87Sr/86Sr sourcing of ponderosa pine used in Anasazi great house construction at Chaco Canyon, New Mexico

Reynolds, Amanda C.; Betancourt, Julio L.; Quade, Jay; Patchett, P. Jonathan; Dean, Jeffrey; Stein, John R.

doi:10.1016/j.jas.2005.01.016

Cited by 87 publications

(72 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…This limitation is particularly evident when riparian areas around the canyon are included with the high-altitude sources investigated in the past (5,35). Similar radiogenic strontium isotope values are found in riparian areas closer to Chaco Canyon than the Chuska Mountains (42)(43)(44)(45).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 75%

“…Two investigations using strontium isotopes attempted to link architectural timber in Chaco to specific geographic locations outside the canyon (5,35). These studies concluded that a range of tree species were imported to Chaco from distant mountains, most more than 80 km away; limited sampling and the geological complexity of the San Juan Basin made it impossible to identify any individual source with confidence, but the results indicated that at least half the sampled archaeological specimens of ponderosa pine could have grown in Chaco (5).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Because uncertainty is best captured using larger sample sizes, we combined published strontium data from trees reported (5,35) and strontium values from soil and water samples (42) and corrected them to NBS SRM-987 to produce overlapping probability curves ( Fig. 6 and Table S1).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…S1). Thousands of timber elements were used in great house construction, and it is widely believed that much of this wood was imported from sources far outside the canyon, perhaps 80 km away, because there were not enough local trees suitable for building, partly or wholly a result of deforestation by local residents (3)(4)(5). The acquisition of costly timber may have signaled the sociopolitical power of those who organized these efforts (6), but some scholars argue that reliance on external resources was unsustainable and led to societal collapse (1).…”

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confidence: 99%

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Prehistoric deforestation at Chaco Canyon?

Wills

Drake

Dorshow

2014

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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Ancient societies are often used to illustrate the potential problems stemming from unsustainable land-use practices because the past seems rife with examples of sociopolitical “collapse” associated with the exhaustion of finite resources. Just as frequently, and typically in response to such presentations, archaeologists and other specialists caution against seeking simple cause-and effect-relationships in the complex data that comprise the archaeological record. In this study we examine the famous case of Chaco Canyon, New Mexico, during the Bonito Phase ( ca . AD 860–1140), which has become a prominent popular illustration of ecological and social catastrophe attributed to deforestation. We conclude that there is no substantive evidence for deforestation at Chaco and no obvious indications that the depopulation of the canyon in the 13th century was caused by any specific cultural practices or natural events. Clearly there was a reason why these farming people eventually moved elsewhere, but the archaeological record has not yet produced compelling empirical evidence for what that reason might have been. Until such evidence appears, the legacy of Ancestral Pueblo society in Chaco should not be used as a cautionary story about socioeconomic failures in the modern world.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 75%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Prehistoric deforestation at Chaco Canyon?

Wills

Drake

Dorshow

2014

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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“…Instead, this study aims to establish the geographic origin of carp consumed in Sagalassos using Sr/ 86 Sr ratios in the inorganic fraction of archaeological mammal teeth and bones have become established methods in palaeoecological and palaeobiological research. The two tracers have been used for the study of seasonal mobility, population dynamics and habitat utilization by prehistoric populations (Balasse et al, 2002;Bentley and Knipper, 2005;Hoogewerff et al, 2001;Knudson et al, 2005;Price et al, 2000;Schweissing and Grupe, 2003;White et al, 1998), procurement distance for construction timber and food (Benson et al, 2003;Reynolds et al, 2005) or migration of ancient elephant populations (Hoppe et al, 1999). However, the approach has never been used to document the former exploitation of aquatic resources.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Oxygen and strontium isotopes as provenance indicators of fish at archaeological sites: the case study of Sagalassos, SW Turkey

