Examination of the site plan reveals that at least 10 domestic structures were built within the palisade (see settlement plan). At any given time, probably no more than 50-75 people inhabited the village compound and the occupation probably lasted no longer than 10 years. The size of the village and the population estimates support demographic models suggested by the ethnohistoric documents and contrast markedly with late prehistoric and early historic occupations on which there is adequate archaeological data for comparison.
There is no doubt that disease, slavery, and the deerskin trade had a tremendous impact on the Occaneechi and other Indian tribes living in the North Carolina Piedmont during the Historic period. Massive depopulation, social and political fragmentation, and heightened hostilities swept across the landscape in reverberating waves of disruption as English traders and settlers crept southward from Virginia and northward from South Carolina. By 1730, most of the remaining tribal remnants had vacated their North Carolina homelands in search of peace and security with relatives and even former enemies now living in South Carolina, Virginia, and New York.
