Late-glacial Assemblages Research Articles

The emergence and transmission of early pottery in the Late-Glacial Japan

Despite its long-standing assumption of the spread of early pottery innovated by the Late-Glacial hunter-gatherers in Japan, cultural diffusion as an explanatory model has not explicitly tested. This study addresses the question of the extent to which cultural diffusion played a role in proliferating the innovated early pottery technology across the Japanese Archipelago by employing the distance decay model of cultural diffusion. Based on the assembled dataset of the Late-Glacial assemblages with early pottery radiocarbon dates, distances between the presumed core where the earliest dates were obtained (i.e., Odaiyamamoto I) and the adopted sites do not exhibit the time-progressive pattern. In contrast, frequencies of potsherds relative to lithic artifacts increases as time progressed, implying that early pottery technology was gradually accumulated nearly by the end of the Younger Dryas, ca, 11,000 cal. BP. This study demonstrates that cultural diffusion does not fully explain the emergence and spread of early pottery in Japan, while the Late-Glacial travel and exchange networks enabled hunter-gatherers to transmit and accumulate knowledge of pottery use.

The Bearded Vulture (Gypaetus barbatus ) as an Accumulator of Archaeological Bones. Late Glacial Assemblages and Present-day Reference Data in Corsica (Western Mediterranean)

Assemblages of 751 bone remains of an endemic Corsican deer (Megaloceros cazioti) from Late Glacial layers at Luri- Grı̀tulu cave (Northern Corsica) show an uncommon taphonomic pattern, mainly characterized by high dominance of third phalanxes and high rate of digestion marks. The authors demonstrate that this pattern cannot result from accumulation by human beings or by large mammal carnivores. The bearded vulture, which is able to accumulate large mammal bones in its nest and the presence of which is attested in the faunal remains at Grı́tulu, is the principal putative accumulator. In order to test this hypothesis, bone contents from 11 nests of modern Corsican bearded vultures (871 bone remains, i.e., more than 105 individual carcasses) are analysed from a taphonomic point of view. They are mainly characterized by overwhelming quantities of third phalanxes from middle-size ruminants, abundance and location of digestion marks around proximal articulations, and few bone flakes. A comparison of the Grı́tulu cave assemblages with these new present-day reference data leads to the conclusion that they have actually been accumulated by Late Glacial bearded vultures. Small discrepancies can, however, be explained by differences in food availability between the Late Glacial and modern times.

Late-glacial fossil midge stratigraphies (Insecta: Diptera: Chironomidae) from the Swiss Alps

Chironomid midges (Insecta: Diptera: Chironomidae) are sensitive indicators of environmental change, but relatively few studies have been made of the response of European midge faunas to the high amplitude climatic oscillations of the late-glacial. In this study, late-glacial assemblages of chironomid midges from four Swiss lakes, or former lakes, [Gerzensee (603 m), Leysin (1230 m), Regenmoos (1260 m) and Hérémence (2300 m)] were compared and contrasted. The study focused on the response of chironomid assemblages to the beginning and end of the Younger Dryas cold interval (c. 12 690–11 485 cal. yr BP) and to minor cold climatic fluctuations (Gerzensee Oscillation, c.13200–12800 cal. yr BP, and Preboreal Oscillation, c. 113 65–11 100 cal. yr BP). The durations of these climatic fluctuations were defined climato-stratigraphically based on oxygen isotope boundaries and the chronology was derived by correlation with GRIP oxygen isotope records. Major differences in the composition of the four lakes' chironomid assemblages reflected differences in altitude and local environmental conditions. Nevertheless, each lake fauna showed a marked response to the major and minor climatic oscillations, demonstrating that large-scale temperature change had an overriding influence on the distribution of chironomid midges.

An intercontinental comparison of chironomid palaeotemperature inference models: Europe vs North America

Chironomid-temperature inference models based on North American, European and combined surface sediment training sets were compared to assess the overall reliability of their predictions. Between 67 and 76% of the major chironomid taxa in each data set showed a unimodal response to July temperature, whereas between 5 and 22% of the common taxa showed a sigmoidal response. July temperature optima were highly correlated among the training sets, but the correlations for other taxon parameters such as tolerances and weighted averaging partial least squares (WA-PLS) and partial least squares (PLS) regression coefficients were much weaker. PLS, weighted averaging, WA-PLS, and the Modern Analogue Technique, all provided useful and reliable temperature inferences. Although jack-knifed error statistics suggested that two-component WA-PLS models had the highest predictive power, intercontinental tests suggested that other inference models performed better. The various models were able to provide good July temperature inferences, even where neither good nor close modern analogues for the fossil chironomid assemblages existed. When the models were applied to fossil Lateglacial assemblages from North America and Europe, the inferred rates and magnitude of July temperature changes varied among models. All models, however, revealed similar patterns of Lateglacial temperature change. Depending on the model used, the inferred Younger Dryas July temperature decrease ranged between 2.5 and 6°C.

