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Archeological investigations at the Lehner site, Arizona, 1974-1975
... is exclusively limited to cienega deposition. Four distinct periods of shallow channel incision, filling, and soil formation occurred, producing The alluvial sequence of Whitewater Draw can be compared on a specific level with the alluvial chronology of the Murray Springs (Haynes, 1981) and Lehner sites (Haynes, 1982a) In the Douglas basin an arroyo was cut to a depth of 4.35 m after 6,750 yr B.P. and filled with clastic alluvium (units Ila, Ilb, and 12) and a cienega clay (unit I3) before 5,500 yr B.P. A similar cutting and filling event occurred at the Murray Springs site where an arroyo was cut to a depth of 4.5 m between 7,000 and 6,500 yr B. P. and filled with clastic alluvium and a cienega clay (the Weik alluvium) between 6,000 and 4,000 yr B.P. (Haynes, 1981). A similar event took place at the Lehner site and is evidenced by the deposition of unit G1 at this site (Haynes, 1982a ...
... Four distinct periods of shallow channel incision, filling, and soil formation occurred, producing The alluvial sequence of Whitewater Draw can be compared on a specific level with the alluvial chronology of the Murray Springs (Haynes, 1981) and Lehner sites (Haynes, 1982a) In the Douglas basin an arroyo was cut to a depth of 4.35 m after 6,750 yr B.P. and filled with clastic alluvium (units Ila, Ilb, and 12) and a cienega clay (unit I3) before 5,500 yr B.P. A similar cutting and filling event occurred at the Murray Springs site where an arroyo was cut to a depth of 4.5 m between 7,000 and 6,500 yr B. P. and filled with clastic alluvium and a cienega clay (the Weik alluvium) between 6,000 and 4,000 yr B.P. (Haynes, 1981). A similar event took place at the Lehner site and is evidenced by the deposition of unit G1 at this site (Haynes, 1982a ...
... FF:6:8 dates between about 8,140 yr B.P. and 9,340 yr B.P. on the basis of two radiocarbon analyses ( fig. 4, table 5). The artifactbearing unit Da gravel is undated, but is older than 9,340 yr B.P. At (SMU-197) and 9,900 ± 80 yr B.P. , are associated with Cochise Culture artifacts at the Lehner site, Arizona (Haynes, 1982a). ...
... Following in the footsteps of Bryan and Antevs, Haynes brought new perspectives and methods to the study of alluvial sequences. He documented the stratigraphies of many streams and associated archaeological sites, such as Curry Draw and the Lehner Ranch Arroyo in the San Pedro Valley, Arizona where the Murray Springs and Lehner Clovis sites are located (Haynes, 1981(Haynes, , 1982(Haynes, , 1987, the Santa Cruz River, Arizona (Haynes and Huckell, 1986), and many other streams in the Southwest and Great Plains (Haynes, 1968). Based on this research, Haynes (1968) proposed a regional model for periods of alluvial deposition and erosion for the western United States. ...
... Since the investigations of Sayles and Antevs (1941), many questions arose concerning the Sulphur Spring stage as the archaeological data base for the American Southwest expanded, especially with the recognition of Clovis. Many Clovis sites, which are generally dated between 10,900 and 11,200 B.P., are found in the San Pedro Valley (Haury, 1953;Haury et al., 1959;Haynes, 1981Haynes, , 1982Haynes, , 1987 just 40 km west of Whitewater Draw. Some researchers (Martin and Plog, 1973;Haury, 1983) suggested that the sites of the Sulphur Spring stage may be specialized plant processing stations of Clovis, based on the apparent age of the Sulphur Spring stage artifacts and their association with extinct megafauna. ...
... Researchers have long known that many Clovis sites occur in the San Pedro Valley of southern Arizona (Figure 1). Here, more than a half dozen Clovis sites were found within the alluvial sediments of Curry Draw, Lehner Ranch Arroyo, and other tributaries of the San Pedro River (Haury, 1953;Haury et al., 1959;Haynes, 1981Haynes, , 1982Haynes, , 1987. However, the absence of Clovis remains in other valleys in southern Arizona (Santa Cruz River, Cienega Creek, Tonto Basin, Whitewater Draw, and Gila River) is puzzling (Figure 1). ...
