Late Holocene Paleoenvironmental History of the Upper West Amarillo Creek Valley at Archaeological Site 41PT185/C, Texas, USA

Resumen

In combination,
microinvertebrates, calcareous algae (Charophyta), and the stable
isotopes from ostracodes and gyrogonites (the calcareous remains of
charophytes) are a powerful tool for reconstructing paleoclimates.
This study compares the paleoenvironmental signatures of land and
aquatic mollusks, ostracodes, and charophytes with stable-isotope
(δ18O and δ13C) values for Cypridopsis sp. (an ostracode) and the
gyrogonites of Chara globularis and Nitella flexilis. Each
individual signature contributes its own evidence of environmental
change between 1890 ± 40 years B.P. and post–750 ± 40 years B.P. at
archaeological site 41PT185/C in northern Texas, United States of
America. The interpretation of the combined data permits a detailed
reconstruction of paleoclimatic variability at the transition from
the Medieval Climatic Anomaly to the Little Ice Age, allowing
inferences about the impact of such environmental change on human
populations in this part of the U.S. Southwest