Dufour

Holmden

Neer

et al. 2007

Journal of Archaeological Science

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In this paper, we investigate the potential use of oxygen and strontium isotope ratios (d 18 O p and 87 Sr/ 86 Sr) measured in archaeological fish enamel as provenance indicators. d 18 O p and 87 Sr/ 86 Sr were measured in a suite of archaeological carp remains recovered from the Anatolian townsite of Sagalassos dated to the Early Byzantine period (AD 450e650) and compared to that of modern fish, river and lake waters from the Anatolian region. We used sequential leaches in weak acetic acid to remove diagenetic Sr from fossil tooth enamel, monitoring the effectiveness of this approach by measuring the Sr/Ca ratios of the leachates via an isotope dilution thermal ionization mass spectrometry method (ID-TIMS). d 18 O p values mostly excluded a riverine origin. 87 Sr/ 86 Sr ratios of one fish overlapped with the 87 Sr/ 86 Sr signatures of two lakes in the Anatolian region, and at least one lake (Gölcük) could be removed as a candidate owing to a very distinctive 87 Sr/ 86 Sr signature not found in any of the fish remains. Most of the tooth samples analyzed could not be assigned a precise geographical origin since the 87 Sr/ 86 Sr ratios measured in enamel did not match that of any of the local lakes selected as potential origin. This result suggests that carp may have originated from lakes that have not yet been sampled, although this conclusion is not supported by other archaeological evidence. Alternatively, the lack of correspondence between lakes and fish Sr isotope ratios highlights several possible sources of uncertainties including spatial heterogeneity in 87 Sr/ 86 Sr ratio within a lake, the contribution of dietary strontium to the 87 Sr/ 86 Sr ratio of fish tooth enamel, and post-mortem alteration of the tooth Sr isotope signal during fossilization. In spite of the high precision of the strontium isotope analyses and the wide range of variation in the surface waters of the Anatolian lakes and rivers, this method may remain limited to distinguishing between lakes situated in regions of bedrock of very distinct age and geology until these sources of uncertainty are more fully investigated.

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Out of the woods: Driftwood insights into Holocene pan‐Arctic sea ice dynamics

Hole

Macias‐Fauria

2017

JGR Oceans

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The collation of 913 driftwood samples from across the western Arctic, with spatiotemporal distribution and available provenance data, enabled the production of a high‐resolution proxy‐based reconstruction of Holocene Arctic Ocean surface current and sea ice dynamics. Regionally bounded, driftwood‐based sea ice reconstructions studies suggest spatiotemporally complex past Arctic sea ice extent and movement; however, a large‐scale compilation of Holocene Arctic driftwood has not previously been developed. Sparse driftwood in the early Holocene (≥8.2 cal ka B.P.) deglacial period was followed by increased driftwood deposition in the warmer mid‐Holocene (8.2–4.2 cal ka B.P.); characterized by an enhanced Transpolar Drift (TPD) ∼7 cal ka B.P., leading to sea ice loss through the Fram Strait. Driftwood incursion peaks show spatial E‐W progression from the Eurasian Archipelagos to Greenland and the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, suggesting a progressive shift in the orientation of the TPD on centennial‐millennial time scales and intermediate phases in the Arctic Oscillation. Late Holocene cooling (≤4.2 cal ka B.P.) is indicated by increased influx of probably North American Picea via a strengthened Beaufort Gyre (BG) which enhanced sea ice recirculation, starting in the western Arctic and progressing eastward. In recent millennia (<2 cal ka B.P.), a more variable driftwood record alternates between BG and TPD dominance on centennial time scales. To further constrain a spatiotemporal reconstruction of variations in Holocene ocean current and sea ice dynamics, a more definitive determination of driftwood provenance is recommended to build upon the current framework, such as through radiogenic isotope tracing and aDNA analysis.

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87Sr/86Sr sourcing of ponderosa pine used in Anasazi great house construction at Chaco Canyon, New Mexico

Cited by 87 publications

References 29 publications

Prehistoric deforestation at Chaco Canyon?

Prehistoric deforestation at Chaco Canyon?

Oxygen and strontium isotopes as provenance indicators of fish at archaeological sites: the case study of Sagalassos, SW Turkey

Out of the woods: Driftwood insights into Holocene pan‐Arctic sea ice dynamics

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