Provenance and microprobe assays of phyllite‐tempered ceramics from the uplands of central Arizona

The ceramics in use across a broad upland zone of central Arizona during the early Classic period (ca. A.D. 1100–1300) were characterized by a lack of mineralogical variability; nearly all of the clay containers were tempered with one rock type, phyllite. Consequently, nearly all of the upland pottery is assigned to a single pottery type, Wingfield Plain. This compositional uniformity has frustrated ceramic provenance studies, and, as a result, little has been learned previously about the organization of ceramic production and exchange in the upland territory. There are, however, considerable and interpretable chemical differences in the phyllite‐tempered wares, as shown with microanalyses of the temper fragments and pottery clay fractions with an electron microprobe. The chemical patterning is useful for investigating issues pertaining to the upland zone, including the organization of ceramic manufacture, community arrangements, and pottery transactions during a time of prevalent hostilities in central Arizona. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Petrographic and Geochemical Constraints on the Provenance of Sanidine‐Bearing Temper in Ceramic Potsherds,Four Corners Region,Southwest USA

Previous researchers proposed that trachybasalt temper with “poikilitic” sanidine, found in pottery from the Mesa Verde region of the American Southwest, was procured along the eastern Chuska Mountains. This served as one line of evidence that Chaco Canyon was a regional trade center linked to the Chuska Mountains in the ninth to thirteenth centuries. Recent geologic studies, however, revealed other potential sources for the trachybasalt temper. A comparison of petrographic features and geochemical signatures of poikilitic sanidine in rock samples and potsherds shows no definitive correlation of temper materials and a specific geologic source. Several outcrops of trachybasalt are identified as less viable prospects, but the results do not support the idea that the sanidine‐rich temper was exclusively gathered in the Chuska Mountains. This conclusion opens up the possibility that raw materials were gathered from local sources that were more accessible, reducing the dependence on a regional trade center.     

It all comes out in the wash: Actualistic petrofacies modeling of temper provenance,Tonto Basin,Arizona, USA

Prehistoric potters frequently tempered their pottery with sand, the provenance of which can be established petrographically. In the Tonto Basin of central Arizona, the bedrock geology is highly variable, giving rise to geographically unique sands. Zones of sands with similar compositions can be modeled at an archaeologically relevant scale. Here we use the actualistic petrofacies concept, the Gazzi–Dickinson point‐counting technique, and multivariate statistics to create a petrofacies model, then apply it to sand‐tempered utilitarian pottery recovered from three Tonto Basin project areas. Data analysis reveals strong temporal and spatial ceramic production and consumption patterns. Production of pottery for exchange was established in at least one petrofacies ca. A.D. 600–950, with increasing specialization through time. By ca. A.D. 1150, corrugated wares had been added, and specialized production by ware was established in two petrofacies. Provenance evidence suggests different regional affiliations for groups in different parts of the basin. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

The Topaz Basin archaeological obsidian source in the transition zone of central Arizona

The Classic Period Migration Project involves the analysis of archaeological sites at Perry Mesa in central Arizona and resulted in the discovery of several small marekanite1 obsidian artifacts that signaled a previously unlocated source. The source was eventually located in the Topaz Basin area of the upper Cienega Creek stream basin, southwest of Camp Verde, Arizona.² While this locality solves the “unknown” sources in the Perry Mesa archaeological assemblage, it has not appeared in the archaeological record of Arizona with any frequency. The glass itself is an excellent medium for tool production, so its near absence in the archaeological record is likely attributable to social/territorial causes as well as limited secondary deposition, and along with other “minor” sources points to the archaeological utility of understanding these smaller sources. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Effects of small‐scale prehistoric runoff agriculture on soil fertility: The developing picture from upland terraces in the American Southwest

Prehistoric stone alignments and their associated terraces are common in upland ecozones of the American Southwest. These features are generally considered the archaeological consequences of “runoff agriculture” dedicated to domesticated‐plant production. Furthermore, researchers have theorized that such production decreased soil fertility and ultimately promoted abandonment of the alignments, terraces, and surrounding landscapes. Recent investigations show that cultivated Mollisols indeed have less organic matter and less available P, and elevated pH, as well as several textural changes. In contrast, cultivated Aridisols have elevated CaCO₃, available Ca, and cation‐exchange capacity, as well as no textural changes. The developing picture, however, is that small‐scale runoff agriculture has had largely benign effects on soil fertility and that anthropogenic terraces likely were abandoned for reasons unrelated to their productivity. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Modern diatom assemblages from Chilean tidal marshes and their application for quantifying deformation during past great earthquakes

