Cultural Responses to The Altithermal or Inadequate Sampling?

Sheehan, Michael S.

doi:10.1080/2052546.1995.11931745

Cited by 10 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 5 publications

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“…The presence of "foothill" (Lovell/Castle River) rather than "plains" (e.g., Cody Complex) Late Paleoindian projectile point types generally corroborates the seemingly ecological, and possibly demographic, disassociation of Early Holocene Paleoindian populations (Frison, 1992). Reliance and economic focus on a persistent water source likewise mirror concepts of oases or ecological refugia conditioned by the presence of groundwater or perched aquifers and located on the margins of the plains (Sheehan, 1994(Sheehan, , 1995Yansa, 2007). The broken terrain of the foothills and its sheltering opportunities may also have buffered the effects of the Mazama ash fall Beaudoin, 2005, 2016) and/or favored a faster reoccupation of the region.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Furthermore, during the Early and Middle Holocene (11,700-8200 and 8200-4200 cal yr BP, respectively), the Northern Front may have offered refuge at times of major environmental disturbances affecting the Northwestern Plains, including the Holocene Thermal Maximum period of heightened aridity (sometimes referred to as the Altithermal, and regionally dated ca. 10,600-6800 cal yr BP; Reeves, 1973;Sheehan, 1995;Meltzer, 1999;Yansa, 2007) and the Mazama volcanic ashfall ca. 7600 cal yr BP Beaudoin, 2005, 2016).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Glacial kettles as archives of early human settlement along the Northern Rocky Mountain Front

Lanoë

Zedeño

Jansson³

et al. 2021

Quat. res.

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The Northern Rocky Mountain Front (hereafter Northern Front) is a prominent geographic feature in archaeological models of human dispersal in the terminal Pleistocene and Early Holocene of North America. Testing those models has been arduous because of local geomorphological factors that tend to obliterate or otherwise limit access to archaeological finds of relevant age. In this paper, we present well-stratified archaeological and environmental records dating back to 14,000–13,000 cal yr BP from the site of Billy Big Spring (Blackfeet Indian Reservation, Montana), located on a glacial kettle, a type of landform that has been largely ignored by regional archaeological research to date. Findings from Billy Big Spring show the continuous use of the Northern Front foothills throughout the major climatic and environmental disturbances of the Early Holocene, and possibly the terminal Pleistocene as well. As such, Billy Big Spring contributes to refining several archaeological models of early settlement of the Northern Front, particularly those that posit differential use of foothills versus plains settings during the midst of the Holocene Thermal Maximum. The record at Billy Big Spring also suggests that kettles, regardless of physiographic setting, provide a yet unsuspected and unsampled potential for preserving high-quality and easily accessible early archaeological and paleoenvironmental records.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Glacial kettles as archives of early human settlement along the Northern Rocky Mountain Front

Lanoë

Zedeño

Jansson³

et al. 2021

Quat. res.

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“…He finds that while the peoples of the southern high plains were undoubtedly affected by harsh climatic conditions, the data from the central and northern plains are more equivocal. There, the lack of sites may have more to do with geomorphic processes that have removed or deeply buried the material record from this period, a factor that I discuss below (see Artz 1996;Sheehan 1995Sheehan , 1996 for discussion about whether a relative lack of sites in the northern plains is a cultural response to climate change or a result of geological processes).…”

Section: The Paleoindian/archaic Transitionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Everything Old Is New Again: Recent Approaches to Research on the Archaic Period in the Western United States

McBrinn

2010

J Archaeol Res

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There are regional differences in how archaeologists conduct their research on the Archaic period. The rich array of techniques and approaches used to examine this period in the West include human behavioral ecology and other evolutionary perspectives, technological style and aspects of practice theory, neuropsychological theory, and more. Recent research in the Great Basin, Southwest, Great Plains, Columbia-Fraser Plateau, and coastal California is surveyed to highlight commonalities and differences in the questions asked of the archaeological data and in the techniques that are used.

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“…Archaeological work in the Northern Plains region has located few cultural sites dating from approximately 7500 to 5000 years ago. Many view this paucity of sites as the result of the mass emigration of Plains inhabitants to peripheral regions due to a dramatic change in environmental conditions (Hurt, 1966;Forbis, 1992;Mulloy, 1958;Sheehan, 1995Sheehan, , 1996Wedel, 1963). This dramatic change is attributed to a middle Holocene drought referred to as the climatic-optimum, the Altithermal (Antevs, 1955), or the Hypsithermal (Deevey & Flint, 1957).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reconstructing landscape and vegetation through multiple proxy indicators: A geoarchaeological examination of the St. Louis site, Saskatchewan, Canada

et al. 2011

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The St. Louis site, located in the Plains–Parkland transition zone along the South Saskatchewan River, in Saskatchewan, Canada, is a multiple‐component site consisting of stratified floodplain alluvium with multiple, weakly developed soils. Human occupation at the site spans the Late Paleoindian to Middle Precontact periods (10,000–5,000 14C yr B.P.), a time poorly represented archaeologically on the Northern Plains. The dearth of early–middle Holocene‐age archaeological sites is often attributed to reduced inhabitability of the Northern Plains during the Hypsithermal, a period of maximum aridity and limited water availability. Stable isotope and phytolith data from the site indicate increased temperatures during the Hypsithermal and an expansion of Northern Plains grasslands into north‐central Saskatchewan. Although characterized by increased xeric conditions, human occupation at the St. Louis site, as well as the predominance of C3 grasses, attests to the habitability of Northern Plains river systems during this time period. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

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Cultural Responses to The Altithermal or Inadequate Sampling?

Cited by 10 publications

References 5 publications

Glacial kettles as archives of early human settlement along the Northern Rocky Mountain Front

Glacial kettles as archives of early human settlement along the Northern Rocky Mountain Front

Everything Old Is New Again: Recent Approaches to Research on the Archaic Period in the Western United States

Reconstructing landscape and vegetation through multiple proxy indicators: A geoarchaeological examination of the St. Louis site, Saskatchewan, Canada

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