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The article focuses on the trans-Holocene subsistence-settlement change in Northern Nevada. Topics discussed include reviews the artifact assemblages, features, and subsistence remains; use of the same to chronicle the dynamic nature of the trans-Holocene economic systems operating along the Northern Tier, and important role of root crops in these system.

Camelids are among the largest wild and domestic faunas in South America and represent one of the most important taxa to pre-hispanic South America human populations. Stable isotope data from these animals play an important role in improving our understanding of human paleodiet, past human-animal interactions, Holocene environmental change, and modern camelid management. This paper presents δ 13 C and δ 15 N values taken from 91 camelid specimens distributed across western Argentina between 30° and 37° S. These samples come from three desert environments (Andean, Patagonia, and Monte) and include both modern and prehistoric samples. Camelid δ 13 C values range between −20.3‰ and −10.7‰, while δ 15 N values vary between 2‰ and 10.2‰. Mean isotope values differ by environmental context, with significant difference in δ 13 C and δ 15 N between Patagonian and Monte or Andean deserts. Camelid isotope values also vary with latitude, altitude and longitude, though differences in δ 15 N are weak, and these geographic differences are tied to climatic variables such as annual mean temperature, annual precipitation, and season of precipitation. When comparing camelid δ 13 C values from Central-western Argentina with those from Northwest Argentina and Patagonia, we see a latitudinal trend of decreasing δ 13 C values, with the most negative values occurring in southern Patagonia and the most positive values in Northwest Argentina. Variation in camelid stable isotope values and their association with particular environmental contexts shows their value as a geographic marker and possibly as a paleoecological proxy. These results highlight the need to consider the geographic origin of camelid isotope values when using them to reconstruct human diet. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the last several years, information from stable isotopes has been used to discuss the role of maize agriculture in prehistoric economies of southern Mendoza. Because maize is one of several sources of 13C enriched carbon, a full evaluation of prehistoric diets requires data on a range of potential C4 and C4 plant resources. In this paper, we present stable isotope data (N = 89) for a suite of five previously unstudied edible cacti possessing a Crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM) photosynthetic pathway. Our results show that these plants have δ13C values overlapping C4 photosynthesizers such as maize. In order to understand their potential economic importance, we present additional procurement, processing, and nutritional data from actualistic experiments and the published literature. Using these data, we show why low levels of CAM plant consumption should be expected and how doing so may mimic a pattern of isotopically mixed diets often attributed to maize use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Questions of mobility, settlement pattern, and their relation to economic organization and resource use are central to ongoing work in central-western Argentina. Here we analyze geographic patterns in the distribution of 178 human bone carbonate δ 18O samples, 46 human tooth enamel carbonate δ 18O samples, and 48 water δ 18O samples from throughout the Andean Cordillera and Monte Desert and evaluate their implications for prehistoric mobility and economy. We confirm and refine previous generalizations regarding a highland/lowland dichotomy in water δ 18O values and show that the range of human carbonate δ 18O values generally reflect available water sources. While there is little within-lifetime change in patterns of water use, we show that most individuals have stable isotope signatures consistent with water use from multiple areas or areas other than where they were ultimately interred. These data indicate high levels of residential mobility, and we conclude by discussing their implications for our understanding of regional prehistory. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Archaeology has always faced the problem of making informed inferences based on an incomplete record. Zooarchaeological studies of prehistoric hunting and diet offer a clear case in point, where a range of behavioral and taphonomic factors can produce a substantial disconnect between what people actually captured and ate and what archaeologists recover and interpret. We explore this disconnect by presenting stable C and N data for wild faunas, archaeological maize, and three human burials from Fremont-period sites in southeastern Utah, the United States. We use these data to estimate faunal contributions to prehistoric diets and compare the results with previous zooarchaeological analyses of faunas from the same sites. Results for the two approaches differ sharply, with isotopic estimates showing much higher contributions of small and lowland game. We discuss these results in terms of both local prehistory and wider issues of taphonomy and dietary analysis. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