Many of the activities of prehistoric people who lived in the American Southwest were concentrated around alluvial environments. In this arid to semiarid environment, alluvial settings provided freshwater for drinking, a biologically rich environment for hunting and gathering, and water for agriculture. When investigating the prehistory of cultures centered around an alluvial environment, an understanding of the geologic history of that environment is important. The geologic history of deposition, erosion, and stability of any stream is recorded in its stratigraphy of sediments, erosional unconformities, and soils. Stratigraphy provides the framework to chronologically order and date archaeological sites. Further, the stratigraphic record allows archaeologists to ascertain the effects of geological processes on the preservation of the archaeological record, determining which parts of the archaeological record are absent, which have potentially been preserved, and how fragmentary are the preserved portions of the record. The limitations that geologic processes impose on the archaeological record must be recognized and understood before meaningful interpretations of prehistory can be made. Geoarchaeological studies of alluvial environments also provide the information needed to reconstruct changes that occurred to the environment during the late Quaternary. These landscape reconstructions provide the environmental context that may help to explain changes that occurred to human cultures over time. These concepts are illustrated with examples from the American Southwest where alluvial environments were crucial for survival and cultural development. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
... The earliest post-Clovis sites in southeastern Arizona occur in Whitewater Draw, where Waters (1986) uncovered artifacts but no diagnostic tools probably deposited between 10 and 8 ka 14 C BP (Waters, 2000). At the Lehner site, a hearth situated near the upper boundary of the black mat was radiocarbon dated around 9.9 ka 14 C BP (Haynes, 1982. No projectile point type is described for the YDC in the southern Southwest. ...
... This evidence is systematically biased in favor of hunting-related sites. Uncontested Clovismegafaunal associations include mammoth, gomphothere, and bison (Haury et al., 1953(Haury et al., , 1959Haynes and Huckell, 2007;Sanchez de Carpenter, 2009;Saunders, 1992), supplemented to an unknown extent by common smaller animals such as rabbits and tortoises (Haynes, 1982). ...
Whether or not abrupt Younger Dryas climate change affected regional paleoenvironments and late Pleistocene hunter-gatherer populations is an important topic in the archaeology of the American Southwest. This paper reviews multiple, age-resolved proxy evidence to gauge the magnitude and direction of Younger Dryas Chronozone (YDC) environmental changes in different settings and systems. There is no record of YDC pluvial lake highstands in Arizona or New Mexico, but there are impressive records of vegetation, faunal, stable isotope, and geomorphological change coincident with the YDC. These correlate with important adaptive changes in human hunting and land use, as revealed in the analysis of the spatiotemporal distribution of late Pleistocene hunting technologies. Clovis and Folsom projectile point distributions do not support extant models of paleoenvironmental conditions in these interpretations. Significant cultural changes that coincide with the YDC include the Clovis-to-Folsom transition, the demise of mammoth hunting and the development of a highly successful emphasis on bison, increased regionalization, and the abandonment of the northwestern Chihuahuan and the Sonoran deserts by mobile, big-game hunters.
... (1) the arrival of people in the region (Haury et al., 1953(Haury et al., , 1959Haynes, 1982;Haynes and Huckell, 2007;Hemmings and Haynes, 1969), and (2) the development of agriculture (Berry and Berry, 1986;Haury, 1962;Huckell, 1990Huckell, , 1995Mabry, 2005;Merrill et al., 2009;Roth and Freeman, 2008;Wills, 1988). These historical circumstances and unifying scientific themes have played a dominant role in creating both the alluvial and the archaeological chronologies of Southwestern streams. ...
... The earliest potential archaeological carbon from the San Pedro Valley is 11,290 AE 500 14 C yr BP at the Lehner Clovis site (Haynes, 1968b), but this date has a large uncertainty and conflicts with several other radiocarbon dates that indicate Clovis occupations around 10,900 14 C yr BP (w12,800 cal yr BP) (Haynes, 2008). The next oldest archaeological carbon in the San Pedro dataset is represented by two 14 C dates from the upper boundary of the "black mat" at the Lehner site that indicate a Holocene occupation as early as 9900 14 C yr BP (w11,350 cal yr BP) (Haynes, 1982). ...
The use of radiocarbon frequency distributions to reconstruct prehistoric human and animal populations must account for taphonomic loss and other factors that affect the archaeological and paleontological records. Surovell et al. (JAS, 36, 1715–1724) have recently proposed a correction for “taphonomic bias” that is based on the radiocarbon frequency of a global sample of volcanic deposits. Analysis of 717 radiocarbon dates sampled from the alluvium of the San Pedro and Santa Cruz rivers and their tributaries in southeastern Arizona shows that discovery and scientific biases also play an important role in the creation of radiocarbon frequency distributions, and that the rate of “taphonomic bias” in prehistory is not predicted by the radiocarbon frequency of volcanic deposits. The latter principle is further argued using a sample of 123 Pliocene to Clovis-age proboscideans from the San Pedro Valley. We propose an alternative model that is based on the nature of the stratigraphic record, with discovery bias, scientific bias, taphonomic loss, and the shape of the calibration curve all operating to influence the temporal frequency distribution of radiocarbon-dated prehistoric phenomena.
