Basin-scale reconstruction of the geological context of human settlement: an example from the lower Mississippi Valley, USA

Foothills and intermountain basins: Does China's Fertile Arc have ‘Hilly Flanks’?

“…In the context of the Mississippi River Valley, Kidder et al (2008) explain that rapid Early to Middle Holocene sea level rise coupled with aggradation caused by sedimentation and avulsion would have made alluvial valleys unsuitable for permanent settlement. While floodplain resources were likely quite rich and diverse, they would have been unstable, with patchy spatial and temporal distribution across the landscape, preventing continuous occupation.…”

Paleoseismic Sand Blows in North Louisiana and South Arkansas

“…from the Permian red beds of Oklahoma (Kidder et al 2008). It is not clear how this difference may influence the liquefaction susceptibility.…”

Multiproxy evidence for rapid and enduring anthropogenic vegetation change during the Late Holocene from an abandoned channel of the Mississippi River, Wapanocca Bayou, Arkansas, USA

“…Interestingly, nonarboreal pollen does not rise under these conditions, as might be expected if the channel frequently dried out and became terrestrialized. Reconstructions based on tree‐ring records show frequent and intense regional megadroughts beginning at approximately 1,000 cal BP in the region (Cook et al, ), while sedimentological records of the Lower Mississippi Valley show increased flooding from 1,000 to 800 cal BP (Kidder et al, ). Unfortunately, the archaeological record for these periods is underrepresented, such that the intensity and extent of the Early to Middle Mississippian occupation at Wapanocca Bayou remains unclear; however, the sedimentological proxies for disturbances indicate the initiation of anthropogenic impacts to levee environments during a time of what would likely have been complex hydro‐climate dynamics.…”

“…The initiation of fine‐grained deposition at 2,500 cal BP correlates to the approximate end of a period of increased flooding in the Late Holocene meander belts in the Lower Mississippi Valley (Kidder, Adelsberger, Arco, & Schilling, ). Relatively uniform variability in proxy records, such as slightly elevated levels of Xlf magnetic susceptibility and fluctuating charcoal, organic carbon, and phosphorous measurements likely reflect the mixture of local and allochthonous sediment contributions and continued connectivity of Wapanocca Bayou and the mainstream of the Mississippi River (Guccione et al, ; Guccione, Burford, & Kendall, ).…”

“…Relatively uniform variability in proxy records, such as slightly elevated levels of Xlf magnetic susceptibility and fluctuating charcoal, organic carbon, and phosphorous measurements likely reflect the mixture of local and allochthonous sediment contributions and continued connectivity of Wapanocca Bayou and the mainstream of the Mississippi River (Guccione et al, 1988;Guccione, Burford, & Kendall, 1999 along the margins of the oxbow as populations increased. Pedogenic F I G U R E 8 Age-depth model and multiproxy datasets from Wapanocca Bayou synthesized with regional cultural history (Morse & Morse, 1996) and periods of paleodroughts since 1,000 cal BP Stahle et al, 2007) Reconstructions based on tree-ring records show frequent and intense regional megadroughts beginning at approximately 1,000 cal BP in the region (Cook et al, 2010), while sedimentological records of the Lower Mississippi Valley show increased flooding from 1,000 to 800 cal BP (Kidder et al, 2008). Unfortunately, the archaeological record for these periods is underrepresented, such that the intensity approximately 500-400 cal BP, when pre-and proto-historic settlement was likely at its peak (Delcourt et al, 1999;Scharf, 2010 Cook et al (2007) and Stahle et al (2007) from tree-ring records across the greater Central Mississippi Region register repeated intervals of widespread droughts (Figure 8)…”