Village Layout and Social Experience: A Comparative Study from the Northeast Woodlands

This paper examines the spatial configuration of two early fourteenth-century Woodland villages—one composed of longhouses (Nodwell) and one a ring-shaped arrangement of oval huts (Fort Hill). The contrasting spatial layouts of these sites are explored from the perspective of social interaction stress in early villages. Visibility Graph Analysis, a technique for analyzing the relational order of visual fields, is used to measure the properties of spatial integration and control in these settlements over the course of their distinctive occupation histories. Results reveal “top-down” vs. “bottom-up” dispositions toward spatial order that influenced the routine use of settlement space, the nature of village growth, and arguably, long-term trajectories of community development in regional longhouse and ring-shaped traditions.