... The San Pedro River is about 240 km long and drains roughly 11,500 km 2 from its head near Cananea, Mexico to its confluence with the Gila River (Fig. 1). Within the low-order tributaries of the upper San Pedro River is a stratigraphic record that spans the past 40,000 years (Haynes, 1981(Haynes, , 1982(Haynes, , 1987Waters and Haynes, 2001;Haynes and Huckell, 2007;Fig. 3). ...
... In the upper San Pedro Valley, a number of undisturbed Clovis kill and camp sites are preserved within the alluvial sediments (Haury et al., 1953;Haury et al., 1959;Haynes, 1981Haynes, , 1982Haynes and Huckell, 2007). These sites include Lehner, Naco, Murray Springs, and others. ...
Late Quaternary alluvial chronologies are established for five streams (Gila River, Salt River, Tonto Creek, Santa Cruz River, and San Pedro River) in the Gila basin of southern Arizona. Each streams has a complex history of deposition, erosion, and landscape stability that structured and fragmented the archaeological record over the last 15,000 years. The limitations that geologic processes imposed on the archaeological record of these alluvial environments must be recognized before meaningful interpretations of prehistory can be made. These stratigraphic sequences also provide the basis for reconstructing changes to the alluvial landscape of each valley over time. All five streams were intensively utilized during the Late Prehistoric period (A.D. 300–1450) by the Hohokam. The Hohokam were irrigation agriculturalists who were dependent upon these streams for survival. Thus, the regional stability and instability of the floodplain environments of southern Arizona influenced the expansion, contraction, reorganization, and collapse of the Hohokam.
... No dates were obtained from the Sulphur Spring deposit (unit DC) at Arizona FF: 10: 14. Two radiocarbon dates on charcoal, 9860 -+ 80 yr B.P. and 9900 + 80 yr B.P. , are associated with Cochise Culture artifacts at the Lehner site, Arizona (Haynes, 1982). These artifacts directly overlie the Clovis horizon which has been dated at 10,890 + 40 yr B.P. (C. ...
... Some researchers (Martin and Plog, 1973;Haury, 1983) have suggested that the Sulphur Spring stage sites could represent specialized plant-gathering stations of the Clovis Culture. However, three points invalidate this hypothesis: (1) diagnostic artifacts of the two cultures have never been found mixed on a site; (2) artifacts of the two cultures are in superposition at the Lehner site (Haynes, 1982); and (3) the chronological placement of the Sulphur Spring stage shows that it is not contemporaneous with Clovis. Instead, the Sulphur Spring stage of the Cochise Culture, dated between 8000 and 10,000 yr B.P., and possibly as early as 10,400 yr B.P., is the oldest recognized archaic manifestation in southeastern Arizona. ...
Radiocarbon dates from archaeological sites in Whitewater Draw, Arizona, place the Sulphur Spring stage of the Cochise Culture between 8000 and 10,000 yr B.P., and possibly back to 10,400 yr B.P. Geoarchaeological investigations of Whitewater Draw do not substantiate an earlier claim that Sulphur Spring stage ground stone artifacts are associated with extinct megafauna, nor the hypothesis that Sulphur Spring stage artifacts are specialized plant processing tools of the Clovis Culture.
... Hypotheses for the extinction of the megafauna (at roughly 12,800 cal. years BP) range from overkill (e.g., Martin 1994Martin , 2005) to climate change (e.g., Grayson and Meltzer 2015) to other fringe hypotheses (comet, disease, solar flares, etc. Escapule, AZ ~13,000 Ballenger 2010Ballenger , 2015Haynes and Huckell 2007;Hemmings 1970;Hemmings and Haynes 1969 Hargis, AZ Clovis Ballenger 2010Ballenger , 2015Haynes 1968;Tessman 1974 Lehner, AZ 13,177±45 Antevs 1959;Ballenger 2010Ballenger , 2015Haury 1956;Haury et al. 1959;Haynes 1982;Lance 1959;Mehringer and Haynes 1965 Leikem, AZ ~12,900 Ballenger 2009Ballenger , 2010Ballenger , 2015Johnson and Haynes 1967 Mockingbird Gap, NM 13,096±177 Huckell 2009Huckell , 2015Huckell et al. 2006Huckell et al. , 2007Huckell et al. , 2008Weber 1997;Weber andAgogino 1997 Murray Springs, AZ 12,793±52 Agenbroad andHaynes 1975;Ballenger 2010Ballenger , 2015Haynes 1968Haynes , 1969Haynes and Hemmings 1968;Haynes and Huckell 2007 Naco, AZ ~13,000 Ballenger 2009Ballenger , 2010Ballenger , 2015Haury 1952;Haury et al. 1953 Navarrete, AZ ~12,900 Ballenger 2009Ballenger , 2010Ballenger , 2015 Figure 3 Minimum number of individual (MNI) megafauna at Southwest Clovis sites (a) by excavation years and (b) with added taxa site-by-site from Ballenger (2015). 1950-1959 1960-1969 1970-1979 1980-1989 1990-1999 2000-2009 ...