In their recent paper "In Pursuit of Mobile Prey", Bird, Bliege-Bird, and Codding (2009) identify a negative relationship between body size and post-encounter returns among Martu prey in western Australia, attributing the phenomena to the greater mobility of large animals and associated risk of hunting failure. While this phenomenon has implications for archaeological applications of foraging models that assume body size and on-encounter returns are positively correlated, the Martu data may be less exceptional than they appear. Here we outline the reasons for our skepticism, point out areas in which we are in agreement, and build upon their findings by exploring the trade-offs between foraging to maximize efficiency and immediate returns and foraging for purposes other than immediate provisioning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Longstanding observations about the relationship between increasing aridity and 15N enrichment in mammalian collagen values have led to an interest in their use as a paleoclimatic marker. Here we report on variability in collagen nitrogen values from five modern and two archaeological samples of black-tailed jackrabbits (Lepus californicus) from the eastern Great Basin of the United States (N=178 individuals). Nitrogen δ 15N values were highly variable within all samples. Modern samples showed significant differences despite similarities in average annual precipitation and temperature. Archaeological samples were indistinguishable from each other or from modern samples taken from the same area despite independent evidence for differences in precipitation for the two prehistoric periods considered. Differences between modern samples were most strongly associated with soil characteristics. We discuss these results in light of their relationship with topography and vegetation and highlight their implications for archaeological applications of stable nitrogen analyses in several contexts. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: We examine the temporal and geographic distribution of a worldwide sample of human and woolly mammoth radiocarbon ages (40–11,500 radiocarbon years BP) in order to examine how fluctuations in the two taxa may be related. These include human data from Europe, Siberia, and Australia and proboscidean radiocarbon ages from Europe, Siberia, and North America. We show that the geographic ranges of dated human occupations and mammoth remains do overlap across the terminal Pleistocene of the Old World, but concentrate in different areas. While frequencies of human dates in different regions covary with each other, mammoths do not. Increases in archaeological dates also fail to coincide with declines in mammoths. Rather, fluctuations in the two taxa remain largely uncorrelated during the run-up to the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM; ca. 18,000 radiocarbon years BP) after which both groups increase sharply until 13–12,000 BP. The decline and eventual extinction of the mammoths only occurs after this period, consistent with the premise that human impacts on now-extinct proboscidean populations occurred within the context of the sharp climatic shifts and widespread environmental reorganization of the Pleistocene–Holocene transition. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The causes of large animal extinctions at the end of the Pleistocene remain a hotly debated topic focused primarily on the effects of human over hunting and climate change. Here we examine multiple, large radiocarbon data sets for humans and extinct proboscideans and explore how variation in their temporal and geographic distributions were related prior to proboscidean extinction. These data include 4532 archaeological determinations from Europe and Siberia and 1177 mammoth and mastodont determinations from Europe, Siberia, and North America. All span the period from 45,000 to 12,000 calendar years BP. We show that while the geographic ranges of dated human occupations and proboscidean remains overlap across the terminal Pleistocene of the Old World, the two groups remain largely segregated and increases in the frequency of human occupations do not coincide with declines in proboscidean remains. Prior to the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM; ca 21,000 years BP), archaeological 14C determinations increase slightly in frequency worldwide while the frequency of dated proboscidean remains varies depending on taxon and location. After the LGM, both sympatric and allopatric groups of humans and proboscideans increase sharply as climatic conditions ameliorate. Post-LGM radiocarbon frequencies among proboscideans peak at different times, also depending upon taxon and location. Woolly mammoths in Beringia reach a maximum and then decline beginning between 16,000 and 15,500 years BP, woolly mammoths in Europe and Siberia ca 14,500 and 13,500 BP, and Columbian mammoth and American mastodont only after 13,000 BP. Declines among woolly mammoths appear to coincide with the restructuring of biotic communities following the Pleistocene–Holocene transition. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Several recent studies employ foraging theory to model early Paleoindians as big game specialists who focused on hunting large bodied, high-return animals such as mammoths. In this paper, we evaluate the specialist model by identifying the range of handling times and encounter rates within which mammoth (Mammuthus columbi) specialization would occur. We continue by using allometric relationships between body size and population density in mammals to estimate encounter rates for mammoth and other North American species. Combining these two pieces of information allows for the construction of an optimal diet curve representative of late Pleistocene prey choice, given the inclusion of mammoth. Our results seriously question the model of early Paleoindians as megafaunal specialists and suggest that foragers should have pursued a wide array of taxa including not only mammoth, but the full range of ungulates and some smaller game as well. These results accord well with empirical data on prey choice from late Pleistocene archaeological contexts from across North America. