to examine the relative importance of frost free days, drainage, soil texture, and relief for explaining the site distribution. At a regional scale, ten per cent frost-free days and soil texture are found to be the most useful variables in describing the observed settlement pattern. Thus the third hypothesis, that the patchiness was due to the heterogeneity of the physical environment, may be a sufficient explanation.