British late glacial and Holocene climatic history reconstructed from land snail assemblages

gations have enabled refinement of the stratigraphic scheme, as shells of land snails occur in quantity throughout the sequence (Preece, 1998). They provide a detailed mollusk succession from the beginning of the late glacial until the present day. The late-glacial assemblages are dominated by species of open country and marsh, but shadeintolerant species are replaced by a succession of woodland species during the early part of the Holocene. Following forest clearances during the Neolithic and Bronze Age (5000‐3000 yr B.P.), these closed forest communities show a reversion to grassland assemblages, with only minor indications of scrub (Fig. 2). A detailed chronology for this succession is provided by a series of

Late-glacial and holocene malacofaunas from archaeological sites in the Somme valley (North France)

The first malacological successions covering the Late-glacial period and the early Holocene are reported from archaeological sites in northern France. Five malacological zones (S1–5) are recognized which are related to the regional lithostratigraphy, Upper Palaeolithic/Mesolithic archaeology and to a radiocarbon chronology. The zone S1, which contains an assemblage of low species diversity but with abundant Vallonia , allows attribution of the basal loess (reworked as a rainwashed silt in the valley bottom) to the early Late-glacial, rather than the Pleniglacial. Overlying the loessic sediments is an organic silt, known as the ‘Belloy soil’w at Belloy, which has yielded birch pollen (but no pine) allowing attribution to the early part of “Allerod” phase of the Late-glacial. The molluscan faunas from this level (S2) are richer and more diverse. Helicopsis striata (Muller) appears to be typical of this period. Above the Allerod deposit is a minerogenic silt containing rhizomes, but this is only represented in the valley floors. The malacofaunas from this unit (S3) are similar to those of the Allerod silt but contain a higher proportion of hygrophilous taxa. These faunas are assigned to the Younger Dryas, a conclusion supported by radiocarbon dating of bones associated with the terminal Upper Palaeolithic “Industrie a pieces mâchurees” which occur at the top of the unit. The Late-glacial succession is overlain by organic silts of Holocene age, which at several sites have yielded Mesolithic artefacts. The molluscan faunas are much more diverse than the earlier Late-glacial assemblages and contain abundant shade-demanding taxa (S4), then a fall in species diversity and a reversion to faunas of open-ground occur (S5). Comparison of these successions with similar sites in Burgundy, the Paris basin and southeastern England demonstrate a closer affinity to the molluscan sequences of Kent rather than to the French sites, although Late-glacial molluscan faunas are still poorly known from France.

Holocene environmental changes in Lily Lake, minnesota inferred from fossil diatom and pollen assemblages

A postglacial core was taken from Lily Lake, a soft-water lake, located on carbonate-poor till in eastern Minnesota. Pollen analysis allowed the reconstruction of watershed vegetation change. Diatom assemblages from the core were compared with 255 surface sediment assemblages from Minnesota, Maine, Labrador, and the Canadian arctic. Late-glacial assemblages were similar to Canadian arctic lakes. During the mid-postglacial period of warmer and drier climate, fossil diatom assemblages at Lily Lake were similar to those in the surface sediment of modern eutrophic hardwater lakes in Central Minnesota. The shift to hardwater diatom assemblages coincided with a shift to prairie species in fossil pollen assemblages at about 8000 yr B.P. At about 3400 year B.P. the fossil diatom assemblage that characterized presettlement times was established.

Mother-infant interaction and the development of behavior problems in childhood

Despite its long-standing assumption of the spread of early pottery innovated by the Late-Glacial hunter-gatherers in Japan, cultural diffusion as an explanatory model has not explicitly tested. This study addresses the question of the extent to which cultural diffusion played a role in proliferating the innovated early pottery technology across the Japanese Archipelago by employing the distance decay model of cultural diffusion. Based on the assembled dataset of the Late-Glacial assemblages with early pottery radiocarbon dates, distances between the presumed core where the earliest dates were obtained (i.e., Odaiyamamoto I) and the adopted sites do not exhibit the time-progressive pattern. In contrast, frequencies of potsherds relative to lithic artifacts increases as time progressed, implying that early pottery technology was gradually accumulated nearly by the end of the Younger Dryas, ca, 11,000 cal. BP. This study demonstrates that cultural diffusion does not fully explain the emergence and spread of early pottery in Japan, while the Late-Glacial travel and exchange networks enabled hunter-gatherers to transmit and accumulate knowledge of pottery use.

