Middle Holocene Environment on the Ozark Margin in Southeast Missouri: Deciphering a Testudine Testament

Abstract

Turtle taxa represented at Lepold site 23RI59 in southeastern Missouri, USA provide a record of environmental conditions spanning the Middle Holocene. Identified turtle taxa show that open water was present between 7500 and 4000 radiocarbon years ago. Aquatic resources seem to be more intensively exploited beginning about 6300 years ago, about 1200 years after intensive occupation of the site had begun. The observed turtle taxon composition is consistent with the presence of a floodplain with shallow, seasonal, overflow ponds, but with riverine and upland habitats also being represented.