Tidal marsh sediments from south‐central Chile provide evidence for multiple great earthquakes. Diatom transfer functions, statistical models of the relationship between species preserved in the sediment and elevation, provide quantitative estimates of coseismic vertical land‐level change associated with individual earthquakes. However, in south‐central Chile, our ability to quantify land‐level change is currently limited by a lack of understanding of the environmental variables controlling the distribution of diatoms, an essential prerequisite for converting variations in fossil diatom assemblages into quantitative estimates of past elevation changes. We present a new modern diatom dataset for the region and explore the implications of the scale of the dataset used in transfer function models on the reconstructions of land‐level change. Modern training sets containing samples from a regional scale are superior to sub‐regional and local‐scale training sets, providing closer estimates for known deformation during the great 1960 Chilean earthquake, a higher proportion of good modern analogues and uncertainty terms up to 42% smaller than previously published reconstructions. Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Journal of Quaternary Science Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

     

Strontium isotopic evidence for prehistoric transport of gray‐ware ceramic materials in the eastern Grand Canyon region,USA

Through a novel application of strontium (Sr) isotopic analysis, we evaluate geological sources for prehistoric ceramics in the eastern Grand Canyon region of northern Arizona, focusing on two gray‐ware traditions in the Upper Basin of the Coconino Plateau. Building on a conceptual framework for the general potential of Sr isotopes in the analysis of geological materials, we suggest that the eastern Grand Canyon is specifically well suited archaeologically and geologically for: (1) exploring the utility of Sr isotopes for ceramic provenance research and (2) testing long‐standing hypotheses that gray‐ware ceramics were invariably made with local materials. Sr isotopic compositions indicate that the ceramic samples represent at least three different geological sources, and that different raw materials were used in the manufacture of the two gray‐ware traditions found in the Upper Basin. One of the gray‐ware traditions is not compositionally consistent with local geology, indicating that either the ceramics or the raw materials were transported at least 20 km to the Upper Basin. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Late Pleistocene paleohydrology near the boundary of the Sonoran and Chihuahuan Deserts,southeastern Arizona,USA

Ground-water discharge (GWD) deposits form in arid environments as water tables rise and approach or breach the ground surface during periods of enhanced effective precipitation. Where preserved, these deposits contain information on the timing and elevation of past ground-water fluctuations. Here we report on the investigation of a series of GWD deposits that are exposed in discontinuous outcrops along a ～150-km stretch of the San Pedro Valley in southeastern Arizona, near the boundary of the Sonoran and Chihuahuan Deserts. Chronologic, isotopic, geochemical, faunal assemblage (ostracodes and gastropods), and sedimentological evidence collectively suggest that the elevation of the regional water table in the valley rose in response to a change in climate ～50 ka ago and remained relatively high for the next ～35 ka before falling during the Bølling–Allerød warm period, rebounding briefly during the Younger Dryas cold event, and falling again at the onset of the Holocene. The timing of these hydrologic changes coincides closely with variations in δ¹⁸O values of calcite from a nearby speleothem to the west and changes in lake levels at pluvial Lake Cochise to the east. Thus, in southeastern Arizona, the assumption that changes in climate are reflected in all aspects of the hydrologic cycle of a region simultaneously is validated. The timing of these changes also broadly coincides with variations in the GISP2 δ¹⁸O record, which supports the hypothesis that atmospheric teleconnections existed between the North Atlantic and the deserts of the American Southwest during the late Pleistocene.     

Delamerian Glenelg tectonic zone,western Victoria: Geology and metamorphism of stratiform rocks

The Cambro‐Ordovician Glenelg tectonic zone of western Victoria is a distinctive metamorphic‐igneous segment of the Delamerian Orogenic Belt comprising two northwest‐striking regional metamorphic segments of andalusite‐sillimanite type prograding towards an axial granitic batholith. The second of five deformations (D₂) was most significant, producing isoclinal folds, transposition and a pervasive regional foliation (S₂). Southwest of the central batholith, biotite to migmatite zones contain mainly quartzo‐feldspathic rock (turbiditic metagreywacke, quartzo‐feldspathic schist and migmatite), plus less common metaquartzite and calc‐silicate rocks and minor metapelite. Metagabbro, metadolerite and amphibolite typically have the chemistry of mid‐ocean ridge basalts. Serpentinite pods and sheets were tectonically introduced to low‐grade areas. Northeast of the central batholith, quartzo‐feldspathic rock occupies the sillimanite and migmatite zones exclusively, with a regional concentration of pegmatites adjacent to the zone boundary. Gross interleaving of quartzo‐feldspathic schist, migmatite, pegmatite and muscovite‐bearing granitic rock is characteristic. Peak metamorphic conditions of 550 MPa at 640°C leading to migmatite formation were established by D₂ time and accompanied by tonalite‐granodiorite and pegmatite emplacement. Subsequently, the thermal high contracted to the northeast culminating in the more extensive syn‐, post‐D4 to pre‐D5 granitic magmatism.     

