Small mammals and paleovironmental context of the terminal pleistocene and early holocene human occupation of central Alaska
Abstract This paper explores paleoenvironmental and paleoecological information that may be obtained from small‐mammal assemblages recovered at central Alaska archaeological sites dated to the terminal Pleistocene and early Holocene (14,500–8,000 cal B.P.). Small‐mammal remains in these open‐air sit...
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crwiley:10.1002/gea.21768 2024-06-02T08:15:56+00:00 Small mammals and paleovironmental context of the terminal pleistocene and early holocene human occupation of central Alaska Lanoë, François B. Reuther, Joshua D. Holmes, Charles E. Potter, Ben A. American Philosophical Society Museum of the North, University of Alaska School of Anthropology, University of Arizona National Science Foundation 2019 http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/gea.21768 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/gea.21768 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full-xml/10.1002/gea.21768 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/am-pdf/10.1002/gea.21768 en eng Wiley http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#am http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor Geoarchaeology volume 35, issue 2, page 164-176 ISSN 0883-6353 1520-6548 journal-article 2019 crwiley https://doi.org/10.1002/gea.21768 2024-05-03T11:27:58Z Abstract This paper explores paleoenvironmental and paleoecological information that may be obtained from small‐mammal assemblages recovered at central Alaska archaeological sites dated to the terminal Pleistocene and early Holocene (14,500–8,000 cal B.P.). Small‐mammal remains in these open‐air sites are primarily related to deposition by natural death causes and as such provide information on site paleoenvironments and landscape heterogeneity. Their presence within archaeological occupations likely relates to anthropogenic disturbance and features that would have favored burrow construction. The co‐occurrence of small‐mammal remains and archaeological occupations provides a chronological framework of presence in the locality for most recorded small‐mammal species. Small‐mammal remains document faunal turnover between Pleistocene and Holocene communities. The near‐contemporaneity of species that strongly differ in their ecological requirements suggest that the terminal Pleistocene and early Holocene in central Alaska was a period of dynamic change that may have been characterized by patchy vegetation distribution, rather than the climax communities seen today. In addition to the biogeographical value of small‐mammal remains the paleoenvironmental information that they provide help to characterize the ecology of early human settlers in the region and the processes behind human dispersal in Beringia and the Americas at the end of the Ice Age. Article in Journal/Newspaper Alaska Beringia Wiley Online Library Geoarchaeology 35 2 164 176 |
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Open Polar |
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Wiley Online Library |
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crwiley |
language |
English |
description |
Abstract This paper explores paleoenvironmental and paleoecological information that may be obtained from small‐mammal assemblages recovered at central Alaska archaeological sites dated to the terminal Pleistocene and early Holocene (14,500–8,000 cal B.P.). Small‐mammal remains in these open‐air sites are primarily related to deposition by natural death causes and as such provide information on site paleoenvironments and landscape heterogeneity. Their presence within archaeological occupations likely relates to anthropogenic disturbance and features that would have favored burrow construction. The co‐occurrence of small‐mammal remains and archaeological occupations provides a chronological framework of presence in the locality for most recorded small‐mammal species. Small‐mammal remains document faunal turnover between Pleistocene and Holocene communities. The near‐contemporaneity of species that strongly differ in their ecological requirements suggest that the terminal Pleistocene and early Holocene in central Alaska was a period of dynamic change that may have been characterized by patchy vegetation distribution, rather than the climax communities seen today. In addition to the biogeographical value of small‐mammal remains the paleoenvironmental information that they provide help to characterize the ecology of early human settlers in the region and the processes behind human dispersal in Beringia and the Americas at the end of the Ice Age. |
author2 |
American Philosophical Society Museum of the North, University of Alaska School of Anthropology, University of Arizona National Science Foundation |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Lanoë, François B. Reuther, Joshua D. Holmes, Charles E. Potter, Ben A. |
spellingShingle |
Lanoë, François B. Reuther, Joshua D. Holmes, Charles E. Potter, Ben A. Small mammals and paleovironmental context of the terminal pleistocene and early holocene human occupation of central Alaska |
author_facet |
Lanoë, François B. Reuther, Joshua D. Holmes, Charles E. Potter, Ben A. |
author_sort |
Lanoë, François B. |
title |
Small mammals and paleovironmental context of the terminal pleistocene and early holocene human occupation of central Alaska |
title_short |
Small mammals and paleovironmental context of the terminal pleistocene and early holocene human occupation of central Alaska |
title_full |
Small mammals and paleovironmental context of the terminal pleistocene and early holocene human occupation of central Alaska |
title_fullStr |
Small mammals and paleovironmental context of the terminal pleistocene and early holocene human occupation of central Alaska |
title_full_unstemmed |
Small mammals and paleovironmental context of the terminal pleistocene and early holocene human occupation of central Alaska |
title_sort |
small mammals and paleovironmental context of the terminal pleistocene and early holocene human occupation of central alaska |
publisher |
Wiley |
publishDate |
2019 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/gea.21768 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/gea.21768 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full-xml/10.1002/gea.21768 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/am-pdf/10.1002/gea.21768 |
genre |
Alaska Beringia |
genre_facet |
Alaska Beringia |
op_source |
Geoarchaeology volume 35, issue 2, page 164-176 ISSN 0883-6353 1520-6548 |
op_rights |
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#am http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1002/gea.21768 |
container_title |
Geoarchaeology |
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35 |
container_issue |
2 |
container_start_page |
164 |
op_container_end_page |
176 |
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1800740254885347328 |