Rapid climate change-induced collapse of hunter-gatherer societies in the lower Mississippi River valley between ca. 3300 and 2780 cal yr BP

Kidder, Tristram R.; Henry, Edward R.; Arco, Lee J.

doi:10.1007/s11430-017-9128-8

Cited by 11 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…The linkage between prehistoric human evolution and environmental change has been intensively studied in recent decades (Chen et al, 2015a; Kawahata et al, 2009; Kidder et al, 2018; Trauth et al, 2010; Weiss et al, 1993; Wiener, 2014; Young, 2016). This can provide insights to help detect the trajectory and pattern for human–environment interactions at centennial and millennial scales, and is valuable for understanding long-term patterns behind human–land evolution.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evolution of human–environmental interactions in China from the Late Paleolithic to the Bronze Age

Guo

et al. 2019

Progress in Physical Geography: Earth and Environment

100

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Exploring prehistoric variation in human–environmental interaction is critical for understanding the historical patterns and mechanisms of long-term human–land evolution. In this paper we review the published radiocarbon and optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) data from Late Paleolithic, Neolithic and Bronze Age sites in China, analyze the spatial–temporal distribution of these sites, and compare it with the results of recent paleoclimatic and archaeological studies. We seek to study the trajectory and influencing factors of human–environmental interactions in late prehistoric China. We detect changing patterns in the relationship between humans and the environment during different phases of the prehistoric era in China. Climate change clearly affected the environment of hunter-gatherer groups between 50,000–10,000 BP (before present, defined as 1950AD), and variation in human population in Neolithic China (∼10,000–4000 BP) was likely influenced primarily by the development of agriculture, in addition to substantial climate events. The spatial scale of human settlements expanded in the Bronze Age (∼4000–2200 BP) in a period of cooling climate. During this time the impact of human activities on the environment increased significantly, primarily caused by technological innovations related to the onset of prehistoric transcontinental cultural exchange in Eurasia.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evolution of human–environmental interactions in China from the Late Paleolithic to the Bronze Age

Guo

et al. 2019

Progress in Physical Geography: Earth and Environment

100

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“…The higher flow inundated the backwater channel that is now Wasp Lake, breaching the levee just north of Mound A and flooding much of the site. The Late Archaic landscape—including Mounds A and X—was buried under alluvium (Kidder et al 2018). This period represents a large-scale reordering of life throughout the Mississippi Valley (Kidder 2006).…”

Section: Late Archaic Jaketownmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Third, the community at Jaketown constructed extensive earthworks and post structures around 3445–3270 cal BP (95.4% confidence interval), before the apex of construction at Poverty Point. Fourth, catastrophic flooding caused by shifts in the course of the Mississippi River sometime between approximately 3300 cal BP and roughly 2780 cal BP buried most of the built landscape under alluvium (Kidder 2006; Kidder et al 2018:Table 1) and ended Late Archaic use of the site. These site-level findings depict the history of Late Archaic Jaketown as an amalgamation of continued practice and novel events occurring over a long period of time.…”

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confidence: 99%

The View from Jaketown: Considering Variation in the Poverty Point Culture of the Lower Mississippi Valley

et al. 2022

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Recent research at Jaketown, a Late Archaic earthwork site in the Lower Mississippi Valley, suggests that the culture-historical framework used to interpret Jaketown and contemporary sites in the region obscures differences in practices across sites. As an alternative, we propose a framework focused on variation in material culture, architecture, and foodways between Jaketown and Poverty Point, the regional type site. Our analysis indicates that people used Poverty Point Objects and imported lithics at Jaketown by 4525–4100 cal BP—earlier than elsewhere in the region. By 3450–3350 cal BP, people intensively occupied Jaketown, harvesting a consistent suite of wild plants. Between 3445 and 3270 cal BP, prior to the apex of earthwork construction at Poverty Point, the community at Jaketown built at least two earthworks and multiple post structures before catastrophic flooding sometime after 3300 cal BP buried the Late Archaic landscape under alluvium. These new data lead us to conclude that the archaeological record of the Late Archaic Lower Mississippi Valley does not reflect a uniform regional culture. Rather, relationships between Jaketown and Poverty Point indicate a multipolar history in which communities selectively participated in larger social phenomena—such as exchange networks and architectural traditions—while maintaining diverse, localized practices.

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“…River avulsions, broadly defined as the abandonment of an active channel and the formation or occupation of a new channel, play a critical role in delta sediment dispersal and landscape evolution in fluvially dominated systems. Avulsions not only are the primary influence on the architecture of fluvial sedimentary basin fill (Allen, 1978; Heller & Paola, 1996; Leeder, 1978; Mackey & Bridge, 1995), but they are also unpredictable and potentially catastrophic to human infrastructure (Chakraborty et al., 2010; Kidder et al., 2017; Sinha, 2008). Recent evidence suggests that the frequency of river avulsions on large deltas may increase, and the location of the avulsion node may shift upstream as lowlands are drowned by relative sea‐level rise, introducing new geohazards to regions that have not experienced such hazards in human history (Chadwick et al., 2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Antecedent Topography and Sediment Dispersal: The Influence of Geologically Instantaneous Events on Basin Fill Patterns

et al. 2022

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Rapid climate change-induced collapse of hunter-gatherer societies in the lower Mississippi River valley between ca. 3300 and 2780 cal yr BP

Cited by 11 publications

References 21 publications

Evolution of human–environmental interactions in China from the Late Paleolithic to the Bronze Age

Evolution of human–environmental interactions in China from the Late Paleolithic to the Bronze Age

The View from Jaketown: Considering Variation in the Poverty Point Culture of the Lower Mississippi Valley

Antecedent Topography and Sediment Dispersal: The Influence of Geologically Instantaneous Events on Basin Fill Patterns

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