Terminal Pleistocene/Early Holocene Environmental Change at the Sunshine Locality, North-Central Nevada, U.S.A.

Abstract

Sedimentological, faunal, and archaeological investigations at the Sunshine Locality, Long Valley, Nevada reveal a history of human adaptation and environmental change at the last glacial–interglacial transition in North America's north-central Great Basin. The locality contains a suite of lacustrine, alluvial, and eolian deposits associated with fluvially reworked faunal remains and Paleoindian artifacts. Radiocarbon-dated stratigraphy indicates a history of receding pluvial lake levels followed by alluvial downcutting and subsequent valley filling with marsh-like conditions at the end of the Pleistocene. A period of alluvial deposition and shallow water tables (9,800 to 11,000 14C yr B.P.) correlates to the Younger Dryas. Subsequent drier conditions and reduced surface runoff mark the early Holocene; sand dunes replace wetlands by 8,000 14C yr B.P. The stratigraphy at Sunshine is similar to sites located 400 km south and supports regional climatic synchroneity in the central and southern Great Basin during the terminal Pleistocene/early Holocene. Given regional climate change and recurrent geomorphic settings comparable to Sunshine, we believe that there is a high potential for buried Paleoindian features in primary association with extinct fauna elsewhere in the region yet to be discovered due to limited stratigraphic exposure and consequent low visibility.

Trash: The Structure of Great Basin Paleoarchaic Debitage Assemblages in Western North America

“…Instead, they might better be described as short-term extraction sites where the most archeologically visible activity was tool manufacture and refurbishment. We believe these sites represent the distal segments of logistical systems whose hub might include a far larger site like the nearby Sunshine Locality (Figure 10.2) (Jones et al 1996;Huckleberry et al 2001;Beck and Jones in press). Depending on the way groups at the hub gear up for moves to smaller extraction sites, we could expect realistically that source representation would vary a good deal among the latter sites.…”

“…In the case just reviewed, the geographic distribution and the large size of the biface assemblages made a statistical evaluation of the central place foraging Beck et al (2001).…”

“…1 Biface samples represented at the two quarries and their associated residential sites analyzed byBeck et al (2001).…”

Radiocarbon dates as data: quantitative strategies for estimating colonization front speeds and event densities

“…For Sunshine Locality the value given can be replicated by averaging five determinations in the CARD database ranging from 11,330 AE 60 14 C yr bp to 10,240 AE 80 14 C yr bp, but Calib5.0's 'test sample significance' option flags these dates as very significantly different (T ¼ 239.3, which exceeds the test's significance threshold of c 2 ¼ 9.49 at a ¼ 0.05; cf. Huckleberry et al, 2001). For Wilson Butte Cave the value given can be replicated by averaging two determinations in the CARD database (10,700 AE 100 14 C yr bp and 10,230 AE 90 14 C yr bp), but Calib5.0's 'test sample significance' option also flags these dates as significantly different (T ¼ 12.2, which exceeds the test's significance threshold of c 2 ¼ 3.84 at a ¼ 0.05).…”

A 15 000‐year record of climate change in northern New Mexico, USA, inferred from isotopic and elemental contents of bog sediments

“…Particularly important is variability in precipitation and temperature, given recent drought conditions (Quiring and Goodrich, 2008), predictions of dust bowl conditions in the near future (Seager et al , 2007) and the need to better assess the links to external forcing from the Atlantic and tropical Pacific (Cole et al , 2002; Seager et al , 2008). Records spanning the Late Pleistocene and Holocene across the Southwest have revealed changes in climate such as periods of increased effective precipitation, extreme drought and/or warmer or cooler temperatures than presently occur (Benson et al , 1990; Spaulding, 1991; Menounos and Reasoner, 1997; Allen and Anderson, 2000; Holliday, 2000; Reasoner and Jodry, 2000; Forman et al , 2001; Huckleberry et al , 2001; Menking and Anderson, 2003; Polyak et al , 2004; Poore et al , 2005; Holmgren et al , 2006; MacDonald et al , 2008; Wurster et al , 2008). These climate changes have not been consistent in timing and/or intensity across different sites.…”