Carolina Bay geoarchaeology and Holocene landscape evolution on the Upper Coastal Plain of South Carolina

Surface water on the mainly dry, upland interfluves of the Upper Coastal Plain of South Carolina occurs currently as a sporadic distribution of shallow ponds held within Carolina bays and other small, isolated basins. At seven bays on the U.S. Department of Energy's Savannah River Site on the Upper Coastal Plain of South Carolina, we investigated Holocene changes in bay morphology, ecology, and prehistoric human activity. At Flamingo Bay, we employed archaeological survey and testing, shovel and auger testing, sediment analysis, and ground-penetrating radar to document stratigraphy and chronology of the sand rim on the eastern side of the bay. Artifact assemblage indicate changes in intensity of human use of the bay. Radiocarbon dates from a sediment core establish time scales for depositional processes at the center of the basin. Ground-penetrating radar data from the other bays indicate that the stratigraphy of all seven bays is broadly similar. We conclude that: (1) Significant modification of the bays, including rim development and basin infilling, occurred during the Holocene; (2) ponds on the early Holocene landscape were larger and more permanent than at present; (3) early Holocene climate, as indicated by both depositional processes and human activity, was not characterized by prolonged periods of extremely dry conditions; and (4) fluvial-centric models of terminal Pleistocene—early Holocene human adaptations require revision to include intensive use of isolated upland ponds. © 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Climate change and human settlement around the late-glacial laguna De Punta Negra,northern Chile: The preliminary results

Major bodies of fresh water are extremely scarce in the dry Atacama region. Unlike the Salar de Atacama, which has no outlet, the Salar de Punta Negra (24$ 35′ S, 3000 m elevation) used to spill north into the Atacama drainage. Archaeological survey of the beaches and spillway above today's salar indicates late-glacial human use of the 800 km² lake and environs under a contrasting climate regime. The histories and water budgets of the Pleistocene lakes of the south-central Andes are not well understood, but archaeological data can be interpreted to support (1) hypotheses that would bring westerly storm tracks and winter rain further north 14,000 to 10,000 B.P., especially if accompanied by increasing warmth for part of the period, and/or (2) theories of orbital variation, increased summer insolation, and strengthened monsoons that would provide generally increased rainfall at the Tropics 10,000 to 9000 B.P. Archaeological, paleoclimatological, and geomorphological studies come together to show how this large lake could be a focus of human activity from the time of first settlement of the Atacama region.