Hohokam Canal Irrigation and the Formation of Irragric Anthrosols in the Middle Gila River Valley,Arizona, USA

Irragric anthrosols form as a result of prolonged deposition of fine sediments from irrigation water. Ancient irragric soils centuries to millennia old occur in several world regions, especially in arid environments of Asia and the Americas. This article presents evidence for an ancient irragric anthrosol in the North American Southwest, along the Snaketown Canal System in the Middle Gila River Valley, Arizona. This pedostratigraphic unit was formed as a result of a millennium of irrigation by Hohokam farmers from A.D. 450 to 1450. The irragric soil consists of a mantle of silty‐to‐loamy textures with minimal soil formation overlying a natural argillic horizon on a Pleistocene stream terrace. A soil mapped independently by the United States Department of Agriculture‐Natural Resources Conservation Service with these horizons corresponds closely with the canal system. Soil within the canal system tends to be lower in salt, sodium, and pH compared with external soils. This suggests that the irragric process improved soil for crop production through long‐term leaching and additions of fresh sediments with the irrigation water. This anthropogenic process of canal sedimentation has had a long‐lasting impact on the sedimentary record and soils in this arid environment.     

The importance of local‐scale openness within regions dominated by closed woodland

New and existing pollen data from Wales, UK, are used to assess the level of landscape openness at the regional and local scale. At the regional scale, the existing pollen data support the high‐forest model of vegetation structure by 6000 cal. yr. BC prior to any palynological signal for anthropogenic impact in the region. New data from two sites in southwest Wales follow the general regional pattern of early to middle Holocene vegetation succession, but are striking owing to maintenance of high non‐arboreal pollen percentages (NAPs) throughout the mid‐Holocene. It is argued that these NAPs indicate that a significant degree of openness can be found at the local level (and beyond the confines of the peat‐forming site) within regions characterised by closed woodland. It is possible that woodland development in these areas may have been suppressed by reduced drainage, although the role of grazing animals in maintenance of clearings cannot be assessed. Implications for this local degree of openness are discussed, in particular the significance of vegetation heterogeneity at the local scale for the construction of place or locale for prehistoric communities. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The social impact of anthropogenic landscape modification in the Río Verde drainage basin,Oaxaca, Mexico

This article examines the effects of anthropogenic landscape modification in the upper drainage basin of the Río Verde on environments and populations of the lower Río Verde Valley, Oaxaca, Mexico. Archaeological and geomorphological research conducted by the Río Verde Formative Project indicates that Late Formative (400–100 B.C.) population growth and agricultural intensification in the Oaxaca and Nochixtlán valleys increased erosion and runoff from the Verde's upper drainage. This geomorphic change in the highland valleys altered the drainage system and led to increased flooding and alluviation in the lower Río Verde Valley. The environmental effect in the lower valley may have increased the agricultural potential of the region, leading to population growth, and at least indirectly to social change.     

Millennial‐scale fire and vegetation history from a mesic hardwood forest of southeastern Wisconsin,USA

High‐resolution charcoal analysis of lake sediment cores was used to reconstruct the fire history from two sites in a mesic hardwood forest of south‐eastern Wisconsin located in the Kettle Moraine State Forest. Pollen data from the region indicate that the sites, which lie within 5 km of each other, have had a consistent presence of mesic hardwood forest for the last 6500 years. A pollen record from one of the sites confirmed the regional vegetation history and the charcoal analysis indicated that fire frequency at each site was temporally linked to regional drought. Periods of high fire occurrence occurred in connection with a region‐wide drought 4200 years ago and, over the last 2000 years, shorter‐scale regional droughts were centred at 1800, 1650, 1100, 1000, 800, 700 and 600 cal a BP. The fire histories indicate that the last 1000 years have had lower fire frequencies than the previous 6500 years and suggest that the mesic hardwood forests may be resilient to increases in fire that may result from future climate change. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Characterization of hard‐to‐differentiate dune stratification types in the Permian Coconino Sandstone (Arizona,USA)

