Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene Biomarkers from Stratified and Cumulic Soils in Highland Environments of the Jemez Mountains, New Mexico

Summary

Through his meticulous work on stratified and buried soils, Vance Holliday has transformed our understanding of Paleoindian environments in the lowlands of the Southwest and Great Plains. Inspired by Vance’s example, we have used a geoarchaeological approach to explore Paleoindian visitation and use of highland environments. Paleoindians have been visiting the Jemez Mountains for obsidian since at least the Folsom period. However, direct archaeological evidence of their presence in and use of highland environments of the Jemez Mountains has not yet been discovered. We use lipid biomarkers extracted from stratified and cumulic soils to reconstruct highland plant communities of the Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene in what are now ponderosa pine forests (2,200 - 2,600 m). Furthermore, we use fecal biomarkers to infer properties of the Terminal Pleistocene mammalian fauna that may have attracted Paleoindindian foragers to the highlands and ultimately to the high-quality obsidian.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 83rd Annual Meeting, Washington, DC (2018)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 20135