A scanning electron microscope study of some different frustule forms of the genusFragilariafound in Scottish late-glacial sediments

The scanning electron microscope has assisted in the identification of three forms of the genus Fragilaria that occur in the late-glacial assemblages of some Scottish lochs. Scanning electron microscopy, light microscopy and reference to type material have confirmed the differences between F. lapponica Grun., F. pinnata Ehrenb. and F. elliptica Schumann.

Two Pollen Diagrams from Southeastern Minnesota: Problems in the Regional Late-Glacial and Postglacial Vegetational History

Kirchner Marsh and Lake Carlson are located 3 miles apart in Dakota County about 15 miles south of Minneapolis in the St. Croix moraine, which was formed by the Superior lobe during the Cary phase of the Wisconsin glaciation. During the Mankato phase that followed, the Des Moines lobe advanced to within a few miles of the sites. The region today is in a mixed-oak forest, with a maple-basswood forest 15 miles to the west and a re-entrant of the prairie on the sand plain south of the moraine. The general limit of coniferous trees is about 50 miles northeast of the sites, although outliers, especially of Pinus strobus, may be found along the Mississippi Valley a few miles to the east. One sediment core 12–13 m long from each site was analyzed for pollen content at 5–25-cm intervals. Diagrams based on percentage of total pollen (trees, shrubs, wind-pollinated herbs) show essentially identical sequences at the two sites, starting with the late-glacial phase of ice retreat. The diagrams have been subdivided into pollen zones according to the A-B-C sequence introduced by Deevey for New England. The late-glacial pollen record starts at Kirchner Marsh with a short Picea-Cyperaceae-Gramineae phase (Zone K), believed to represent a spruce parkland. Its C-14 date of 13,270 BP and the stratigraphy indicate a pre-Two Creeks and post-Cary correlation. Apparently the Kirchner site did not become established as a lake until this time owing to persistence of dead ice in the moraine. The absence of pollen of specific tundra indicators and the presence of pollen of such thermophilous plants as Fraxinus, Quercus, Corylus, Ambrosia, Humulus, and Typha latifolia imply that the climate was cool rather than cold. Zone A-a, which follows, correlates with the Two Creeks interstade. It is marked by the dominance of Picea, with appreciable percentages of Fraxinus and Ambrosia and with minor amounts of other thermophilous plants and the normal boreal associates of spruce like Betula, Larix, and Salix. Zone A-b, starting 12,050 C-14 years ago, correlates with the Valders ice advance. It is represented at both Kirchner and Carlson and shows the withdrawal of Fraxinus and Ambrosia and the slight rise of Artemisia. Except for the absence of pine in the late-glacial assemblage the vegetation implied by these three zones seems to have its closest modern counterpart in the southern fringe of the Boreal Forest of the Riding Mountain region of southwest Manitoba. It is concluded that pine did not migrate southward with the spruce during the Wisconsin glaciation, at least in the western Great Lakes region, and was thus eliminated from this region. During the late-glacial phases of ice retreat, herbs and spruce pioneered on the deglaciated terrain; pine did not follow until the destruction of the spruce forest at the end of the late-glacial phase. Zone B introduces postglacial time. It represents the time of rapid vegetational succession following the deterioration of the spruce forest. Simultaneous maxima of Betula, Alnus, Fraxinus, and Abies occurred 10,230 years ago at Kirchner Marsh. These were followed rapidly by a Pinus maximum and then a rise of Ulmus, Quercus, and other deciduous types, dated as 9300 years ago at the correlative site of Madelia. This succession may represent differential rates of migration from refuges south and east of Minnesota. Deciduous trees dominate the C Zones. Zone C-a shows Ulmus and Ostrya/Carpinus followed by Quercus; it probably represents principally a mesic maple-basswood forest changing to oak. Zone C-b represents the advance of prairie into the region at the expense of the oak woodland or savanna. The large and abrupt fluctuations in the curves for Ambrosia-type and Chenopodiineae, especially at the Carlson site, may record encroachment of annual weeds onto intermittently dried lake bottoms. C-14 dates place Zone C-b between 7100 and 5100 years ago. In Zone C-c the Quercus again dominates until the abrupt increase in Ambrosia-type and Chenopodiineae that marks the time of forest clearance and land settlement 50–75 years ago.