Dune stratification types, which include grainfall, grainflow and ripple lamination, provide a record of the fine‐scale processes that deposited sediment on palaeo‐dune foresets. While these facies are relatively easy to distinguish in some cross‐bedded sandstones, for others – like the Permian Coconino Sandstone of northern and central Arizona – discrete stratification styles are hard to recognize at the bedding scale. Furthermore, few attempts have been made to classify fine‐scale processes in this sandstone, despite its renown as a classic aeolian dune deposit and Grand Canyon formation. To interpret depositional processes in the Coconino Sandstone, cross‐bed facies were characterized using a suite of sedimentary textures and structures. Bedding parameters were described at multiple scales via a combination of field and laboratory methods, including annotated outcrop photomosaics, strike and dip measurements, sandstone disaggregation and laser‐diffraction particle analysis, high‐resolution scans of thin sections, and scanning electron microscopy. Cross‐beds were observed to be laterally extensive along‐strike, with most dip angles ranging from the mid‐teens to mid‐twenties. While some cross‐bed sets are statistically coarser near their bases, others exhibit no significant vertical sorting trends. Both massive and laminated textures are visible in high‐resolution scans of thin sections, but laminae contacts are commonly indistinct, making normal and reverse grading difficult to define. Diagenetic features, such as stylolite seams and large pores, are also present in some samples and might indicate alteration of original textures like detrital clay laminae and carbonate minerals. Observed textures and sedimentary structures suggest that the cross‐beds may consist of grainflow and grainfall deposits, but these remain difficult to differentiate at outcrop and thin‐section scales. This characterization of fine‐scale processes will play a critical part in the development of depositional models for the Coconino Sandstone and elucidate interpretations for similar cross‐bedded formations.     

Subglacial and ice‐marginal landforms in south‐central Ontario: implications for ice‐sheet reconfiguration during deglaciation

Regional‐scale, high‐resolution terrain data permit the study of landforms across south‐central Ontario, where the bed of the former Laurentide Ice Sheet is well exposed and passes downflow from irregular topography on Precambrian Shield highlands to flat‐lying Palaeozoic carbonate bedrock, and thick (50 to >200 m) unconsolidated sediment substrates. Rock drumlins and megagrooves are eroded into bedrock and mega‐scale glacial lineations (MSGL) occur on patchy streamlined till residuals in the Algonquin Highlands. Downflow, MSGL pass into juxtaposed rock and drift drumlins on Palaeozoic bedrock and predominantly till‐cored drumlins in areas of thick drift. The Lake Simcoe Moraines, now traceable for more than 80 km across the Peterborough drumlin field (PDF), form a distinct morphological boundary: downflow of the moraine system, drumlins are larger, broader and show no indication of subsequent reworking by the ice, whereas upflow of the moraines, a higher degree of complexity in bedform pattern and morphology is distinguished. Discrete radial and/or cross‐cutting flowset terminate at subtle till‐cored moraine ridges downflow of local topographic lows, indicating multiple phases of late‐stage ice flow with strong local topographic steering. More regional‐scale flow switching is evident as NW‐orientated bedforms modify drumlins south of the Oak Ridges Moraine, and radial flowset emanate from areas within the St. Lawrence and Ottawa River valleys. Most of the drumlins in the PDF formed during an early, regional drumlinization phase of NE–SW flow that followed the deposition of a thick regional till sheet. These were subsequently modified by local‐scale, topographically controlled flows that terminate at till‐cored moraines, providing evidence that the superimposed bedforms record dynamic ice (re)advances throughout the deglaciation of south‐central Ontario. The patterns and relationships of glacial landform distribution and characteristics in south‐central Ontario hold significance for many modern and palaeo‐ice sheets, where similar downflow changes in bed topography and substrate lithology are observed.     

The paleoecology and archaeology of long‐term water storage in a Hohokam reservoir,southwestern Arizona,U.S.A.

