STRATIGRAPHIC POLLEN ANALYSIS OF SAMPLES SPANNING THE HOLOCENE AT THE BULL CREEK AND BULL CREEK III SITES, 34BV176, BEAVER COUNTY, OKLAHOMA WITH SUPPORTING ARCHEOCLIMATE MODELS FOR BEAVER, OKLAHOMA

Summary

The Bull Creek site, 34BV176, is located in the High Plains physiographic region of western Beaver County, Oklahoma. The site is situated within the short grass prairie biome. Trees growing along Bull Creek today include elm, cottonwood, and hackberry. This series of sediments consists of the modern soil and a series of buried paleosols, dating from 13,210 RCYBP to the present. One of these strata, dated to 10,850K210 RCYBP, contained spirally fractured bison bone and flaked stone. The original Bull Creek site is situated on a cutbank in a meander of Bull Creek. Pollen analysis of 34 stratigraphic samples from these strata was undertaken to determine environmental changes in the area during the latest Pleistocene and through the Holocene.

Two additional collections were made from sediments at Bull Creek III to supplement the original Bull Creek record, which ended with sediments dated around 11,000 RCYBP. The pollen frequencies curves established during these ongoing analyses are compared to an archaeoclimate model constructed using data from the Beaver, Oklahoma weather recording station. Two subsequent years of excavations at Bull Creek III have yielded a total of ten samples Bull Creek III. The lower portion of the record is represented by samples A-E and anchored by a radiocarbon date of 13,210 ± 80 BP on a bulk sample from sample C. Samples F-J represent sediments that are anchored by a bulk radiocarbon date of 12,550 ± 70 BP for sample H. The lowest ten samples represent 5AB and 5Bt horizons.

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