A new terrestrial palaeoenvironmental record from the Bering Land Bridge and context for human dispersal

• Published in: Royal Society Open Science
• Main Authors: Wooller, Matthew J., Saulnier-Talbot, Émilie, Potter, Ben A., Belmecheri, Soumaya, Bigelow, Nancy, Choy, Kyungcheol, Cwynar, Les C., Davies, Kimberley, Graham, Russell W., Kurek, Joshua, Langdon, Peter, Medeiros, Andrew, Rawcliffe, Ruth, Wang, Yue, Williams, John W.
• Other Authors: Univ Arizona, Lab Tree Ring Res
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: ROYAL SOC 2018
• Subjects: Beringia; stable isotopes; diatoms; cladocerans; chironomids; environmental change; Pacific; Bering Land Bridge; Alaska
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10150/629138; https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.180145

Palaeoenvironmental records from the now-submerged Bering Land Bridge (BLB) covering the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) to the present are needed to document changing environments and connections with the dispersal of humans into North America, Moreover, terrestrially based records of environmental changes are needed in close proximity to the re-establishment of circulation between Pacific and Atlantic Oceans following the end of the last glaciation to test palaeo-dimate models for the high latitudes. We present the first terrestrial temperature and hydrologic reconstructions from the LGM to the present from the BLB's south-central margin. We find that the timing of the earliest unequivocal human dispersals into Alaska, based on archaeological evidence, corresponds with a shift to warmer/wetter conditions on the BLB between 14700 and 13500 years ago associated with the early Balling/Aliened interstadial (BA), These environmental changes could have provided the impetus for eastward human dispersal at that time, from Western or central Beringia after a protracted human population standstill. Our data indicate substantial climate-induced environmental changes on the BLB since the LGM, which would potentially have had significant influences on megafaunal and human biogeography in the region. National Science Foundation, Directorate for Geosciences, Office of Polar Programs [PLR-1203772, PLR-1203990, PLR-1204233] This item from the UA Faculty Publications collection is made available by the University of Arizona with support from the University of Arizona Libraries. If you have questions, please contact us at [e-mail].