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Zooarchaeologists regularly assume a positive relationship between body size and energetic return rates among animal taxa. Some researchers question the validity of this assumption, suggesting that small animals collected in mass can provide high returns and pose interpretive problems for methods relying on a clear correlation. A review of empirical data shows that while large fish and invertebrates can provide high returns, those for most small animals remain very low. Differences appear to result from disparities in the relative energetic value of various taxa, costs associated with mass collection, and the efficiency with which resources are handled once acquired. Mass collection is unlikely to pose an interpretive problem under most circumstances, and the low returns for mass collecting many small animals have interesting implications for interpreting changes in their relative frequencies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human beings are unique in the degree to which they rely on technology to interface with their environment. Applications of biologically derived foraging models have typically taken this technology as a given when analyzing ethnographic and prehistoric subsistence practices. This paper departs from the standard approach by treating investment in technology as a decision variable and looking at how investment decisions might be expected to vary with changes in both the time available to forage and the nature of the local resource base. The study draws attention to the importance of understanding both the costs and the benefits of technological investment and how they relate to one another. We use ethnographic and hypothetical data to demonstrate how one might represent these relationships mathematically, discuss the importance for understanding investment decisions, and explore their implications in circumstances where resources are randomly and non-randomly encountered. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Models in evolutionary ecology have been applied to non-human decision making for decades. Archaeologists have been especially attracted to foraging models, because the evidence of past subsistence activities is a common component of the archaeological record world-wide. No foraging model, though, accounts for the effects of subsistence technology. The 'Tech Investment Model' we describe here does just this. Assuming that most technologies serve to reduce handling time, a critical component of a resource's profitability, the model generates predictions about how much time an individual should invest in any particular technology. Although preliminary, data from an initial test case in the Great Basin conform to the general expectations of the model. Most importantly, the exercise forces attention to the relationships between tools and the resources handled with them, and has implications for subsistence transitions world-wide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work reviews paleodietary reconstructions of hunter‐gatherers from the northeast province of Chubut, Argentina. The isotopic record of human bone can complement information from zooarchaeological and technological studies with its particular resolution on the long‐term diet of individuals. Previous δ13C and δ15N studies found dietary differences between the coastal area and the lower basin of the Chubut River, both in the proportion of marine resources in the diet and the trophic positions of prey. However, it is challenging to test hypotheses concerning human diets in northeastern Patagonia, where C3 and CAM plants grow and terrestrial, riverine, and marine prey are available. Here, we focus on the local isotopic ecology to assess the scopes and limitations of δ13C and δ15N stable isotopes analyses. We provide new data on native faunas spanning different trophic levels of terrestrial, riverine, and marine environments. After establishing the basic patterns in the local isotope record, we reanalyze the available δ13Ccol, δ15N, and δ13Capa measurements from 23 individuals studied 15 years ago. That analysis reveals a relatively continuous distribution of several overlapping resources on the coast of northeastern Patagonia. Bayesian mixing models identified a combination of terrestrial and riverine resources aggregated as the main component of long‐term diets. However, it generated diffuse estimations. The Bayesian ellipses, describing isotopic niches, emphasized more the spatial variations in diet between coastal and valley groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Comments on Natalie Munro's paper on Levantine Natufian subsistence and the subsequent shift to agriculture. Use of Levantine faunal record to examine the role of climate change, population pressure, and environmental stress in structuring Natufian subsistence; Evolutionary ecology; Munro's middle-range measures of foraging efficiency; Less clear relationship between tortoise abundance and return rates.