... The scale of megafaunal extinctions in North America is very impressive with the disappearance of around 35 genera in the Late Pleistocene (Steadman et al., 2005;Faith and Surovell, 2009;Haynes, 2009Haynes, , 2013). Direct evidence of predation by humans is available in a few cases, where megafaunal remains (Columbian mammoth, mastodon) occur in direct association with Clovis spear points (e.g.Haury, 1953;Haury et al., 1959;Graham et al., 1981;Haynes and Haury, 1982). Remains of two gomphotheres (Cuvieronius sp.) accompanied by Clovis points and flakes (with associated dates on charcoal of ca. ...
... Artifacts from unit Dc have been assigned to the Sulphur Spring stage of the Cochise Culture on typological criteria by Sayles and Antevs (1941) and Sayles (1983), and on geological criteria by Antevs (1983) and Waters (1983,1986). (Haynes 1982). Therefore, the burial can confidently be placed between 8,200 and 10,000 years and possibly as early as 10,400 years before the present, based on its archaeological context. ...
Sulphur Springs Woman, an early human burial, was recovered from alluvial deposits dated between 8,200 and 10,000 years before the present in Whitewater Draw, southeastern Arizona. These are the oldest human remains from the Southwest and are some of the oldest in North America. These bones provide data on the earliest inhabitants of the New World.
... By the late 1960s, Vance was well established as one of the country's leading (and few) geoarchaeologists and Paleoindian researchers. He began his own longterm interdisciplinary archaeological project in the San Pedro Valley of Arizona (e.g., Haynes, 1981 Haynes, , 1982) and was frequently lured away from the Great Plains and Southwest to such places as Egypt, the Sudan, and the northern Ozarks (e.g., Haynes, 1985). The 1970s, however, saw something of a resurgence of Paleoindian studies on the Great Plains and a growing interest in geoarchaeology throughout North America, so Vance remained grounded in his archaeological roots in the Paleoindian " heartland. ...
Geoarchaeological and geochronological research has been an intimate component of Paleoindian investigations on the Great Plains for more than 70 years. Current ideas on the geologic, chronologic, and environmental context of the Paleoindian occupation of the region are based on decades of research by many individuals, but no single investigator has been more directly involved and made more substantive contributions to this geoarchaeological research than Vance Haynes. He was the first and still remains one of the few geoscientists to systematically investigate the stratigraphy and geochronology of Paleoindian sites (and late Pleistocene and early Holocene settings in general) throughout the region. In particular, his work at the Hell Gap site, Wyoming, provided the first comprehensive Paleoindian geochronology for the Northern Great Plains, and his initial investigations at the Clovis site, New Mexico, resulted in the first well-dated Paleoindian chronology for the Southern Great Plains. More broadly, his study of the southwestern “alluvial chronology” (1968) is a classic study in regional late Quaternary stratigraphy and environmental reconstructions, a landmark in understanding semiarid alluvial systems, and a stratigraphic and geochronologic model specifically oriented toward geoarchaeology. More than 30 years later, the Paleoindian geoarchaeology and geochronology of the Great Plains that Vance worked out, though much refined (largely through his own efforts), still holds and is the basic framework within which we continue to work. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
... The upper and lower boundaries of the thin beds are irregular and diffuse, probably a consequence of Figure 1. Selected Younger Dryas-age localities with high water table-related wetland deposits, many associated with Paleoindian sites: 1, Murray Spring site (Haynes and Huckell, 2007); 2, Lehner site (Haury et al., 1959;Haynes and Haury, 1982); 3, Naco site (Haury et al., 1953); 4, Wilcox Playa (Haynes et al., 1987); 5, Kaibito Plateau (Cyr, 2004); 6, Red Peak Valley (Karlstrom, 1986); 7, Salt Creek marsh (Love et al., 2011);8, Water Canyon site (Dello-Russo et al., 2010); 9, Mockingbird Gap site (Holliday et al., 2009); 10, Pounds Playa (Haynes, 2008); 11, Blackwater Draw Clovis site (Haynes, 1995;Haynes et al., 1999); 12, Lubbock Lake site (Holliday, 1985;Haas et al., 1986); 13, Aubrey site (Ferring, 2001;Waters and Stafford, 2007); 14, Domebo site (Leonhardy, 1966); 15, Nall site (LaBelle et al., 2003); 16, Bull Creek site (Bement et al., 2007). Modified from Haynes (2008). ...
