Square Holes

Some of my readers may not be aware that Nevada (actually the entire Great Basin) used to be quite a bit hotter and drier than it is now. Donald Grayson writes in Great Basin Natural History* that the Ruby Marshes, which currently make up the heart of the Ruby Lake National Wildlife Refuge near Elko, Nevada,  was dry or nearly dry between about 6,800 and 4,500 years ago. Owens Lake dried up as well, while at Lake Tahoe trees were growing on land that is now 13 feet below the level at which the lake flows into the Truckee River. Summer temperatures at Pyramid Lake were around 9° F warmer than they are at present.

This is not an odd or controversial claim. The climate over much of the planet during the Middle Holocene period, sometimes called the Altithermal, was significantly warmer than today. Many places, including the Great Basin, were also quite a bit drier. So dry, in fact, that large portions of the Great Basin appear to have been completely abandoned by the people who had lived there during earlier periods.

Other instances of climate change have also impacted human societies in various ways. To pick just one example, the Medieval Climate Optimum had a profound impact throughout much of the western part of North America. Both the Puebloan peoples in the Southwest and the Chumash along the coast of California seem to have undergone significant social change during this time, although exactly how much of that was a direct response to climate stress will likely remain a subject of vigorous archaeological debate for some time to come. Thousands of miles to the southeast, along the west coast of South America, Michael Moseley, in The Incas and Their Ancestors: The Archaeology of Peru, interprets much of the cultural development in this part of the world as a series of responses to climactic stress. Many more examples could be given, but I think this is enough to make the point.

Understanding relationships between human societies and their surrounding natural environments has been a major focus in archaeology at least since the advent of processualism in ca. 1958. It therefore seems more than a little bit strange that archaeologists have not been major participants in current debates about climate change. Of course, I’m well aware that a few of the most shrill voices out there have already decided, usually for ideological reasons, what must be done. Those people have no real desire to hear from anybody except other true believers. But I think they are very much a minority (although a loud one). For the rest of the crowd, those who seriously want to understand what is going on and, just as importantly, make the best possible decisions about what, if anything, should be done, I think archaeology has the potential to offer some critical insights about adaptive strategies that have been used in the past.

I have a lot more to say about this, but it’s dinner time and I’m hungry, so it will have to wait until a future post.

* in The Great Basin, People and Places in Ancient Times.

At least in Spain over the past 400 years, according to this study. The investigators are looking at diet and other environmental factors as possible causes. Personally, I think it’s because they were intermarrying.

Archaeoastronomy is the study of the ways past cultures understood and used the sky. It includes things like equinox and solstice alignments, calendars, and inscriptions or art relating to the sky. I have long been aware of some of the ways that California Indian groups related to the sky, such as the construction of solstice markers by the Chumash. However I was not aware that solar alignments were also incorporated into the design of the California missions.

As an interesting aside, I was able to attend a presentation by Dr. Mendoza at the SAA conference, although it was not on this topic.

From a story about a new project using GPR (ground penetrating radar) and core sampling at Serpent Mound in Ohio. The author mentions that the activity will be visible from the viewing tower, but warns that, “it’s unlikely to be as exciting as watching a traditional archaeological dig.” Watching somebody dig a hole is exciting?

The SAA conference wrapped up today, with sessions only in the morning. I did get a chance to talk briefly to Dr. Steven James, one of my professors at CSU Fullerton. Among other things, he’s still investigating over-hunting by prehistoric populations on the Channel Islands.

After that came the long drive home. This conference has been exhausting, but well worth it.

Also, Catherine has posted her take on the space heritage preservation symposium. Go read it.

Not long ago I blogged about some very important Paleo-Indian finds on Santa Rosa and San Miguel Islands. This morning I got to hear Todd Braje speak a little about that during a symposium on the archaeology of the Channel Islands. Yesterday Jon Erlandson discussed it during a session as well. They both speculated that there may be a connection between the barbed projectile points they’ve been uncovering and earlier Jomon points from Japan. That’s not as bizarre an idea as it might seem at first, given the very real possibility that the first people to reach the Americas came along the coast instead of through an ice-free corridor inland. Unfortunately, most of the route that coastal travelers would have taken is under water now, which makes it very hard to find any evidence they might have left behind.

On a different note, I may not be a grad student at the moment, but you’d sure think I was from the way I’ve been snapping up freebies in the vendor room.

It was a long day and I’m tired, so this will be short. Very exciting to be able to meet some people whom I’ve only read before. I especially enjoyed talking with W. Michael Gear. Also, I found it interesting throughout the day to see how many archaeologists mispronounce atlatl.

I’m here for my very first SAA conference. It looks like kind of a busy schedule, so I might not be posting very much for the next few days. Thankfully, Sacramento is close enough to Reno that we could drive. I probably wouldn’t have come if it meant having to submit to the TSA grope fest.