This work improves our knowledge about the relationship between diet and environment among Northern Patagonian caviomorph rodents. In order to characterize long-term individual diets, we present δ 13 C and δ 15 N data from osteological remains of the caviomorph rodents Dolichotis patagonum , Myocastor coypus , Lagostomus maximus , Lagidium viscacia , Microcavia australis , Galea leucoblephara and Ctenomys sp., recovered from archaeological and recent contexts. These data are analyzed by temporal and geographic context and compared with the previous dietary studies based on macrorremains and microhistological analysis. Significative differences were found between rodents from Monte and Patagonian phytogeographic provinces, as well as between archaeological and modern members of the genus Ctenomys , indicating diet changes between Late Holocene and recent times individuals, that could confirm the climatic variations and/or the recent overgrazing effect. The results indicate trends in rodent diets of 20th and 21st centuries were different to those of the Late Holocene, suggesting a decrease in precipitation and/or an increase of the summer pattern of the same, and/or an increase of mean annual temperature. In addition, this work confirms the generalist strategy of several taxa, although mainly in Ctenomys , which its diet co-varies with these environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores variation in maize consumption among human societies in arid environments of central-western Argentina over the last 2500 years. Increasingly positive human d 13 C signatures suggest a high intake of C 4 resources (maize) until ca . A.D. 1400. After this time, the importance of maize in the diet drops and never reaches pre-Hispanic consumption rates, despite the known importance of maize to Inka and other late-prehistoric societies in the region. This decline appears to be related to colder temperatures during the Little Ice Age from the beginning of the 15th to the mid19th centuries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT Stable oxygen isotopes (δ18O) from human bone apatite from central western Argentina (30º-37ºS latitude) were analysed to understand changes in human residential mobility during the Late Holocene. This region contains evidence for the use of domesticated plants over the last 2000 years ( Zea mays, Cucurbita sp. and Phaseolus sp., among others), and previous models of prehistoric occupation have suggested a distinct change in mobility and population movement associated with their incorporation. The importance of these domesticates also seems to have varied geographically, being greater in the northern part of the region and declining as one moves south toward the limit with Patagonia. Expectations about patterns of residential mobility have varied accordingly. To better evaluate these models, we analysed carbonate δ18O from the bone apatite of 71 individuals with radiocarbon dates spanning the last 6000 years. Given the existing evidence, we expected to see temporal and geographic differences in their oxygen isotope values associated with changes in residential mobility and the incorporation of different sources of drinking water available within the region. These expectations were not met. Significant variations were seen across all samples compared, both temporal and geographic, with no discernible differences among them. The data suggest that populations throughout the area were all highly mobile, and that this did not change with the incorporation of domesticates. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The goal of this paper is to describe an archaeological burial site with commingled skeletal remains, named Cañada Seca-1 (MNI= 24), located in the Atuel River valley and dating from ca. 1500 years BP. This is performed by integrating well-known and recently developed lines of inquiry. Based on this record, we discuss interpretations related to cultigen presence and its implications in human subsistence and mobility, in an area traditionally characterized as the pre-Hispanic agricultural limit, ca. 2200 years BP. Results show that the individuals did not developed a farming strategy, although maize seems to have been part of their diet. In turn, the new information about mortuary behavior in the Atuel River valley provides new insights regarding mobility, as well as the use of utilitarian (lithics) and nonutilitarian (lithic and malacological ornaments) technology that went beyond these peoples' life into their death. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The guanaco (Lama guanicoe) was a key staple hunted by foragers throughout the Holocene in southern South America. Stable isotope analyses provide insights about guanaco long-term ecology. Particularly, the characterization of prey habitat and feeding behavior in the past is of the utmost interest for zooarchaeological models. Therefore, we evaluate δ13C and δ15N variation in guanacos inhabiting different C3 plant communities in Tierra del Fuego (Argentina). δ13C and δ15N values derived from bone collagen samples (n = 60), both archeological and modern, serve as geographical markers of forest-steppe environments during the late Holocene. Increased isotopic variation in the middle Holocene could be related either to variations in the terrestrial baseline or to changing dietary behavior of guanacos in a fluctuating environment. Measures of isotopic variability did not clearly correlate to hunting strategies, since areas with similar patterns in the exploitation of guanacos show differences in their isotopic niche size and distribution. Among the samples from the southern coast, there is a strong negative correlation between δ13C and δ15N. This is a trend not observed in herbivores from the forests of continental Patagonia, suggesting that different factors structure natural isotopic variation in guanacos from the Fuegian forest. δ13C and δ15N variation on bone assemblages probably reflect that guanacos fed in confined home-ranges, as it is observed in modern populations, and that hunting activities were developed at patches relatively close to the sites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we assess the impact of the introduction of cultigens on human organization and the resultant degree of