Prehistory of the Aishihik-Kluane Area, Southwest Yukon Territory

Workman, William B.

doi:10.2307/j.ctv16s1t

Cited by 43 publications

(15 citation statements)

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“…Zone 5 covers an interval from about 2000 yr BP to the present, characterized by a return of Picea dominance in the area. The authors have concluded that pollen records of this sequence do not support the belief that the southwest Yukon supported an extensive grassland vegetation during much of the Holocene (Johnson and Raup, 1964;Workman, 1978), and therefore argued for a re-evaluation of the hypothesis that early prehistoric hunters and gatherers in the area were adapted to grasslands.…”

Section: Diagramme Simplifié Des Pourcentages Polliniques D'antifreezmentioning

confidence: 89%

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Late Quaternary Pollen Records and Vegetation History of the Southwest Yukon Territory: A Review

Wang¹,

Geurts²

2007

gpq

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ABSTRACTThis paper is a summary of all known late Quaternary palynostratigraphic records from the southwest Yukon Territory. Thirty two pollen sites available by the end of 1988 are reviewed. Most pollen records in the region are of Holocene age. During the late-glacial to early Holocene, the southwest Yukon supported a herb-dominated tundra vegetation which was replaced by a birch-dominated shrub-tundra at about 10,000 yr BP. Spruce invaded the area between 9000 and 8600 yr BP at different localities, and a southward time transgression is visible in the Aishihik Basin. The current regional vegetation has been stable since 7600-8000 yr BP when dense spruce forest and/or spruce forest-tundra was established in most localities. In the Snag area, however, dense spruce forest developed only around 5700 yr BP, which is about 2000 years later than in the Aishihik Basin. The exotic pine pollen records in the region exhibit an interesting pattern, suggesting a frequent shift of the atmospheric circulation system. Anomalous records of alder pollen from the Aishihik Basin and adjacent regions suggest that alder has never been widespread in these areas due to aridity, and alder pollen is greatly overrepresented in pollen spectra. Spruce arrival dates suggest that further investigations in the Tintina Valley, Yukon River Valley, and Car-macks region might provide useful information concerning the spruce migration routes.

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Section: Diagramme Simplifié Des Pourcentages Polliniques D'antifreezmentioning

confidence: 89%

“…Average annual temperature ( (Wahl and Goos, 1987). Under these physiographic conditions, the southwest Yukon exhibits a severe continental climate, despite its proximity to the Pacific Ocean (Workman, 1978).…”

Section: Carte De Localisation Du Sud-ouest Du Yukonmentioning

confidence: 99%

Late Quaternary Pollen Records and Vegetation History of the Southwest Yukon Territory: A Review

Wang¹,

Geurts²

2007

gpq

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“…For example, evidence exists that native people in adjacent Canada intentionally set fires to enhance moose browse (Workman 1978). However, the close connections among fire, climatic, aquatic, and vegetation changes imply that pre-European human activities at most amplified climatic impact on fire regimes.…”

Section: Responses Of Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecosystems To Little Icmentioning

confidence: 99%

A 700-Year Paleoecological Record of Boreal Ecosystem Responses to Climatic Variation From Alaska

Tinner

Bigler

Gedye

et al. 2008

Ecology

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Abstract. Recent observations and model simulations have highlighted the sensitivity of the forest-tundra ecotone to climatic forcing. In contrast, paleoecological studies have not provided evidence of tree-line fluctuations in response to Holocene climatic changes in Alaska, suggesting that the forest-tundra boundary in certain areas may be relatively stable at multicentennial to millennial time scales. We conducted a multiproxy study of sediment cores from an Alaskan lake near the altitudinal limits of key boreal-forest species. Paleoecological data were compared with independent climatic reconstructions to assess ecosystem responses of the forest-tundra boundary to Little Ice Age (LIA) climatic fluctuations. Pollen, diatom, charcoal, macrofossil, and magnetic analyses provide the first continuous record of vegetation-fire-climate interactions at decadal to centennial time scales during the past 700 years from southern Alaska. Boreal-forest diebacks characterized by declines of Picea mariana, P. glauca, and tree Betula occurred during the LIA (AD 1500-1800), whereas shrubs (Alnus viridis, Betula glandulosa/nana) and herbaceous taxa (Epilobium, Aconitum) expanded. Marked increases in charcoal abundance and changes in magnetic properties suggest increases in fire importance and soil erosion during the same period. In addition, the conspicuous reduction or disappearance of certain aquatic (e.g., Isoetes, Nuphar, Pediastrum) and wetland (Sphagnum) plants and major shifts in diatom assemblages suggest pronounced lake-level fluctuations and rapid ecosystem reorganization in response to LIA climatic deterioration. Our results imply that temperature shifts of 1-28C, when accompanied by major changes in moisture balance, can greatly alter high-altitudinal terrestrial, wetland, and aquatic ecosystems, including conversion between boreal-forest tree line and tundra. The climatic and ecosystem variations in our study area appear to be coherent with changes in solar irradiance, suggesting that changes in solar activity contributed to the environmental instability of the past 700 years.

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“…Although dates from two charcoal and one bone sample suggest a late prehistoric component at the Matcharak Peninsula site, the majority of dates from 16 bone specimens span from 6190 ± 35 to 3800 ± 30 14 C BP. These earlier dates, along with the presence of side-notched point bases and microblade technology, are characteristic of the Northern Archaic tradition (Anderson, 1988;Clark, 1992;Esdale, 2008;Workman, 1978).…”

Section: Previous Archaeological Research In the Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

Using satellite image analysis for locating prehistoric archaeological sites in Alaska's Central Brooks Range

Keeney

Hickey

2015

Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports

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In this pilot study, we apply satellite image analysis to archaeological site prospection in Alaska's Brooks Range.Our goal was to test whether satellite remote sensing, which has been successful in locating large archaeological features associated with sedentary peoples, could be applied to arctic interior sites associated with mobile hunter-gatherers. In particular, we strove to develop a relatively straightforward and inexpensive model using existing data which could be used to help guide archaeology surveys. Using 1-m resolution IKONOS imagery of Lake Matcharak along the upper Noatak River, we produced a Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and tasseled cap transformation of the study area and stacked these five vegetation indices into one image. We then applied unsupervised and supervised classifications to the image first, to test for the presence of a site-specific spectral class and second, determine the nature of that class. Through a visual analysis of the unsupervised classification, a spectral phenomenon was seen to co-occur with archaeological sites in the study area. The supervised classification provided a high-resolution land cover map used to identify the signature as the ecotone between un-vegetated sediments and dense willow (Salix sp.) stands. Dense willow stands along the Lake Matcharak shore visually correlate with most of the known archaeological sites, possibly reflecting landform and/or vegetation characteristics that would have appealed to past inhabitants. The methods described here could contribute to building better survey strategies and archaeological predictive models for elsewhere in the Brooks Range and Alaska.Published by Elsevier Ltd.

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Prehistory of the Aishihik-Kluane Area, Southwest Yukon Territory

Cited by 43 publications

References 0 publications

Late Quaternary Pollen Records and Vegetation History of the Southwest Yukon Territory: A Review

Late Quaternary Pollen Records and Vegetation History of the Southwest Yukon Territory: A Review

A 700-Year Paleoecological Record of Boreal Ecosystem Responses to Climatic Variation From Alaska

Using satellite image analysis for locating prehistoric archaeological sites in Alaska's Central Brooks Range

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