A thick alluvial sequence in central New Mexico contains the Scholle wet meadow deposit that traces upstream to a paleospring. The wet meadow sediments contain an abundant fauna of twenty-one species of freshwater and terrestrial mollusks and ten species of ostracodes. The mollusks and ostracodes are indicative of a local high alluvial water table with spring-supported perennial flow but without standing water. Pollen analysis documents shrub grassland vegetation with sedges, willow, and alder in a riparian community. Stable carbon isotopes from the wet meadow sediments have δ13C values ranging from −22.8 to −23.3‰, indicating that 80% of the organic carbon in the sediment is derived from C3 species. The wet meadow deposit is AMS dated 10,400 to 9,700 14Cyr BP, corresponding to 12,300 to 11,100calyr BP and overlapping in time with the Younger Dryas event (YD). The wet meadow became active about 500yr after the beginning of the YD and persisted 400yr after the YD ended. The Scholle wet meadow is the only record of perennial flow and high water table conditions in the Abo Arroyo drainage basin during the past 13ka.
... Fladmark et al., 1988 Boaz Mastodon (WI) East N Y Palmer and Stoltman, 1975 Bull Brook (MA) East Y N Byers, 1955; Spiess et al., 1985 Colby (WY) Central N Y Frison and Todd, 1986; Walker and Frison, 1980 Dent (CO) Central N Y Figgins, 1933; Brunswig and Fisher, 1993 Domebo (OK) Central N Y Leonhardy, 1966; Slaughter, 1966; Leonhardy and Anderson, 1966 Escapule (AZ) West N Y Hemmings and Haynes, 1969; Saunders, n.d. Gault (TX) Central N N Collins, 1999 Guest (FL) East N Y Hoffman, 1983; Rayl, 1974 Hebior (WI) East N Y Overstreet, Overstreet et al., 1995; Overstreet and Stafford, 1997 Hiscock (NY) East N Y? Laub et al., 1988; Tankersley et al., 1998; Steadman, 1988 Holcombe Beach (MI) East - N Cleland, 1965; Fitting et al., 1966; Spiess et al., 1985 Jake Bluff (OK) Central N N? Bement and Carter, 2003 as cited by Cannon and Meltzer, 2004 Kimmswick (MO) Central N Y Graham et al., 1981; Graham and Kay, 1988 Kincaid Shelter (TX) Central N N Collins et al., 1989 Lange-Ferguson (SD) Central N Y Hannus, 1989, 1990; J. Lehner (AZ) West Y Y Haury et al., 1959; Haynes and Haury, 1982; Lance, 1959; Saunders, n.d. Leikem (AZ) West N Y Saunders, 1980; Saunders, n.d Lewisville (TX) Central Y N Harris, 1957, 1958 Little Salt Spring (FL) East N N Clausen et al., 1979 Lubbock Lake (TX) Central N Y? Johnson, 1987 Manis (WA) West N Y Gustafson et al., 1979 Martin's Creek (OH) East N Y McLean (TX) Central N Y Ray, 1930 Ray, , 1942 Ray and Bryan, 1938 Miami (TX) Central N Y Sellards, 1952; Holliday et al., 1994 Murray Springs (AZ) West Y Y Haynes, 1993; Saunders, 1980; Saunders, n.d. ...
Like many dimensions of human behavior during the early phases of New World occupation, interpretations of Early Paleoindian
subsistence practices are highly contentious. Different researchers examining the same faunal record have arrived at opposing
conclusions regarding what Early Paleoindians were hunting, collecting, and eating. Some argue that Early Paleoindians were
quintessentially “large game specialists;” others see a pattern of “generalized foraging.” This debate has important implications
for evaluating possible causes of Pleistocene extinctions. While at the core of the issue is a fundamentally simple question–“What
did Early Paleoindians hunt?”–the interpretation of direct human involvement in the demise of multiple species of animals
is clouded by larger issues concerning hunter-gatherer economics and climate change. Our concern is with the former, and we
examine Early Paleoindian hunting from an ethnographic, zooarcheological, and behavioral ecological standpoint.