Water storage reservoirs were an important feature of economic organization among ancient societies in the North American Southwest. Analyses of reservoir sediments from a Hohokam archaeological site in the Sonoran Desert yielded taxonomic species of ostracodes (microscopic crustaceans) and pollen grains that are indicative of a past water‐rich environment. The discovery that this reservoir was capable of storing water on a long‐term basis indicates that archaeological models for the region, which have relied on direct historic analogy, must be reexamined. In contrast to the local ethnographic record, paleoecological data generated by this study imply that the Hohokam could establish permanent desert settlements with water storage reservoirs away from perennial rivers and streams. Moreover, residents of these areas were geographically positioned to facilitate the circulation of marine resources (i.e., salt and shell) from the Gulf of California to territories within and beyond the Hohokam region. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Numerical simulation of the influence of management alternatives of a projected reservoir on a small alluvial aquifer affected by seawater intrusion (Almuñécar, Spain)

The present study concerns the application of a numerical approach to describe the influence of anthropogenic modifications in surface flows (operation of a projected reservoir) on the freshwater-seawater relationships in a downstream coastal aquifer which has seasonal seawater intrusion problems (River Verde alluvial aquifer, Almuñécar, southern Spain). A steady-state finite element solution to the partial differential equation governing the regional motion of a phreatic surface and the resulting sharp interface between fresh water and salt water was used to predict the regional behavior of the River Verde aquifer under actual surface flow conditions. The present model approximates, with simple triangular elements, the regional behavior of a coastal aquifer under appropriate sinks, sources, Neumann and open boundary conditions. A steady-state solution to this numerical approach has been shown to precisely calculate freshwater heads, saltwater thicknesses, and freshwater discharges along steeply sloping coasts. Hence, the adequate treatment and interpretation of the hydrogeological data which are available for the River Verde aquifer have been of main concern in satisfactorily applying the proposed numerical model. Present simulated conditions consider steady-state yearly averaged amounts of external supplies of fresh water in order to determine the influences of the projected Otívar reservoir on the further behavior of the River Verde coastal aquifer. When recharges occur at the coastline, essentially because of freshwater deficits due to groundwater overexploitation, a hypothesis of mixing for the freshwater-saltwater transition zone is made in order to still allow the model to continue calculating groundwater heads under the sea level, and, as a consequence, the resulting seawater intrusion and recharges of saltwater from the sea. Simulations show that a considerable advance in seawater intrusion would be expected in the coastal aquifer if current rates of groundwater pumping continue and a significant part of the runoff from the River Verde is channeled from the Otívar reservoir for irrigation purposes.     

An Exploratory Non‐Destructive Provenance Analysis of Two Middle Archaic Greenstone Pendants from Little Salt Spring,Florida, USA

Test excavations in 2005 and 2006 of the Little Salt Spring mortuary pond in Southwest Florida (USA) yielded two exotic stone pendants indirectly dated to the Middle Archaic (7000–5000 ¹⁴C year B.P.). Hand‐specimen petrographic observation, combined with non‐destructive environmental scanning electron microscopy, X‐ray fluorescence spectroscopy, and whole‐rock X‐ray diffraction, identified the pendants as (1) a mica‐plagioclase‐edenite amphibolite or schist and (2) an intermediate pyroxene‐ and/or amphibole‐bearing granitoid. Provenance was broadly constrained to a number of potential sources in the southern Appalachian Piedmont of the United States (at a minimum distance of 650 km from the archaeological findspot) utilizing the United States Geological Survey's National Geologic Map Database lithologic search tool (GEOLEX) and Mineral Resources On‐Line Spatial Data GIS database. Due to the absence of lithologic matches within the state of Florida, we propose that the two artifacts most likely arrived at Little Salt Spring through down‐the‐line exchange of materials of prestige value with geologic origins in the southern Appalachian Piedmont, arguing for the existence of small‐scale long‐distance lithic exchange networks reaching into Archaic Florida. From a methodological standpoint, this study illustrates the potential utility of data collected under nonideal, non‐destructive analytical conditions for deriving meaningful archaeological interpretations.     

Mezen Bay—a key area for understanding Weichselian glaciations in northern Russia

Sediment successions in coastal cliffs around Mezen Bay, southeastern White Sea, record an unusually detailed history of former glaciations, interstadial marine and fluvial events from the Weichselian. A regional glaciation model for the Weichselian is based on new data from the Mezen Bay area and previously published data from adjacent areas. Following the Mikulinian (Eemian) interglacial a shelf‐centred glaciation in the Kara Sea is reflected in proglacial conditions at 100–90 ka. A local ice‐cap over the Timan ridge existed between 75 and 65 ka. Renewed glaciation in the Kara Sea spread southwestwards around 60 ka only, interrupted by a marine inundation, before it advanced to its maximum position at about 55–50 ka. After a prolonged ice‐free period, the Scandinavian ice‐sheet invaded the area from the west and terminated east of Mezen Bay about 17 ka. The previously published evidence of a large ice‐dammed lake in the central Arkhangelsk region, Lake Komi, finds no support in this study. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.