dependence on food production and domesticated plants in central western Argentina. The study compares three sites with human skeletal remains (Jaime Prats-1, Rincón del Atuel-1, Cañada Seca-1) separated by a maximum distance of 40 km and located in the southernmost region of Andean prehispanic agriculture. The sites have regional temporal occupation continuity dating back to 1900 (300 years after introduction of domesticated plants) to 1400 years BP. Data from stable isotopes (13C, 15N, 18O), and cranial, mandibular, and dental morphometry are compared, along with archaeological information. Jaime Prats-1 and Cañada Seca-1 exhibit isotopic and morphologic similarities, despite not being chronologically contemporaneous. At the same time, these two sites have differences with Rincón del Atuel-1, temporally placed among them. Our results point to a greater importance of maize (although its dietary contribution is less than 30%) and lower residential mobility in Rincón del Atuel-1. Human systems that occupied the agricultural frontier during the first 500 years since the introduction of domesticated plants show high variability in their organizations, with agriculture playing a minor role in sustenance. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Considerable prior research has focused on the interconnected pluvial basins of Owens Lake and Searles Lake, resulting in a long record of paleohydrological change in the lower Owens River system. However, the published record is poorly resolved or contradictory for the period encompassing the terminal Pleistocene (22,000 to 11,600 cal BP) and early Holocene (11,600–8200 cal BP). This has resulted in conflicting interpretations about the timing of lacustrine high stands within the intermediate basin of China Lake, which harbors one of the most extensive records of early human occupation in the western Great Basin and California. Here, we report a broad range of radiocarbon-dated paleoenvironmental evidence, including lacustrine deposits and shoreline features, tufa outcrops, and mollusk, ostracode, and fish bone assemblages, as well as spring and other groundwater-related deposits (a.k.a. “black mats”) from throughout China Lake basin, its outlet, and inflow drainages. Based on 98 radiocarbon dates, we develop independent evidence for five significant lake-level oscillations between 18,000 and 13,000 cal BP, and document the persistence of groundwater-fed wetlands from the beginning of the Younger Dryas through the early Holocene (12,900–8200 cal BP); including the transition from ground-water fed lake to freshwater marsh between about 13,000 and 12,600 cal BP. Results of this study support and refine existing evidence that shows rapid, high-amplitude oscillations in the water balance of the Owens River system during the terminal Pleistocene, and suggest widespread human use of China Lake basin began during the Younger Dryas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim During the Late Pleistocene ( c. 126-10 ka), modern humans ( Homo sapiens) expanded their geographical range across Eurasia and eventually colonized the Americas. Although the routes by which they migrated have been intensively analysed, the dynamics of their realized climatic niche are still largely unknown. We assess temporal changes in the climatic niche of modern humans, the geographical distribution of their climatic niche and whether niche dynamics correlate with the magnitude of climate change and cultural advances, between 46 and 11 ka. Location Palaearctic. Methods Using the radiocarbon dated archaeological record and spatial palaeoclimatic simulations, we quantify different parameters of the realized climatic niche of modern humans (niche overlap, niche breadth and climatic marginality) between consecutive 1000-2000 year intervals. Moreover, using climate envelope models, we map the potential distributions of modern humans for each time interval and identify the regions that remained more climatically suitable and stable for modern humans through time. Results Between 46 and 22 ka the climatic niche of modern humans expanded, including periods of intense growth in niche breadth at 40 and 30 ka. Changes in seasonal water availability and technological innovations partly correlate with dynamics in niche parameters. We document a persistent climatically suitable mid-latitude belt in south Siberia linking western Europe to the Far East that may have facilitated human migration, and a potential climatic refugium in Beringia. Main conclusions The climatic niche of modern humans changed across the Late Pleistocene, as the result of both climatic and cultural changes. These populations of hunter-gatherers occupied novel climatic conditions but also remained in previously occupied areas under changing climates during the settlement of the Palaearctic. Our approach can provide clues as to where early modern humans may have overlapped in geographical and environmental space with Neanderthals or Denisovans, as evidenced by their contribution to the genetic heritage of some current populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite decades of research, the roles of climate and humans in driving the dramatic extinctions of large-bodied mammals during the Late Quaternary period remain contentious. Here we use ancient DNA, species distribution models and the human fossil record to elucidate how climate and humans shaped the demographic history of woolly rhinoceros, woolly mammoth, wild horse, reindeer, bison and musk ox. We show that climate has been a major driver of population change over the past 50,000 years. However, each species responds differently to the effects of climatic shifts, habitat redistribution and human encroachment. Although climate change alone can explain the extinction of some species, such as Eurasian musk ox and woolly rhinoceros, a combination of climatic and anthropogenic effects appears to be responsible for the extinction of others, including Eurasian steppe bison and wild horse. We find no genetic signature or any distinctive range dynamics distinguishing extinct from surviving species, emphasizing the challenges associated with predicting future responses of extant mammals to climate and human-mediated habitat change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]