KeywordsEarly Paleoindian diet-large-game predation
Except for the addition of modern material remains, the archaeological record is a finite resource, which means that, at some point in the future, there will be nothing left to find. In this paper, we model trends in archaeological discovery based on the growth of the field and the probability of site discovery. We compare this model to seven diverse datasets of archaeological discovery a compilation of shipwreck discoveries. We forecast discovery trends over the current century. We show that, for all datasets, rates of discovery are in decline, and some segments of the record are near depletion. Con la excepción de la añadidura de restos materiales modernos, el registro arqueológico es un recurso finito, lo cual significa que en algún momento en el futuro no quedará nada por descubrir. Es este trabajo modelamos las tendencias en descubrimientos arqueológicos sobre la base del crecimiento del campo y la probabilidad de descubrimiento de sitios. Comparamos este modelo con siete conjuntos de datos de tendencias de descubrimientos arqueológicos: 1) todos los sitios del estado de Wyoming, EUA; 2) los sitios de alta elevación en el estado de Colorado, EUA; 3) los cráneos de Neandertales casi completos; 4) los sitios monumentales mayas del Periodo Clásico; 5) los sitios de matanza y carnicería de proboscídeos alrededor del globo; 6) los sitios europeos del Paleolítico Superior; y 7) una compilación de descubrimientos de naufragios. También predecimos las tendencias en el descubrimiento de sitios en el siglo presente. Mostramos que, para todos los conjuntos, el ritmo de descubrimientos va disminuyendo y en algunos segmentos el registro se encuentra casi agotado.
Skeletal remains of mastodon were found in southern Arizona in 1985. Radiocarbon testing indicates they are of Clovis age, but no artifacts were found. At the time this was the second find of Mammut americanum in Arizona reported with any detail. The find contributes to our knowledge of the Clovis-age genus Mammut in Arizona. It is another example of the extinction the megafauna at the end of the Pleistocene 13,000 cal yr BP.
Traditionally, hunter-gatherers of the Clovis period have been characterized as specialized hunters of large terrestrial mammals. Recent critiques have attempted to upend this position both empirically and theoretically, alternatively favoring a more generalized foraging economy. In this paper, the distinction between subsistence specialists and generalists is framed in terms of forager selectivity with regards to hunted prey, following a behavioral ecological framework. Faunal data are compiled from 33 Clovis sites and used to test the two alternative diet-breadth hypotheses. The data support the older "Clovis as specialist" model, although some use of small game is apparent. Furthermore, data from modern hunter-gatherers are marshaled to support the theoretical plausibility of specialized large-mammal hunting across North America during the Late Pleistocene.
This paper provides an overview of the contentious issue of global megafaunal extinctions in the Late Quaternary. The main proposed causes are ‘overkill’, environmental change or a combination of both. There are major objections to the other suggested causes. Extinctions were highly variable in their severity between different zoogeographical regions, with the greatest impact in North America, South America and Australia, but also substantial in northern Eurasia. Sub-Saharan Africa and Southern Asia were much less affected. For northern Eurasia, detailed chronologies show a staggered extinction pattern, in which each megafaunal species exhibits unique and complex distributional shifts, culminating in extinction for some species and survival in others. Environmental drivers were clearly very important, although the possible role of humans is not yet clear. Alaska/Yukon also has a good radiocarbon record which also suggests a staggered extinction pattern. However, the available data for the rest of North America are largely unsatisfactory. South America also boasted spectacular extinct megafauna, but again the currently available dates are insufficient to reliably discern patterns or possible causes. Australia and New Guinea also suffered major losses, but extinctions probably occurred much earlier than elsewhere, so that establishing a chronology is especially difficult. Africa and Southern Asia have the least available data. In order to make meaningful progress, it is vital to establish a large database of reliable radiocarbon dates for each region made directly on securely identified megafaunal remains. The need is for much more high quality data, not more debate based on imperfect evidence. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Since the 1940s, numerous cases of non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM) have been observed in certain American Indian populations. Extremely high prevalence rates of NIDDM occur most strikingly in several tribes of Paleo-Indians, whose ancestors migrated to North America >11,000 yr ago. Archaeological evidence from that period indicates that certain groups of Paleo-Indians maintained an arctic-like hunter-gatherer life-style in an area in temperate North America ranging from Wyoming to Arizona. This life-style featured a reliance on unpredictable big game species as a major food source. However, at this time, big game species were becoming extinct. It is hypothesized that those Paleo-Indians who relied on big game as a food source developed a “thrifty” genotype that allowed a selective advantage during the periods of fasting that occurred between big game kills. It also is hypothesized that this thrifty genotype in these Indians may contribute to NIDDM when a sedentary life-style is adopted and food sources are constant. Because insulin resistance in muscle is a major feature of NIDDM, it is possible that insulin resistance per se is the phenotypic expression of the thrifty genotype.
