Sea ice expansion in the Bering Sea during the Neoglacial: evidence from archaeozoology
The Neoglacial was a period of cold that lasted more than 2000 years during the mid-Holocene, from approximately 4700 to 2500 years ago. Although proxy data from a number of sources document the regional onset and duration of cold conditions in the Northern Hemisphere during this period, none have s...
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0959683607080507 http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0959683607080507 |
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crsagepubl:10.1177/0959683607080507 2024-04-07T07:46:05+00:00 Sea ice expansion in the Bering Sea during the Neoglacial: evidence from archaeozoology Crockford, S.J. Frederick, S.G. 2007 http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0959683607080507 http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0959683607080507 en eng SAGE Publications http://journals.sagepub.com/page/policies/text-and-data-mining-license The Holocene volume 17, issue 6, page 699-706 ISSN 0959-6836 1477-0911 Paleontology Earth-Surface Processes Ecology Archeology Global and Planetary Change journal-article 2007 crsagepubl https://doi.org/10.1177/0959683607080507 2024-03-08T03:18:31Z The Neoglacial was a period of cold that lasted more than 2000 years during the mid-Holocene, from approximately 4700 to 2500 years ago. Although proxy data from a number of sources document the regional onset and duration of cold conditions in the Northern Hemisphere during this period, none have suggested an expansion of sea ice in the Bering Sea. Here we provide new evidence that Neoglacial sea ice expansion in the Bering Sea was substantial enough to have altered the distribution of North Pacific pinnipeds and cetaceans, using prehistoric skeletal remains recovered from an archaeological site on the island of Unalaska in the eastern Aleutians (Amaknak Bridge, occupied from c. 3500—2500 yr BP (radiocarbon years before present, uncalibrated)). Comprehensive archaeozoological analysis of the Amaknak Bridge fauna indicates that sea ice in the Bering Sea must have reached a more southerly position at the height of the Neoglacial and persisted longer than it does today. We infer from this evidence that for most of the Neoglacial period, sea ice must have surrounded the Pribilof Islands until early summer and blocked the Bering Strait until late summer. Such an expansion and seasonal persistence of sea ice would have prevented fur seals from using the Pribilofs as a summer breeding rookery and whales from making summer migrations into arctic waters to feed, as they do today. We suggest this expansion of sea ice in the Bering Sea during the Neoglacial may explain several unresolved phenomena of mammalian distributions, genetic partitioning and extinctions in the North Pacific. Article in Journal/Newspaper Amaknak Arctic Bering Sea Bering Strait Sea ice SAGE Publications Arctic Bering Sea Bering Strait Pacific The Holocene 17 6 699 706 |
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Open Polar |
collection |
SAGE Publications |
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crsagepubl |
language |
English |
topic |
Paleontology Earth-Surface Processes Ecology Archeology Global and Planetary Change |
spellingShingle |
Paleontology Earth-Surface Processes Ecology Archeology Global and Planetary Change Crockford, S.J. Frederick, S.G. Sea ice expansion in the Bering Sea during the Neoglacial: evidence from archaeozoology |
topic_facet |
Paleontology Earth-Surface Processes Ecology Archeology Global and Planetary Change |
description |
The Neoglacial was a period of cold that lasted more than 2000 years during the mid-Holocene, from approximately 4700 to 2500 years ago. Although proxy data from a number of sources document the regional onset and duration of cold conditions in the Northern Hemisphere during this period, none have suggested an expansion of sea ice in the Bering Sea. Here we provide new evidence that Neoglacial sea ice expansion in the Bering Sea was substantial enough to have altered the distribution of North Pacific pinnipeds and cetaceans, using prehistoric skeletal remains recovered from an archaeological site on the island of Unalaska in the eastern Aleutians (Amaknak Bridge, occupied from c. 3500—2500 yr BP (radiocarbon years before present, uncalibrated)). Comprehensive archaeozoological analysis of the Amaknak Bridge fauna indicates that sea ice in the Bering Sea must have reached a more southerly position at the height of the Neoglacial and persisted longer than it does today. We infer from this evidence that for most of the Neoglacial period, sea ice must have surrounded the Pribilof Islands until early summer and blocked the Bering Strait until late summer. Such an expansion and seasonal persistence of sea ice would have prevented fur seals from using the Pribilofs as a summer breeding rookery and whales from making summer migrations into arctic waters to feed, as they do today. We suggest this expansion of sea ice in the Bering Sea during the Neoglacial may explain several unresolved phenomena of mammalian distributions, genetic partitioning and extinctions in the North Pacific. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Crockford, S.J. Frederick, S.G. |
author_facet |
Crockford, S.J. Frederick, S.G. |
author_sort |
Crockford, S.J. |
title |
Sea ice expansion in the Bering Sea during the Neoglacial: evidence from archaeozoology |
title_short |
Sea ice expansion in the Bering Sea during the Neoglacial: evidence from archaeozoology |
title_full |
Sea ice expansion in the Bering Sea during the Neoglacial: evidence from archaeozoology |
title_fullStr |
Sea ice expansion in the Bering Sea during the Neoglacial: evidence from archaeozoology |
title_full_unstemmed |
Sea ice expansion in the Bering Sea during the Neoglacial: evidence from archaeozoology |
title_sort |
sea ice expansion in the bering sea during the neoglacial: evidence from archaeozoology |
publisher |
SAGE Publications |
publishDate |
2007 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0959683607080507 http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0959683607080507 |
geographic |
Arctic Bering Sea Bering Strait Pacific |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Bering Sea Bering Strait Pacific |
genre |
Amaknak Arctic Bering Sea Bering Strait Sea ice |
genre_facet |
Amaknak Arctic Bering Sea Bering Strait Sea ice |
op_source |
The Holocene volume 17, issue 6, page 699-706 ISSN 0959-6836 1477-0911 |
op_rights |
http://journals.sagepub.com/page/policies/text-and-data-mining-license |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1177/0959683607080507 |
container_title |
The Holocene |
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17 |
container_issue |
6 |
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699 |
op_container_end_page |
706 |
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1795662548320649216 |