Soil, Climate, and Culture Records on the Southern Great Plains

Summary

This paper compares radiocarbon chronologies for climatic and cultural changes in Texas and the Southern Plains region utilizing multiple sources. A radiocarbon baseline (>100) from select river basins across Texas helps reconstruct the alluvial histories of these catchments. This baseline establishes a framework for understanding aspects of climate change, as alluviation provides a proxy for general cycles of precipitation and aridity.

Next, the alluvial-climatic records are supplemented by a dataset of 69 XAD purified AMS-dated bison remains from archaeological contexts in Texas and Oklahoma. This dataset also provides delta 15 N and delta 13 C data that allow direct examination of climatic variability (temperature and precipitation) during sharply defined periods of bison presence.

Finally, these climatic trends are compared against three different radiocarbon-based studies of culture change. First, we evaluate (>400) 14C dates from Ft. Hood, Texas. Second, the bison dataset provides a record of cultural change, since samples represent the presence and exploitation of that resource. Third, an earlier study evaluated hundreds of radiocarbon dates and their association with certain key diagnostic point types across Texas. All radiocarbon assays have been recalibrated using the INTCAL09 curve in order to provide a consistent chronological framework.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 81st Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL (2016)   •
• Understanding the Nature and Timing of Human Responses to Environmental Change

Keywords

Spatial Coverage