Materials belonging to the Sulphur Spring stage of the Cochise culture previously were identified on the prominent 1,274 m shoreline of Pleistocene Lake Cochise in southeastern Arizona. Dated ca. 12,000 to 11,000 years ago, the remains were suggested to represent an early Archaic manifestation deposited in ancient beach gravels, possibly contemporary with Clovis levels at the Lehner and Naco sites. New data based on stratigraphic analysis, correlated radiocarbon dates, together with artifactual remains indicate that the association of Sulphur Spring stage artifacts with the shoreline of Lake Cochise is problematical.
Lacustrine and alluvial stratigraphic sequences in the southern Animas Valley of New Mexico allow reconstruction of late Quaternary climates. Four separate stands of late Quaternary Lake Cloverdale in the southern Animas Valley are recorded by lacustrine shoreline deposits. Soils and stratigraphic evidence show that three young lake highstands occurred during the Holocene and that a higher lake stand occurred 18,000 to 20,000 14C yr B.P. Fluvial systems aggraded the southern Animas Valley during the middle to late Holocene. The late Quaternary stratigraphy shows that several periods during the late Holocene were characterized by higher effective precipitation than at any time since the last glacial maximum.
Because the landscape on which prehistoric people lived was dynamic and continually changed, the record of prehistoric activities across the landscape has been differentially presented and destroyed. insightful reconstructions of human organizational (settlement) systems from the archaeological record require a full understanding of the geological forces and history that have shaped that record. The landscape histories of the North Dakota Badlands and the stream systems of southern Arizona illustrate these points and the importance of geoarchaeological investigations to properly interpret the archaeological record.
Camelops was a major faunal element in late Wisconsin biotic communities over much of North America. Interpretations of possible human association with Camelops are often based on poorly evaluated evidence. Ideal standards for acceptable evidence are compared here to the actual evidence that has been advanced. Of 25 fossil assemblages examined, 2 might be examples only of geological contemporaneity of humans and Camelops; 2 might indicate behavioral association of humans and Camelops bones; and 2 might indicate actual human utilization of Camelops (killing and/or butchering). Camelops bones interpreted as artifacts are similar to modern specimens affected by noncultural processes.
Many of the major rivers and streams in the arid and semiarid American Southwest can be classified as gullies and arroyos. The history of deposition, stability, and erosion of gully and arroyo environments has had a profound influence on the archaeological record contained within valley and bajada (piedmont) alluvium. The temporal and spatial sample of archaeological sites in southern Arizona is as much a reflection of geological processes as it is of cultural processes. Where both geological and archaeological data sets are well preserved, detailed landscape reconstructions are possible and prehistoric activity can be placed in the context of the prehistoric landscape. In southern Arizona, the location of Hohokam agricultural settlements at any particular time, changes in position of these settlements through time, and agricultural technology were affected by the configuration of the landscape, by the hydrologic regime of the bajada gullies and valley arroyos, and by landscape changes that have occurred through time. In fact, prehistoric Hohokam agriculturalists may have initiated some of the environmental degradation observed in the geological record.
During the late Quaternary the Willcox basin in SB Arizona was intermittently occupied by pluvial Lake Cochise. A radiocarbon-dated stratigraphic sequence indicates that high stands of the lake occurred from 13,750 to 13,400 B.P., once again during the early Holocene around or before 8900 B.P., and twice during the latter part of the middle Holocene. By the late Holocene, the basin was characterized by shallow and ephemeral playa lake stands.Ground stone artifacts once thought to be temporally associated with the last Pleistocene high stand of Lake Cochise are shown to come from nonlacustrine sediments and are younger than originally reported. These findings fail to confirm previous views that the Sulphur Spring stage of the Cochise Culture was contemporaneous with the Clovis Complex.Evidence of Middle Archaic occupation of the basin is sparse; however Late Archaic settlement structure is well documented and was characterized by residential base camps and associated specialized-activity loci. Residential camps were situated near the few dependable water sources, while activity loci were positioned throughout diverse habitats to maximize exploitation of the basin's resources.
The cave bear (Ursus spelaeus) was one of several spectacular megafaunal species that became extinct in northern Eurasia during the late Quaternary. Vast numbers of their remains have been recovered from many cave sites, almost certainly representing animals that died during winter hibernation. On the evidence of skull anatomy and low δ15N values of bone collagen, cave bears appear to have been predominantly vegetarian. The diet probably included substantial high quality herbaceous vegetation. In order to address the reasons for the extinction of the cave bear, we have constructed a chronology using only radiocarbon dates produced directly on cave bear material. The date list is largely drawn from the literature, and as far as possible the dates have been audited (screened) for reliability. We also present new dates from our own research, including results from the Urals. U. spelaeus probably disappeared from the Alps and adjacent areas – currently the only region for which there is fairly good evidence –c. 24 000 radiocarbon years BP (c. 27 800 cal. yr BP), approximately coincident with the start of Greenland Stadial 3 (c. 27 500 cal. yr BP). Climatic cooling and inferred decreased vegetational productivity were probably responsible for its disappearance from this region. We are investigating the possibility that cave bear survived significantly later elsewhere, for example in southern or eastern Europe.
