Pleistocene–Early Holocene Climate Change: Chronostratigraphy and Geoclimate of the Southeast US

A Tale of Two Migrations: Reconciling Recent Biological and Archaeological Evidence for the Pleistocene Peopling of the Americas

“…A spirited debate has explored the question of whether Clovis hunters specialized in mammoth and mastodon hunting (Dunbar 2006b;Surovell 2000;Waguespack 2008, 2009;Waguespack 2005;Waguespack and Surovell 2003) or engaged in a more generalized-but still terrestrial-hunting and gathering subsistence strategy (Byers and Ugan 2005;Cannon and Meltzer 2004;Dixon 2001;Elston and Zeanah 2002;Fiedel 2000Fiedel , 2005Meltzer 2004Meltzer , 2009). However, no archaeologist views Clovis as remotely maritime oriented, nor is there any evidence for this subsistence pose by Clovis people whose ubiquitous technological detritus reveals they were fully aware of the presence the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans and the Gulf of Mexico (see Anderson's important and ever-growing ''Paleoindian Database of the Americas,'' an online catalogue of North American sites older than 10,000 years [Anderson 2005;Anderson and Faught 2000;Anderson et al 2005Anderson et al , 2010).…”

Mobility and Ancient Society in Asia and the Americas

“…At present archaeological evidence in support of LGM or pre-LGM occupations in the Americas is decidedly ambiguous, but should they be conclusively demonstrated, considerable revision of our colonization models will be required. The infl uence of climate and physiography on post-LGM movement patterns and settlement, the focus of much current research, however, will still be critically important (e.g., Dunbar 2006 ;Holliday and Miller 2013 ; ). How changes in sea level infl uenced the early human occupation in the southeastern USA, in fact, offers lessons for understanding the occupation of coastal regions in all parts of the world, and how the colonization of these areas may have proceeded.…”

“…20,000 and 10,000 cal year BP (Anderson et al 2013 :190). The archaeological investigation of the submerged continental shelf has received increasing attention in recent decades, with particular attention directed to shorelines, river channel margins, scarps, and 76 chert sources (e.g., Dunbar 2006 ;Edwards and Emery 1977 ;Edwards and Merrill 1977 ;Emery and Edwards 1966 ;Faught 1996Faught , 2004aFaught and Donoghue 1997 ;Faught and Guisick 2011 ;Guisick and Faught 2011 ;Harris et al 2013 ;Holliday and Miller 2013 ;Lowery et al 2012 ;Stright 1990 ). Prehistoric sites have been found in the northeastern Gulf of Mexico along the paleo-Aucilla River channel, most in fairly shallow waters in areas submerged in the Holocene, although Paleoindian materials have been found on them (Faught 2004a , b ).…”

Palaeodemographics of small-bodied mammals in Pleistocene environments: a case study of muskrats (Ondatra zibethicus: Rodentia: Muridae) from north Florida

“…The north Florida landscape presently contains an abundance of aquatic habitats in shallow non‐meandering rivers and other exposures of the Floridan aquifer in sinkholes. However, the available water in this region was scarcer during glacial times, as a consequence of a lowered sea level, a lowered piezometric surface of the Floridan aquifer, and a more arid climate (Watts & Hansen, 1988; Dunbar, Webb & Cring, 1990; Watts, Hansen & Grimm, 1992; Donoghue, 2006; Dunbar, 2006; Hansen, 2006). Available water existed in the form of temporary perched ponds in low‐lying catch basins, or as exposures of the Floridan aquifer in sinkholes (Dunbar et al ., 1990).…”

“…2). These shallow channels are perforated with deeper karst sinkholes that were filled with late Pleistocene and early Holocene marls and peats that formed in shallow pond‐like settings (Dunbar et al ., 1990; Dunbar, 2006). The recent winnowing and dissolution of these sediments has exposed large assemblages of late Pleistocene flora and fauna in the bottoms of sinkholes that have been partially excavated by the modern river.…”