The dire wolf was an important large, late Pleistocene predator in North and South America, well adapted to preying on megaherbivores. Geographically widespread, Canis dirus is reported from 136 localities in North America from Alberta, Canada, southward and from three localities in South America (Muaco, Venezuela; Talara, Peru; and Tarija, Bolivia). The species lived in a variety of environments, from forested mountains to open grasslands and plains ranging in elevation from sea level to 2255 m (7400 feet). Canis dirus is assigned to the Rancholabrean land mammal age of North America and the Lujanian land mammal age of South America and was among the many large carnivores and megaherbivores that became extinct in North and South America near the end of the Pleistocene Epoch.
Evidence today suggests that by at least 8000 to 8500 B.P., Archaic hunter-gatherer economies were established throughout the North American Southwest. The Early Archaic seems to be a period of considerable variability across the subregions; this may be a product of currently slim knowledge of the period, or it may indicate that the region witnessed considerable flux. With the Middle Archaic period from 5500 to 3500 B.P. there seems to be greater similarity in material culture across the region and a definite increase in the number of known sites. Finally, the Late Archaic/Early Agricultural period from 3500 to 2000 or 1500 B.P. sees the establishment of a mixed farming-foraging economy in much of the Southwest with apparently major changes in subsistence-settlement systems. Preagricultural Archaic land use patterns are known in broad outline but not in detail; high mobility by small social groups in an annual round would have permitted exploitation of diverse biotic communities. In most parts of the region, significant socioeconomic change accompanies the incorporation of agriculture into the late preceramic period, as witnessed by the appearance of longer-term residential sites with pitstructures and storage features.
Since the 1940s, numerous cases of non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM) have been observed in certain American Indian populations. Extremely high prevalence rates of NIDDM occur most strikingly in several tribes of Paleo-Indians, whose ancestors migrated to North America greater than 11,000 yr ago. Archaeological evidence from that period indicates that certain groups of Paleo-Indians maintained an arctic-like hunter-gatherer life-style in an area in temperate North America ranging from Wyoming to Arizona. This life-style featured a reliance on unpredictable big game species as a major food source. However, at this time, big game species were becoming extinct. It is hypothesized that those Paleo-Indians who relied on big game as a food source developed a "thrifty" genotype that allowed a selective advantage during the periods of fasting that occurred between big game kills. It also is hypothesized that this thrifty genotype in these Indians may contribute to NIDDM when a sedentary life-style is adopted and food sources are constant. Because insulin resistance in muscle is a major feature of NIDDM, it is possible that insulin resistance per se is the phenotypic expression of the thrifty genotype.
Since the 1940s, many Amerindian populations, including some with mixed Amerindian ancestry, have experienced an epidemic of obesity and adult‐onset diabetes (NIDDM). Obesity and NIDDM were apparently rare among Amerindian populations prior to that time. Though the evidence is equivocal, obesity and NIDDM seem to be rare today among Athapaskan Amerindians of the North American Arctic, sub‐Arctic, and Southwest.
It is hypothesized that the Amerindian genotype(s) susceptible to obesity and NIDDM arose from selection favoring “thrifty” genes during the peopling of North America south of the continental glaciers. “Thrifty” genes (Neel: Am. J. Hum. Genet. 14:353–362, 1962) allowed a more efficient food metabolism as hunter‐gatherers from an unusually harsh mid‐latitude tundra environment (the “ice free” corridor) adapted to more typical mid‐latitude environments to the south. The early Paleoindian settlement pattern from Wyoming to Arizona and Texas indicates a relatively brief period of reliance on unpredictable big game resources in lower elevations and smaller game and gathered resources in higher elevations. This unusual “specialist” settlement pattern may have resulted from the early Paleoindian's unfamiliarity with gathered foods and small game in lower elevations.
Athapaskan populations evidently moved south from Beringia sometime after the Paleoindian migration when the “ice free” corridor had widened and contained environments and resources more typical of subarctic latitudes. Thus, Athapaskan hunter‐gatherers could gradually adapt to the resources of lower latitudes such that “thrifty” genes would not have been as advantageous.
The interaction of recently introduced “western” diets and “thrifty” genes have evidently led to today's epidemic of obesity and NIDDM among Amerindians of Paleoindian ancestry.
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